Being 30 isn't easy - Weakest Beast : J-drama Review

Becoming an adult, or more specifically turning 30 can bring many things, the usual work routine is the key of many, and with this new Japanese show with A listers Yui Aragaki and Ryosei Matsuda as its main characters, it's time to show that even in Japan, being an adult isn't that simple.

The show was marketed as a 'adult romance' sort of show, and to be fair I think teenagers would not quite be into it because 'Weakest Beast' (aka 'Kemono ni Narenai Watashitachi' in Japanese) talks about many things about adult life and especially it's most tedious moments from work life, to dating, and it is one of the best late 2018 shows I've watched.
Everything starts at the '5Tap' a cozy and classy bar in Tokyo where people , alone or with others, meet for a drink or multiple ones .(And it is unfortunately fictional .)
On one side you get Akira (Aragaki), a woman who always tries to do everything perfectly, but the price for a state of mind like this costs her  much in her private life and at work with her boss yelling non-stop, and a romantic life that bores her.
On the other side you get Kosei (Matsuda) who is an accountant . He lives a life where romantic entanglement do not exists for him, and his blunt way of talking gets him in trouble a lot more than he would like, but Kosei loves to judge others and notice things about them that they usually try to hide.
Both Akira and Kosei meet at the 5Tap and talk thus starting the show's 10 episodes. And with 10 episodes, you get to see both characters evolve in their own way and at their own rhythm with a strong supporting cast to make it all feel way too real at times.

The strength of 'Weakest Beast' goes first through its cast. This Japanese show plays on subtleties, here exagerated drama and over the top performances do not blend well, and the show teaches you that in Japan, you deal with your problems as quietly as you can. However, this doesn't stop the show to address many interesting and serious topics such as cheating, one night stands, burn-outs at work, polygamy, mental health and suicide , things that many of us experience no matter where we are in the world.
Acting wise, we have Yui Aragaki giving probably one of her most underrated performance yet. She plays Akira with such strength and the characters' obstacles always have an impact on the viewer, especially during her most desperate moments, tension rises when she loses control of her emotions and this is where Aragaki's acting abilities really shine.

But to act along Aragaki is Ryohei Matsuda (yes the same Ryohei who played Ren in 'NaNa' back in 2005! ) who sometimes can come off as distant and cold man, with a mysterious side we don't get to explore right away,but getting to know him throughout all 10 episodes feels incredibly rewarding towards the end as Matsuda's acting allows the character to slowly get out of his shell in a very organic way.
Along Aragaki and Matsuda is a collection of actors who all do an incredible job. It is very satisfying to see Rinko Kikuchi getting an ambiguous yet weirdly entertaining role, especially in a Japanese tv show which took its sweet time to happen.
Haru Kuroki and Kei Tanaka continue to show that they are part of a new generation of actors with too much talent to handle and Kuroki especially is an absolute delight in every scenes she appears, which could have been tricky considering the character she plays isn't the easiest but she does it with such ease that you can't help but love her very much.

But what about the story then ? Akiko Nogi is the screenwriter in charge and no surprises here she manages to paint honest and realistic portraits of characters who are lost at sea in their own ways . But it isn't the first time she had such a splendid work, after all she is a longtime collaborator of Aragaki, with multiple shows written by her and starring Aragaki such as the 2016 hit 'The Escapist's Wife' ( aka 'NigeHaji' ) .
Akiko Nogi writes about women and men in their most raw and honest moments and it always feels very life like . She questions society in many ways from love and family relationships, to work, all of this causing distress in all of those characters and it is explored everytime with delicacy while also never backing from acknowledging the darker sides of life without sugar coating anything.

The downside of the show might be for some that it takes its time to develop its characters and its story, but for me this was an absolute delight from start to finish. Its themes resonated with my own personal experience from the good to the bad moments, and this proves that no matter where we are in the world, there is so much that we share, and each characters almost feels like they could be our neighbours, out co-workers or even our 'bar buddies'. 'Weakest Beast' is a must of Japanese entertainment and I cannot recommend it enough.

This week's Favourite Songs

Oh boy has it been a while since I've done that on the blog, but so many good songs came out this week and I need to talk about :

1 : Robyn 'Missing U' . Ok Robyn's last album 'Body Talk' that came out 8 years ago is a masterpiece of pop/electro and finally she is blessing her with her comeback and this 1st single 'Missing U' is just the best :

2.Chvrches x Wednesday Campanella 'Out of my Head' : A featuring I never thought would happen, bless Chvrches for picking Kom_i to sing along their new song ! (also I made a review about it because I had a lot of feelings !) 

3. Madonna : I love New York . I've been falling back in love with Madonna's album 'Confessions on a dancefloor' man what an album. This song especially is getting me m o v i ng :

4.I don't know when I became a fan of Twice but I did and I'm loving this summer repackage of their last mini and especially 'Dance the Night Away' :

5. New Glim Spanky song  'Hāto ga sameru mae ni' which means that I have to talk about it ! (Hopefully new album out this year too) 

Reasons why reviews have slowed down

I adopted a kitten. Her name is Cookie. She's about to be 4 months old. She wakes me up really early in the mornings, naps during the afternoon and keeps me awake at night. It's suuuper fun. Anyway I love her very much but it's hard to listen to music when she's awake since she's always up to no good. I might make a video about her at some point for the channel , we'll see.

But if you're wondering why I'm not as active as usual, it's because I barely have any time , especially listening to albums. But that'll change the moment she takes a better rhythm. Hopefully.

I started doing Yoga

So this post is a bit more personal than usual but I had a lot on my mind and I like to share my experiences with others so why not write about it right ?

Over a month ago I took the decision to start doing yoga. Now to put things in context as to why I got the sudden need to start doing it, basically I never was the athletic type, hated sports in highschool  as long as I can remember. I'm not a team player. (being Introverted means that I'd rather do a sport alone than with others) And after a tough couple of months ( linked to being played by someone and I'll leave it at that ) I needed to take my very busy mind off all of those worries.

I tried meditation but just sitting and simply breathing allowed thoughts to keep flowing and never felt quite as good for me. So yoga felt like the right way to do things : not only can I make my body feel better by doing some challenging exercices and working on my flexibility and muscles' build, but I could also allow myself those moments just for me.  Now I didn't know where to start or how to start. I'm not even the type of person who is physically flexible, (or at least I thought I wasn't) so why the sudden need to do it ?
I still can't quite explain what pushed me to get into it that seriously. I tried by the past solo sport activities like home bike stuff (it was awful) and never kept the will to keep going more than a few days before giving up. However with yoga, it's been over a month now and I don't intend to stop.

Before I tell you how and what I used to get started , let's talk about the results so far : Right from the 1st week, I knew I had to keep doing yoga . After just the 1st few sessions at home on my little yoga mat, I felt peaceful and less stressed/anxious and what the previous months did when it came to my stress level are slowly being eased into a bad memory.
I feel healthier. At least in my mind, yoga gives me what I sought for so long : a break. Depending on how much time I spend every day, I have at least 30min of pure bliss and I don't think about anything but the yoga poses I need to do during that time.

That reminds me of my old philosophy class almost a decade ago , I had a fantastic teacher who taught us that being present in the moment instead of thinking about the past or the future is quite a complicated task to achieve but you can get there with practice for a few moments. And yoga gave me just that. Everytime I get into it, I feel alive and fully aware of the present, of what is happening at that time without thinking of what's bothering me from the past or how scary the future and my doubts about it are. With yoga I feel here.

gif by Jelio Dimitrov 

Now here's how I practice everyday, I have one condition everyday : do some no matter what. It means that if I feel like doing only 20 min of it on one day ,I shouldn't beat myself up because I ""only"" did just that. I did 20 min and that's more than good enough.  No matter what,I need to remember that simply showing up and doing even 5 min is a good step forward.
So what I do is that everyday no matter what and depending on my mood, I do at least 20 min. Sometimes I do 40 min, even 60min but I do something.
I also got some great help getting started thanks to the lovely Adrienne from Yoga With Adrienne on Youtube. She has amazing videos and if you want to start, there's 2 great beginners videos to get you into it softly but surely, this is the one I used to start :

Then depending on how my body feels, sometimes I do sessions that are more aimed at a specific part of my body. These days it's especially about my lower back and making it feel better. I also do some for shoulders and neck if I feel a bit too stiff around that area.
Just over one month and I already feel so much more flexible. I cannot wait to see where I get from there and hopefully in a few years it'll be all worth it, I have no doubt about that.

Anyway that's my 2 cents on yoga from the point of view of a newby like me. Who knows maybe in a few years I'll talk more about it and tell  you all about my progress . Feel free to comment if you have any thoughts on this article and thanks for checking it out !

Avengers Infinity War : A review

10 years in the making lead to the 3rd Avengers movie, which represents the end of Phase 3 but certainly not the end of Marvel movies.

Infinity War deals with the damage that left everyone after Civil War disbanded and isolated and now that Thanos is here to end it all, it's time for a much needed reunion, but will he succeed against earth mightiest heroes ?

Infinity War was a movie that I had been dreading. I had faith in the Russos brothers (after all they gave us The Winter Soldier AND Civil War) but the thought "What if it is disappointing ?" kept creeping up on me. I mean this Avenger movie isn't just ANY Avenger movie, it is 10 years of end credit scenes, character building leading to this moment that lasted over 2 hours and provided a lot of tears on my end. 

And to say I was not disappointed is an understatement. This movie devastated me. It brought all the characters I love, put a charismatic villain which the MCU was desperately needing at this point , and raised the stakes so high it left me crying at the end .

Thanos is not only physically imposing, he also has goals to achieve no matter what the cost is. You hate to love him but he is a compelling villain. You understand his mad motivations and throughout the entire movie he moves at a fast path that makes you wonder how our heroes will manage to stop him. Even makes you wonder if they'll be able to do such thing, and as much I generally love the MCU movies, they have , for the most part , been sometimes not so surprising and lacked stakes that leaves you speechless. This one however, does not. The stakes are real and when everything goes down, it goes down hard. 

It's a brutal wake up call and a nice surprise. By the end of it you realize that waiting another year for the follow up, is quite a cruel thing that Disney/Marvel Studios has done to us.

As for the characters, nonetheless to say that putting everyone together from the original Avengers to the Guardians of the Galaxy to the newest additions like Doctor Strange and Peter Parker , is quite the task and thankfully the writers and the Russo Brothers achieved what could have been a complete misfire. Everyone keeps more or less their personality , outside of some questionable behaviors at times, and the pairings were made in a clever way that made Doctor Strange and Tony Stark banters quite fun.

As always Thor stays a strong favourite of mine and now that Ragnarok grew a lot more on me, he continues in this movie to be a a strong compelling character and seeing Chris Hemsworth and everyone else giving their all and commit so much to these characters is quite a warm feeling. 

I won't spoil the story but the 3rd act of the movie left me emotionally scarred to the point of literally having nightmares about it the following night. But that ending had a refreshing surprising tone that made me want to see the movie another time to make sure I got all the references and the story right.

Visually speaking the movie is stunning, with each planet (the earth and others in space) being represented as believably as they can and Thanos himself looked great. Honestly not much to say outside of Bruce Banner in the hulkbuster looking very CGI at times. But that's a nitpick.

My biggest nitpick might be the soundtrack, after the amazing work provided by Henry Jackman on previous Russo directed entries, Alan Silvestri is back for this 3rd Avenger movie and I'm not so sure how to feel about it. The Avengers theme is still here and amazing but the rest felt not that memorizing which is a problem that has been present in many Marvel movies. (with exceptions being the Captain America movies from 2014 onward to Spider Man Homecoming but yes, it's just a few and no the songs used in Guardians movie do not count!)


Avengers Infinity War is a beast of a movie to digest and if you've never been into the MCU movies, then you might want to look the other way as this one will be far from satisfying to any non-fan of that cinematic universe. But if like me you've been someone who has been at every showing of all those movies since 2008, then Infinity War will provide everything you ever dreamed of such an ambitious movie could do. The stakes are real and the loss are heavy but the gain from following almost religiously a  series of movies like the MCU has provided pays off in ways I never imagined.

Thanks for reading this review, I plan of writing one for Black Panther once the digital copy is officially out so look forward to this one as well and don't hesitate to tell me what you think of Infinity War down below or on twitter !

The Month of May is an important one !

Hello  to you ! You might be on this article because you are subscribed to the channel, if you are, then you might maybe remember that in May, the channel celebrates it's 3rd anniversary !

Last year I didn't plan much as it has been a tough year for me and I was feeling really down. However this year I'm feeling better and I wanted to collaborate with you once again !

For the channel 1st Anniversary I asked you to ask me questions . This year once again I'd like to do a Q&A and to do such thing here's a video explaining everything :

Feel free to drop a comment under the video (or here) and I'll see you on the 27th with all my answers !

I had an epiphany !

When 2018 started I realized that I had no idea what kind of new design for the channel I could make.

Then today after reviewing Oh my Girl new EP 'Banana Allergy Monkey' it hit me : I had an idea ! 

A few hours after publishing the review, I realized that I loved the visuals for this come back so much, that I had an epiphany : a new design with this same style of retro pixelated design.

(Note : it also doesn't help that I've been playing Pokemon Mystery Dungeon and the pixelated characters are way too cute)

I tried many designs, and since I usually don't make any pixel characters, it was quite a challenge but I knew the way I wanted to go and after a couple of trials and errors I got to making a semi decent avatar :

I still have a lot to learn but compared to the previous design I'd say I'm getting somewhere.

This definitively gives anime vibes a little but from a plain avatar to this I feel satisfied and happy about the result. I also already made a Xmas version for this year.

So this is my little blog post about a very important moment from today. I thought I was going to keep the former design since I had a creative block for over 3 months but then thanks to the most random moment after a review that should've been just that ,I just knew what to do. 

I was scared at first, then incredibly excited and the frustration that I felt (being someone who can't draw at all) soon left and the more I worked the more I realised I had a pretty nice design on my hands.

Now I used a little website called piskel , it's incredibly useful , you can have different layers and slowly built your character & co. the way you want to no problem. 

I also need to thank a few people who kindly put tutorials online and that helped me to figure out many things : Shaeshaesweet @ DeviantArt (for the hair layouts) / Fonyl (@deviantart as well) for the face layouts . Simple but efficient tutorials that helped me create this. 

Anyway I just wanted to share the process that went behind this new design. Hopefully in a few years it'll be even better ! But I wanted to share about it because spending hours on this new design reminded me why I love making videos on YouTube , it's not just the community, the reviews, it's everything that makes me feel that I am in charge of it all.