2024 Mandarin Media Yap

14 Jan, 2025

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Welcome to A Tian's Language Blog, a place where I can procrastinate my language learning by writing about it, and you can procrastinate yours by reading about it!

I’m A Tian (or 啊天ъ), a native English speaker from the US learning Russian and Mandarin. I follow the advice given at Refold, a guide and community for learning languages. If you're not familiar with me or Refold, you might be interested in my previous posts.

Today I needed to write way too much about the stuff I've read and watched in Mandarin since my last post! I won't be listing everything for each category, just what stuck out as a good or bad experience.

Thank you to everyone who wrote me nice messages and emails over the last year! They genuinely made me super happy. I'm sorry to say this is not an update on my Mandarin progress--I don't feel ready for that post yet. My motivation and effort have been all over the place, but I think this post will demonstrate that I'm still going.

Reading

Books

鱷魚手記 [Notes of a Crocodile]

A classic of Taiwanese queer literature, written in a very strange format and with utterly insufferable characters. The main character is a self-destructive queer college student in early 90s Taiwan, and she just has weird conversations with people, interspersed with winding internal monologues and a really clunky metaphor about crocodiles.

I can appreciate some of the pain and frustration the author went through, and it's especially sad considering 30 years later Taiwan has made so much progress, but I did not like this book. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone that isn't specifically trying to learn about Taiwan's literature and queer history. I pair-read it with a friend which made it bearable.

Adachi & Shimamura (transl. from Japanese)

"The" yuri light novel series. A weird kind of comfort-boring? I blasted through 11 volumes without many lookups and using text-to-speech to help me read faster.

Overall, I strongly disliked that neither Adachi nor Shimamura seemed to have their own personal interests or passions (or even feelings, a lot of the time). It was hard for me to relate to, and it's something I find unappealing when I look for friends or dates. However, I can appreciate the idea of just cruising through life, not really understanding who you are or what you want, and finding joy in little moments--I have times like that too.

I also had the vibe that the author was afraid to put romance in their romance story. I've also had times when I wasn't sure I was crushing on someone or if someone was into me, but I wouldn't write 10+ volumes about it, or if I did I think it could have been done in a more entertaining or at least emotional way.

Homage to Catalonia (transl. from English)

The memoir of George Orwell (the 1984/Animal Farm guy) from his time fighting against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War. Not a gripping story, especially all the stuff about various tiny political parties and newspapers that are long past relevance, but I was in the mood for something grounded and leftist, and this delivered, so I enjoyed it. Lots of unfamiliar war and political vocab I was happy to pick up.

Butter (transl. from Japanese)

Picked this up for a book club--I couldn't find an ebook version in Chinese, and it only had a limited run in print, so I had to have a forwarding service in Taiwan get a second-hand copy for me. First book I've finished in print!

A Japanese novel about a reporter who's trying to interview a serial killer, who she connects with through food and cooking. Touches on a lot about fatphobia and misogyny and women's roles in relationships. I think those are important issues, and I probably largely agree with the author's stances, but I hated this book. It feels like barely anything happens (it is not really a book about murder, as it's been advertised), none of the characters were likable or even interesting, even when they're behaving really strangely. It's also way too long, and I was definitely skimming by the end.

It's filled with extremely long descriptions of food and cooking, and I'm not much of a foodie or cook, so it was just straight up boring and unrelatable, and I've heard the same from reviewers who are really into food. I'm also a vegetarian (basically vegan), and I haven't processed all of my emotions around that yet. While I'm not too bothered by individual references to people enjoying animal products in real life or in media, it was extremely grating to read a lengthy novel where animal products almost represent this sacred, benevolent power in the main character's life and are talked about constantly.

膜 [The Membranes]

Another Taiwanese queer classic. The main character is a 30-year-old skincare technician in a city under the sea in the year 2100, and it covers a couple of her meetings with clients, her life of dull discontent, her tragic past, and the hidden layers behind it all.

The Membranes kinda kicked ass, and it's really cool that an "outdated" sci-fi story by a 23-year-old from 1995 could hit me so hard in so many places. It's got trans stuff, it's got climate stuff, it's got anti-capitalist (unless I'm projecting) stuff, and it's got all these sour and numb emotions around interpersonal relationships, careers, and identity. It also wraps its metaphors around everything (har har) in a way that almost seems excessive but is at the same time impressive, and it left me with a lot of questions to ponder on.

It's not a happy story. Some scenes were very icky, and I didn't like how "tell, don't show" the ending was, but it's something I will definitely reread, and I recommend reading without spoiling yourself (although I would look for content warnings if you're sensitive to any topics).

Comics

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (transl. from Japanese)

The smash hit about an elven wizard that helped saved the world from the Demon King and what she got up to with her immortal life afterwards.

I'm all the way caught up on the manga, and my favorite chapters are mostly past where season 1 of the anime ended, so you've definitely got great stuff to look forward to if you're anime-only.

It's wandering elven melancholy and badass wizard fights. There was no way I wasn't going to enjoy Frieren, and I loved it so much that I started working on a TTRPG inspired by it!

To Your Eternity (transl. from Japanese)

Only about 2/3 of the way through to where the manga's currently at. Another story of wandering immortal melancholy to inspire my TTRPG, but this time it's a shapeshifting rock, and the story covers a lot more time periods and sets of characters than Frieren. Can be very brutal and sad.

NANA (transl. from Japanese)

About a 1/3 of the way through. A story of two young women in Tokyo with the same name. One's a rocker, one's a small-town girl. Sooo much excellent drama--very different from the fantasy and comedy stuff I read, so I never expected to like this kind of story. I've heard it unfortunately will probably never get a proper ending, and I've had a hard time finding good scans of the Traditional Chinese version to continue reading, so I'm probably dropping it unless I get the print version.

戀愛疾走 [Love Scamper]

Unfortunately the only Taiwanese comic under my belt so far. Short, simple, sweet lesbian office romcom. I liked that the art and character designs seemed different from most Japanese and Chinese stuff I've read. Very comprehensible, do recommend for learners!

Visual Novels

話語：百合 [Lingua Fleur: Lily]

I read this on the basis that it's Taiwan's only voiced GL visual novel, so without reading the description in detail I was expecting a fluffy romance between quiet nerd and loud jock, but it's actually about the protagonist struggling to accept that she's gay and getting over her past feelings for someone. The main characters are college classmates, and the story covers the start of their friendship and how they begin helping each other grow.

The voice acting felt pretty amateurish, but the art and music are cute enough, and I felt the writing was very enjoyable. It was a smooth read for my level, the 2 main characters both felt like they had a decent amount of depth expressed in a relatively small wordcount, and I felt like the point-of-view character's struggles with socializing, her past relationship, her body image, and her identity were super relatable.

前進吧！高捷少女Initiating Station PLUS [Forward! KRT Girls Initiating Station PLUS]

One of my favorite discoveries is that Kaohsiung's (large city in Taiwan) Rapid Transit system created a minor media franchise of anime-style mascots, including this visual novel, several KRT Girls light novels, a KRT Boys light novel, comics, several songs, vtubers, and various merch.

Initiating Station introduces the first 4 KRT Girls, and is told from the perspective of Xiaoqiong (voiced by KSP, now one of Taiwan's most popular vtubers), who has just moved to Kaohsiung to start a new job, only to find out not everything is turning out like she'd planned. Her neighbors are 3 girls that work for the metro, and she quickly becomes good friends with all of them.

Extremely typical slice-of-life stuff so it was very easy to read, plus it's fully voiced!

Anyway the propaganda worked, I think the concept is super cute and fun, and I ordered all of the KRT Girls/Boys light novels I could find on various auction sites, I regularly jam out to 下一站與你 (sung by KSP), and I am definitely more interested in visiting Kaohsiung when I go to Taiwan!

末路之旅_高雄篇 [Impasse Journey: Kaohsiung Chapter]

A fully voiced visual novel also set in Kaohsiung! 30 years after conflict between China and Taiwan ends in world nuclear war, a girl from the southern tip of the island passes through Kaohsiung on her way north, and she becomes embroiled in a local political conflict on the way.

My Chinese wasn't good enough to understand parts of the story or catch a lot of references (particularly to Taiwanese history), but I really enjoyed it! I want to play it again after I have studied for longer and had a chance to visit Kaohsiung.

Some criticisms:

• Not many fight scenes, but they were kinda long or over-the-top
• I didn't like how the women were drawn all with their shirts shrinkwrapped to their boobs and tiny skirts like an erotic game, even though it's not that kind of game at all, and it didn't feel like it fit their personalities
• Too many references to other media and details about military equipment
• Villain was unreasonably unreasonable/unlikeable
• Art style for some images seemed way different than others

Some things I liked:

• Mix of slice-of-life, action, and political drama! It felt like the story had a lot of variety.
• Qiongqi is so cool!!! I'm glad she was the protagonist! And I ship her with every other girl in the story!
• A mostly pacifist group in a post-apocalypse where everything wasn't totally wiped out and people kinda have their shit together a few decades later felt like a really interesting and unique setting
• I liked that the achievements explained various real-life items people who aren't from Kaohsiung might not recognize (snacks, tech, etc.). I felt proud for already knowing about kuai kuai (well-behaved, said to children) candy from watching streamers when it came up.

There were several voice actors I recognized too, including 李昀晴 (Frieren), 錢欣郁 (Mio from K-On!, Lucy from Fairy Tail), and my favorite for cutesy anime characters 傅其慧 (Mugi from K-On!, Emilia from Re:Zero, Happy and Wendy from Fairy Tail). They all did a great job!

With such a big cast and big story that seemed very open to continue, I really hope there will be a follow-up, but it doesn't look like the game sold well unfortunately.

Listening/Watching

Podcasts

跑團的胖胖們 [Chubby Adventurers]

Taiwan's only podcast running a wide variety of indie tabletop roleplaying games (others are focused on the big corpo names--Dungeons & Dragons and Call of Cthulhu).

Teens in the overgrown post-apocalypse, sparkly aliens searching for a rock to call home, cyberpunk agents trying to recall their identities, anime cliche highschoolers fighting through a military base to rescue their senpai--the Adventurers have been through it all! Their content is full of so much creativity, effort, and variety, and I love them so so much.

I'm really sad they haven't picked up more traction. I've also heard they won't be able to keep up a regular schedule anymore due to one of the group member's job change :(

喜咧跨蝦米 [transviews_pod]

The only podcast from Taiwan I'm aware of that focuses on trans issues. Casual chats between the hosts, a trans man and trans woman, and various queer people about their lives. Only a few episodes in, but enjoying it so far!

有空間沒時間Spatial High Ch.

A tiny podcast just featuring two weeby girls (who are also vtubers individually) chatting about whatever, clear audio, no background music, sometimes hard subs. I don't even feel like I have much in common with them, I just vibe with their conversations.

Youtube

超級歪SuperY

A Taiwanese PhD student in the Netherlands who makes the closest thing to the kinds of breadtubey video essays I love to binge in English. He covers things like media reviews, philosophy topics, political movements, often by summarizing books that have recently had a Mandarin translation. His videos also have matching subs! Super recommend!

有話好說PTSTalk

A daily show from a Taiwanese government-sponsored news network, where the host introduces a popular topic in the news (local and international elections, wars, sports, etc.), then has a panel discussion with various experts, often professors at Taiwanese universities. Awesome source for expanding my ability in the political/news domain, easier for me to jump into than reading news articles, and fairly entertaining for me too, since I often feel isolated from big interesting news stories while focusing on language learning.

Shows

Girls Band Cry (subs, transl. from Japanese)

Girls forming a band and growing as friends with gay vibes is basically my favorite genre, and this is my favorite animated example of that genre. The 3D animation is very unique and somehow preserves the 2D anime feel, and I like that the characters are older than those in Bocchi the Rock! and K-On! and that Girls Band Cry is a little more drama-focused than those series.

Really hope it gets a season 2 + a manga or light novel version--it definitely felt like there was a lot left to do with the characters.

I watched with subs and it really strained my reading abilities! Feels like it's taking much longer for my reading speed in Chinese to catch up than in Russian.

Chainsaw Man (transl. from Japanese)

You probably already know if you'll like Chainsaw Man, I'm just letting you know there's a dub on Netflix (not at all common for anime outside Ghibli movies) if you VPN to Taiwan, and I thought it was great!

Sound! Euphonium (subs, transl. from Japanese)

I grew up playing in orchestra and band in school, so I wanted to love this show, but the yuri-baiting killed it for me. That's all.

Frieren (transl. from Japanese)

It has a Taiwanese Mandarin dub now, and it's pretty dang good! I especially like Frieren's voice acting. Go watch it here (Taiwan VPN possibly required).

Movies

Liz & the Bluebird (subs, transl. from Japanese)

A spinoff movie from Sound! Euphonium that is probably my favorite film now. It's about the friendship between a flautist and an oboist from the show's wind ensemble, and the conflict and emotions are just so subtle and delicate, and the music and animation are gorgeous. I had to watch it twice in a row when my friend showed it to me, and I'm looking forward to watching it many more times if I learn Japanese.

Look Back (subs, transl. from Japanese)

A wonderful and tragic story about two manga artists that meet as children and become extremely close. A friend convinced me to watch it with them, and I expected to be bored since I've never had any particular interest in drawing, but I loved it. The story's relatable for anyone with a drive to create or to master a skill.

美國女孩 [American Girl]

The main character's a teenage girl whose mother has cancer, and so they return to Taiwan for treatment under the nationalized healthcare system there. The 2002 SARS epidemic strikes sometime after.

The story wasn't thrilling, but it touched on a lot of interesting topics for me as an American that's interacted with Taiwanese and Taiwanese-Americans. It depicts a lot of emotional strife caused by very common pressures, like the girl struggles with not being able to write well in Chinese, going from being a top student to failing, and she suffers verbal abuse and corporal punishment in the Taiwanese school system for factors that are out of her control.

The English dialogue was probably the worst part; the writing wasn't always natural, and it was clear that one of the child actors wasn't totally native-like. 7.5/10?

該死的阿修羅 [Goddamned Asura]

A kinda weird one. Shows what-if scenarios for several characters revolving around a random shooting in a Taiwanese market. I think the takeaway was supposed to be that there's always tragedy for somebody, which is not really a message I 100% agree with or really care for, even as a pretty pessimistic person. Did not like, but did not hate.

海角七號 [Cape No. 7]

The highest-grossing domestic film in Taiwan. The main character tries to find the recipient of love letters written when the Japanese occupation of Taiwan was ending, while also forming a ragtag rock band of wacky local misfits under the management of a washed-up Japanese model. Super fun watch!

Vtubers

Watching vtubers play video games or throwing on a 雜談 ["just chatting"] stream while walking has been my main form of immersion, but I know a lot of people don't care about vtubers, so I put this category last :P

I hope this can be a jumping off point if you want to try getting into Taiwanese vtubers. Taiwan seems like it has an absurd number of high quality vtubers per-capita, so these are just some that I've watched enough to know I generally like! There are many that are more popular than most of these on YouTube, and tons more on Twitch, which I rarely visit.

#mandarin