violateraindrop's

This was the second season of this series and it was fine. It hasn't been among my favorites, not for any particular reason, but it didn't grab me as much, and well… sometimes that happens. Regardless, I enjoyed seeing the characters grow as they face challenges in their relationship and decisions they have to make regarding their careers. I think that's interesting, and I didn't dislike watching the protagonists live their domestic life and commit to the bond they built in the first season, but it didn't excite me, and I didn’t eagerly await each new episode. It might also be somewhat influenced by the fact that when I finished the first season, I read the manga and it's much spicier. It's not that I need adaptations to maintain the same level of explicit content to enjoy them, but sometimes I feel that does matter in how you understand the dynamics of the relationships between the characters, and in this case, I think there was a certain sexual tension that never quite culminated. And personally, I do like smut.

This might seem contradictory, but in the case of this series, I liked it much more than the previous one. I fell behind a couple of times, but that was more because I was watching it week by week and because I got busy doing other things (work or my WIP). I think this particular series works better if watched all at once, because it's short and because not much really happens, but this can also vary depending on personal preference. I don't care about MDL reviews, for example, and sometimes not even comments from acquaintances who watch the same things I do at the same time. In this case, many people commented that they found it slow and boring, but I found it calm, soothing, and soft.

The protagonists are two friends who met in high school and are united by their love of photography. They live as roommates in college, and as they grow up and become adults with their own goals and works, they discover that their bond is more than friendship, but one of them resists admitting it and insists that things shouldn't change, afraid of losing the friendship he values so much. There were moments when this attitude seemed a bit exasperating to me, but at the same time very logical and easy to understand, even if that sounds contradictory. I liked the pace and that it was basically watching them go on dates taking photos while exploring that internal conflict they have. The last episode was an "after story," which means the main story had already concluded, but I'm counting it because I still had to wait a week to mark it as finished.

Look, I don't have much explanation for this. It's basically censored soft porn. But I watched it because I saw several mutuals mention it and I got curious. The premise is even a little funny, and the fact that one of the characters always has the same clinical attitude and expressionless face, I don't know… I found it amusing but I don’t know if it’s intended to be arousing. I think one could easily use the premise to write PWP fanfiction about practically any couple, and I even think I've read something like that somewhere. Do I recommend it? Well, I’m not sure lol.

I watched this for First and Khaotung, of course. At first I thought talking cats would make me cringe a lot, but little by little I realized the story was about complicated family relationships, grief, learning to understand and forgive someone who's no longer here, and opening up to others even when it's hard. In the end, there were moments where I cried a lot. Of course, there were funny and nonsensical things, like Tiger's allergy. It's the mildest and least annoying/dangerous allergy I've ever seen, lol. I don't have a diagnosed cat allergy, but last Sunday when I went to see the final episode at a cat café, I was definitely much more affected than Tiger, lol. I had to take an antihistamine and only stopped having irritated eyes and nose after leaving the place. But anyway, it was a soft, easy-to-watch series. And it made me cry :)

I watched it over a couple of weeks. I started it one day simply because nothing on my list appealed to me and because there were already six episodes available thanks to iQIYI VIP, so I only had to wait for the last two to come out. I like the “time travel to save someone” premise, but personally I prefer to better understand what triggers the time travel, and in this series, not many things are explained. I was left with many questions, and I haven't found out if it's based on a novel or manhwa. If that's the case, it could be another example for my research on script problems in series. It happens a lot. I feel it happens less in Japanese series (from what I’ve seen), but it's a constant and I find it fascinating. Anyway, I'm going to find out, and if a source exists, maybe I'll read it to see if all those questions are resolved or not, which is also a possibility (like what happened with The Director Who Buys Me Dinner).

I watched this series only out of curiosity. First, someone on a Spanish-speaking Discord server mentioned it and talked about the rancid, uncomfortable humor of this series. Then I saw a TikTok content creator I like talk about it and mention that they liked it because it's not a carbon copy of The Office, but an adaptation. So, obviously (in case my fixation with adaptations isn't obvious at this point) I decided to watch it. The first two episodes didn't fully hook me, but… buuuuuut, the fact that the humor makes many references to Mexican culture (old internet memes, things that actually happen in real life workplaces) made me keep watching. There were uncomfortable moments, there were moments when I wasn't sure I understood the jokes (something that doesn't only happen to me with fiction, but in real life because of autism ._.) and there were moments when I thought maybe I wasn't enjoying it much because I was never a fan of The Office (I never saw the original and never finished the US version).

But I don't know, I kept watching until I finished it and I have to admit I did have fun, and largely it's precisely because it's really not a copy of The Office, but an adaptation of the premise (mockumentary, a work team with "the worst boss in the world") to the particular context of Mexico and what that implies. Also, it doesn't normalize the situations and it does make you squirm with cringe. God, so much, so much cringe. And to sum it up, I'll use a meme: It's horrible, I love it. Also, now I'm a fan of 3SIMM, iykyk :P

This was fun, I liked the premise and the story. I liked the idea of a stranger from our world who is such a workaholic that, upon arriving in a universe where he had no need to work, he asked for a job anyway, and how that helped solve problems in that universe, ha. But I also admit that the basis of the relationship between the protagonists is one of my favorite tropes (fuck or die~). Oops. I'm curious about the novel or manga, but I need to look for them and I don't know if they're translated.

• English version - 4/8 chapters (6914 words)
  
• Spanish version - 3/8 chapters (4690 words)
  

I have a lot of thoughts about the act of writing, the relationship with beta readers (especially given my professional background), and about how hard it is for me to self-promote (and how I avoid it as much as I can because anxiety and avoidance, I guess). I'm really enjoying the process of shaping this story that, on a normal workday, in some random week almost four months ago, assaulted me, possessed me, and made me write it.

It's been very fun to see how it transforms from my first chaotic scribbles in a notebook to the countless drafts I have in my folder (there are sooo many drafts). Also all the time I've spent reading about details of Thai culture and daily life just to have a better context for my story, even though in the end very few of what I've read appears in the final text. At one point I compared this process to academic work, where you review dozens of sources and learn a lot, but often your final reference list doesn't reflect all that time invested.

I also want to mention the importance beta readers have for me. Maybe I'll go deeper into this in another specific post about it. But here I'll just mention my relationship with the text revision process, given my profession (I've been an editor and I'm a copy editor… partially, because now my main role is as an instructional designer and I only do editing as part of a bigger process), and how at first I was very anxious about asking for the things I wanted the beta reader to do, what I wanted them to focus on, because in my profession I'm very, very picky and a horrible perfectionist (and also a pain in the ass, I have… a reputation). But at the same time I understand that a beta reader won't always have the experience or training, and that, regardless, their help is still extremely valuable because an extra pair of eyes can always see something that as an author we might take for granted, or ask questions that help clarify certain passages of the story that one understands because one conceived it, but that might not make sense to a reader. Or things like that. I got lucky and, fortunately, I found very kind and thoughtful beta readers.

I don't know when I'm going to finish working on this WIP, but I confess I started publishing it because I wanted to do it before the Khemjira special episode came out, lol.

Another thought I have about this is that all my fics are restricted access on AO3 and that maybe limits their reach, but I've never actually written for kudos or popularity. It's strange, I suppose. Thinking about readers' expectations gives me anxiety, and once I finish (or abandon, lol, sorry, it's happened many times) a fic, it's like I've written a letter to vent and put it in a bottle and thrown it into the sea. The difference is that if someone finds it and likes what they read, and if they leave me kudos or comments, it's nice, but I don't live with the expectation of having hundreds and hundreds of readers. If someone appreciates it and lets me know, it's very welcome, but nothing happens if no one likes it or leaves kudos or comments (that's also happened). And that's it… I'll come back to this later, in another post. Maybe.