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Peephole


My Thoughts

Ah, what a convoluted nightmare this manga is, but engaging at the same time. Nozoki Ana, which literally translates to peephole, is an erotic romance manga about an unwitting college student that finds himself blackmailed into playing a perverse game around a peephole with his neighbor. Kido, who is a pretty average guy, finds himself with an absurd amount of good luck with women. Like most guys, he just wants a happy relationship but ends up trapped in a psychological nightmare with the mysterious Emiru.

“In reality, relationships where you can’t show your true self – make you feel like even trivial matters might cause them to suddenly break. It’s scary…”

Nozoki Ana follows the duo through their friend group, their relationships with other people, and ultimately their strange friendship that is forged by their peeping on each other’s lives. It is a strange and questionable manga, drawing readers in with a wild premise that ends up developing into something more as the reader finds out more about the standoffish Emiru. Kido goes from various relationships, hookups, and other dangerous scenarios under the watchful eye of Emiru, as she orchestrates scenarios that force him into troublesome sexual encounters.

You want to root for Kido to get his act together and build a genuine relationship, or at least give in and get together with Emiru. The amount of cheating that happens in this manga is a serious turnoff and many readers end up understandably frustrated with the main character. Kido is a pushover for a majority of the series and seems to have a serious inability to say no when a girl comes onto him. The few times he does try to resist, he ends up attacked and placed into a situation where he can’t fight back in a few instances of attempted rape. Don’t worry though, Kido isn’t the only character that betrays others; betrayal is everywhere in this manga.

In a way, this manga was like an overly dramatized version of what dating life is like for college students, particularly in the current hookup culture that we live in. There were some surprisingly good takeaways about relationships and the horrible way that people treat each other that speak to true experiences. The story also took a bold turn with commentary about trauma and the ways in which a victim can own their trauma and learn to heal through the very thing that caused so much tragedy in their lives. I had very mixed feelings about this last part in particular; on one hand, it feels like a cheap and easy way to explain the peephole. On the other hand, it also gave me something to think about the ways in which victims of trauma interact with and come to terms with their issues.

I ended up enjoying this manga, despite the abundance of issues and frustrations with its plot and characters. Most of the characters had distinct personalities that I enjoyed, good and bad, and there are times where I found myself laughing and feeling heartbroken while reading. This manga won’t be for everyone, but it’s definitely an experience and I can see why this manga was so popular while it was still being serialized. I have to add also that I absolutely adore Emiru, she is one of my favorite characters from any manga series, so there’s that!


Warnings: explicit sex, violence, sexual assault


four-stars
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Golf With Your Friends

There is no game that is more wholesome and fun quite like mini golf. It is fun to pick a ball in your favorite color and just go at it with friends, it was an activity that I really enjoyed doing in my younger years. This game has consumed my little gaming clan, with regular golf nights where we all just get together and laugh over discord. Even with a competitive group, no one really gets all that angry and nobody really cares if they lose. I’ve found it to be a nice and relaxing way to hang out with friends, without the stress of dealing with difficult game mechanics.

The game is very straight forward and plays exactly the way you would expect it. You aim your shot, hold down your left mouse button to move the power slider, and shoot! The classic maps that come as a base for the game are all extremely colorful and cleverly designed that play smoothly and have some unique mechanics that can reward creative plays in ways that probably wouldn’t be possible in real life putt-putt. There is a nice (timed) free camera that you can use at each hole to get a view of the hole and plan your shots. It is very easy to pick up and learn for all players.

The great thing about this being a computer game is that your ball is customizable! You can use RGB sliders to change the color of your ball to your favorite color (mine is a lovely pastel pink). After playing a number of games you can also get cute little hats for your ball that won’t punish you for using them. A unicorn horn, an apple pie, and an army cap are some of the hats that I’ve seen in this game and they are all extremely cute.

There is also a course builder that players can use to create some truly outstanding and unique maps. There are a plethora that you can choose from that have been submitted by the game’s community, though I advise some caution when using these maps with new players, as some of them can be poorly built and end up glitchy, unreasonably punishing, or simply an illogical eye sore. Additionally, there are other modifications that players can make including changing the shape of your ball, or adding effects like low gravity.

It doesn’t matter what type of gamer you have in your group either! We have brought in friends that are big into shooters, MMOs, console players, and folks that really just aren’t that into video games and everyone was able to have a good time. You have the option to play the game solo as well, though the online support to play with others is where it’s really at. Priced under $10, honestly this game is really reasonably priced for a genuinely fun and competitive gaming experience with a group of friends.


Let’s Discuss!

  • Do you enjoy mini golf?
  • Can a game version of mini golf match up to real mini golf?
  • Even if you aren’t a gamer, is this something that you can see yourself playing?

Game Information

Golf With Your Friends
Publisher: Team17 Digital
Developer: Blacklight Interactive
Release Date: Aug 16, 2019
Genres: Mini Golf
Players: Single player, Multiplayer
Platforms: Steam
Steam

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Star Ratings – the trouble with using them

I have been going back and forth about whether or not to use star ratings for a while. I used them heavily in the past, removed them for a while, and added them back. I still use them on my Goodreads but honestly, I have been on the fence about removing those for fear of backlash. I feel bad about giving a low star rating to a book.

The reason I take issue is that I found them kind of arbitrary and entirely subjective. One person’s five-star read could be an abysmal one-star for others. On top of that, there is no good scale for rating a book with stars. Do I give a book or video game lots of stars because I enjoyed reading it, even though subjectively it’s not that good? Or do I give it lots of stars because it is well made, even though I personally didn’t enjoy it?

There were many instances where I couldn’t decide what to rate a book and did half stars. Or times when I rated a book low but found myself thinking about it and coming to appreciate it later because it is a beautiful piece of work that I couldn’t forget. This was especially the case for Fuan no Tane, a horror manga I found so underwhelming while reading it but had nightmares about for days after. Conversely, I found that I went from a dazzling four-star rating for The Road when I first read the book but lowered it over time. The more that I thought about the book, the more I disliked it; the author’s lack of punctuation drove me insane, and the dedicated fan base made me start to hate the book after seeing so much criticism of those that had the audacity to give the book a low rating. When I review anime and manga on MyAnimeList I find myself struggling every single time. Don’t even get me started on the times I gave a book a low rating, and an author messaged me to ask why. Opinions change over time, and I found myself regretting or not really feeling that the rating that I gave a book or anime matched what I ended up writing about it.


Let’s Discuss!

  • Do you use star ratings on your reviews?
  • Am I just full of it or do you feel the same?
  • Do you honestly put any weight to other blogger’s star ratings?