"Barbarous" by Yuko Ota & Ananth Hirsh

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Boy Meets Maria by Peyo

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Chainsaw Man: Part 2 by Tatsuki Fujimoto

While I do agree that the story's execution was much weaker than Part 1's plotline, I am not fully upset at the way things ended.

In the current online climate where "fans" act increasingly entitled to an artist's thoughts, feelings, and even their creative soul, I can't blame said artist for developing a sort of "contempt" for their fanbase. I don't even think Fujimoto has contempt for his readers, more like exhaustion.

Saying this as someone who had to sit through discourse regarding almost every character that Fujimoto has ever written, I know that there are so many fans who fundamentally misunderstood Fujimoto's writing style, hence why they feel so "betrayed" by the ending being what it was, but I myself do not feel betrayal at all. In fact, I feel the opposite. I pretty much feel the same way about Chainsaw Man that I did regarding Kodaka's Danganronpa V3. I'm fine with it that Fujimoto liberated himself from Chainsaw Man if he felt it was no longer making him happy or fulfilled, and I hope that he can move on to whatever his heart desires and continues to make art.

I will always love this universe and its cast. Reze genuinely means so much to me and she always will. I'm definitely frustrated at the direction Part 2's writing had went in some places. In a fairer timeline, things may have turned out differently. But if someone's heart isn't in it anymore, then it is what it is.

"Devil's Candy" by Rem & Bikkuri

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Fall in Love, You False Angels

by Coco Uzuki

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Fatale Game

by Battan

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Gachiakuta - Kei Urana

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The Summer Hikaru Died

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Kamisama Kiss

by Julietta Suzuki

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Runaway with Me Girl (Kakeochi Girl) - Battan

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The Apothecary Diaries (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto)

by Natsu Hyuga, Itsuki Nanao, Nekokurage

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The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity (Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku)

by Saka Mikami

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The Wooing - GG8473

I absolutely adore Becky's use of color palettes. It's always so stylish and really sets the tone of the stories. Emer and Dog are both very charming in their own rights. I liked that they both have preconceived notions about each other, believing that humans and fairies are all the same and cannot change. The weird push and pull of their relationship is written really well and the ending was so bitterly sweet.
Women being miserable together is always fun, and Becky always does it well.

Link to Book

To Your Eternity - Yoshitoki Ōima

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"Witch Hat Atelier" by Shirahama Kamome

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"The Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri

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"Demian" by Herman Hesse

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"Don Quixote" by Miguel De Cervantes

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"Faust" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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"Frakenstein" by Mary Shelley

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"Hell Screen" by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

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"Interviw with the Vampire" by Anne Rice

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"Moby Dick" by Herman Melville

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"Salt to the Sea" by Ruta Sepetys

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"The Bird King" by G. Willow Wilson

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"The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka

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"The Odyssey" by Homer

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"The Stranger" by Albert Camus

Re-read July 11

The story is relatively short, so it's easy to get through. I still think its a wonderful story. Meursault is a very observant character as evidenced through his internal monologues, but has a hard time expressing emotions in ways we see as "normal". Obviously in modern interpretations, Meursault comes off as autistic due to some of these traits. The most noticeable in my opinion was how he described his sensory issues and how that would overwhelm whatever he was feeling or thinking in the moment. Like lingering on how hot it was during his Maman's vigil, or how flies were buzzing in his face during his conversation with the lawyer.
I really liked how he observed throughout his trial the ways in which he is excluded from it, such as the prosecutor painting him as a soulless unfeeling monster due to his lack of visible grief following the death of his mother, and Meursault's own lawyer using first-person pronouns during his statement on Meursault's behalf, effectively speaking for (and speaking over) Meursault, as he puts it. The trial in general was very intriguing in showing how the jury, lawyer, prosecutor, and even Meursault's friends seemed more disturbed by his lack of grief over his Maman's death than about the murder he committed while under the sun's stress. The prosecutor says as much during his statements, that despite Meursault having a regular job and normal everyday relationships, like his friendships and romance with Marie, he is just as a dangerous as someone who committed patricide because his unfeeling demeanor was a 'threat' to their society and the 'rules' they make to uphold it.

My favorite scene is still when the Chaplain comes to visit Meursault in an effort to get him to repent, but it only affirms Meursault's nihilistic outlook on his life and his fated execution. Letting go of the thought of going free with an appeal and thinking of his mother when she was also fated to die in her retirement home, he only wishes to hear all of the people angrily (or maybe even gleefully) attending his execution. The unfeeling monster who couldn't even cry for his dead mother would be executed, and their society would uphold its 'rules' by killing him.

I still think L'Étranger was very well-written, and the first time I experienced it the story helped me sort out some of my own feelings regarding death and how I choose to view it.

"Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë

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