Manga Review - 'Anne of Green Gables (Manga Classics)' by Crystal S. Chan (Story Adaptor), Kuma Chan (Artist), Daria Rhodes (Letterer), Stacy King (Contributor), L.M. Montgomery (Original Author)

First 'Jane Eyre' in 'Manga Classics', and now I talk about the 'Anne of Green Gables' 'Manga Classic'.

Spoilers for 'Anne of Green Gables' ahead:

The manga adaptation is lovely and stunning, almost as much as the original, enchanting children's classic. Like the 'Jane Eyre' manga, it is very much faithful, and leaves nearly nothing out when telling its heroine's coming-of-age story, in passionate, caring, respectful detail.

A few lines of dialogue and inner thoughts make no sense (I think there may have been translation issues?), and dear Diana's role is diminished near the end in favour of Anne's relationship with Gilbert - in fact, Diana doesn't appear at all after Matthew's funeral. Anne has many blossoming, blooming relationships with the women and girls in her life, so why does her story have to end with a boy?!

But the manga artwork goes all out in detail, shades, shadows, and expressiveness. And humour. Anne and all the principal characters are wonderful, memorable, and three-dimensional as always.

Anne Shirley is an amazing, adorable and charismatic young heroine, and her growth and development at Green Gables and Avonlea, alongside Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, her neighbours, her schoolfriends, her favourite (female) teacher, and just about every elderly woman she meets, are just as beautifully realised (and raised!) as in the 1908 novel.

The only two parts I think this 'Manga Classic' doesn't adapt on any level: Matthew's fear of women (besides his sister), to the point where he is unable to buy Anne a new, puffed-sleeved dress because it would mean talking to a female clerk (the manga just cuts to him giving Anne the dress as a Christmas present); and Anne's accident from falling off a roof on a dare. I wonder what creative choices brought those to be omitted completely over everything else from the book?

Jerry Buote is even less of a presence than in OG 'Anne of Green Gables', if that's possible. I don't think he ever actually appears. He's forgotten about as soon as Matthew first mentions his name.

In whatever media it is adapted, 'Anne of Green Gables' is a story - and character! - that remains; that endures; that will always live on in people's hearts - touching, warming, moving, and inspiring generation after generation.

A sweet, sunshiny, heartfelt, endearing, timeless girls' coming-of-age classic.


My review of 'Anne of Green Gables'

My review of 'Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel' (by Mariah Marsden and Brenna Thummler)

My review of 'Anne: An Adaptation of Anne of Green Gables (Sort Of)'


Final Score (for 'Anne of Green Gables (Manga Classics)'): 4/5

Manga Review - 'Jane Eyre (Manga Classics)' by Crystal S. Chan (Story Adaptor), Stacy King (English Script Adaptor), SunNeko Lee (Artist), Charlotte Brontë (Original Author)

A manga adaptation of one of my favourite books. Of course I had to check it out.

To my pleasant surprise, it is excellent, and faithful. It is passionately, caringly, articulately, rather elegantly adapted, told with loving respect, thoughtfulness and mindfulness to the story, the characters, and to Charlotte Brontë. The artwork is fairly standard for manga, that is nonetheless well-detailed, expressive, emotional, bold and beautiful, like the characters of Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester themselves.

And wow is the story of 'Jane Eyre' more pious than I remember LOL, and this 'Manga Classic' is not really much "updated" in terms of modern feminism and ethics and and equal human rights.

I especially have to wonder about the line at the end in regard to little Adèle: 'As she grew, a sound English education corrected in great measure her French defects; she became pleasing, good-tempered, and well-principled.' I hope this is meant as a reflection of 19th century English snobbishness and elitism; more than outright racism and xenophobia. I hope. And since when has Adèle not been 'pleasing, good-tempered, and well-principled'?

But overall, what a great, passionate, raw, mysterious, dark, daring, and touching gothic love story - a classic for a reason - with a strong-and-brave-at-heart-and-in-mind protagonist, Jane Eyre. She is feminist, in that she is self-respecting and noncompromising in living her life how she wants, where she does what she loves, and loves whoever, above all!

My review of the original 'Jane Eyre' novel can be read here.

Final Score: 4/5

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear sorceress, Internet Witch and Fantasy Feminist Artemis Crescent, happy birthday to me... 🥳🎉🎂🥮🕯🎈🍬🔮🪄🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

Scribble #157

Billionaires (and richer) don't have friends. They have accomplices. And sycophants and brownnosers.

Accomplices, sycophants and brownnosers of avaricious frauds, conmen and criminals, aka billionaires (and richer).

Everybody is equal. Every human being is equal. No one is lesser, for whatever arbitrary, societal, cultural and manmade reason; if you think less of anyone based on money, class, gender, gender identity (or lack thereof), race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, (dis)ability, (dis)order, condition, background, religion and faith (or lack thereof) - anything to do with intersectionality - you are wrong, you are bigoted, you are a blind, enabling, arse-kissing tool of a rigid, limited, suffocating, suffering, cruel, corrupt, fascist capitalist and bureaucratic system, and you are denying and rejecting humanity and sentience - other people's, and your own, by not acknowledging your own humanity and sentience in others, who are therefore as deserving of rights, respect and autonomy as you are.

Accept and embrace difference, diversity and divergence. It's human nature. It's natural. It's normal. It's a given. It's the bare minimum. Get over yourself. Stop being so selfish and self-hating.

Let's trust and love each other again.

Let's openly promote kindness, compassion, caring, and empathy as essential, vital human values again.

It's not hard to be empathetic. It really isn't.

The first big step to healing a sick, corrupt system - and destroying the patriarchy in all its self-serving, self-profiting fascism and incompetence once and for all - is to hold men accountable. That's it. It's really that simple. Make sure that men are made responsible for their actions, and stick to it, no matter how rich and powerful and capitalist they are. Stop rewarding them for evil actions. Stop rewarding them for bad behaviour. And for narcissism and sociopathy (for if you reward terrible people for doing terrible things, they are going to keep doing terrible things). Stop celebrating them. Stop going easy on them and their inflated, thin-skinned, fragile and selfish egos. Stop giving them the benefit of the doubt. Stop openly admiring them.

Stop admiring, idolising and rewarding men for what, if they were women, they would instead be despised, ostracised and blacklisted.

On that note, when it comes to women, especially when it comes to women, "blacklisted" is usually code for "they know too much."

"Cancel culture" is just pointing out wrongdoings, that are happening right in front of us, in reality, and making sure that people behave like adults and are held accountable for their own actions. Like, when they harm other people; intentionally or not, there is no excuse. "Sorry" and sincere apologies are also a given; basic politeness, in acknowledging mistakes (for everybody makes those), and trying to rectify and do good.

Misogyny and the cishet-normative white supremacist patriarchy are the insidious poison that is destroying our society - by deliberately dividing us, instead of uniting us, and it's all in the service of filling the pockets and vaults of the privileged, spoiled, entitled and deluded 1%, for all eternity, for them -  and we need to recognise and dismantle this toxic, abusive, evil system once and for all for us to survive.

If only cismen had menstrual cycles it would not be a taboo subject and would not be made shameful and something to hide - men would take and claim it as a sign of pride and strength and "true manhood" and superiority and they would never shut the fuck up about it and would shove it publicly, obnoxiously in our faces all the fucking time and would proudly associate it with violence and aggression and therefore superiority and would use it to excuse literally anything. By that same talking point, if only cismen could get pregnant, their bodily autonomy would be respected, no question. They would universally be allowed to get abortions. The "abortion issue" would not exist. It would not be an issue. There would be no "pro-life" bullshit, since men's lives are automatically seen as more important. There would never be any laws or legislations against it. Abortion would be a given. No question. Men's bodies and reproductive rights would not be fucking controlled and policed. In the patriarchy, men are undeniably respected and listened to, and can get away with whatever they want, after all. They are not seen as "domestic" (aka "homemakers") and 100% "family orientated", after all. They are not marginalised, taken for granted, unappreciated, and seen as second-class citizens and inferior.

Non-Fiction Book Review - 'The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson'

The big one. 'The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson', containing all of her found poems (presumably). 1,775 of them, in this 716-page tome.

I admit to skimming, but I can still appreciate Emily Dickinson's writings and unappreciated genius for her time. I don't like all of the poems I read all the way through, and, at least in the 1960 edition (edited by Thomas H. Johnson) I bought, they seem to be included in a random order, with absolutely nothing to categorise them or divide them into themed sections - they're just added in. This made for a further difficult read.

But it's Emily Dickinson, one of the greatest female writers and poetesses of the most beautiful, powerful, passionate, poignant, profound, touching, eclectic and wide-range poetry of all time. And lesbian icon.

She sure liked daisies, lilies (all flowers and nature, really), birds, bees, butterflies, angels, the colour purple, and the subject of death (and heaven), didn't she?

My review of 'The Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson' can be found here.

Final Score: 3.5/5

Non-Fiction Book Review - 'The Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson'

It was about time I looked into the poems of Emily Dickinson, even though I am not a poetry person.

But maybe I am now, for classic poetry especially, for these selected poems (out of the 1,775 total that Emily wrote), divided into the sections or 'Books' - Life, Love, Nature, and Time and Eternity - are achingly, hauntingly, cerebrally beautiful. And delicate, creative and passionate. Gossamer, yet powerful and hard-hitting. Yes, Emily, they are "alive" and they do in fact "breathe".

There is nothing I can say to describe Emily Dickinson's poetry, her small vignettes, that hasn't been said better by others for over a hundred years.

Emily Dickinson - a recluse isolated in her room in her family home (how I relate!), a misunderstood, creative, sensitive, centred, squirrelly genius, one of the greatest poetesses of all time, and a lesbian icon.

Read her poems, which will take your breath away, and leave you impressed, and in awe of her talent and way of observing the world, unappreciated during her lifetime.

I love the cover of the Wordsworth Poetry Edition I got, as well.

Final Score: 4/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Adventure Time Compact Edition: Princess Power!!!' by Various

'Adventure Time Compact Edition: Princess Power!!!'

Less princesses than I anticipated. Far more of Finn and Jake, too.

Still, it is a fun 'Adventure Time' collected issues comic. Some of the stories are really clever and twisty. Just as cartoony, funny, subversive and surreal as the animated series.

I swear Lumpy Space Princess has more panel time than Princess Bubblegum, though. And Marceline is underused and undermined, which is all kinds of sad.

At least it's more entertaining and closer to canon than 'Marcy & Simon'.

More girly 'Adventure Time' comic reviews (including 'Fionna & Cake'! and especially Marceline specials!):


'Marceline Gone Adrift'

'Adventure Time: Marceline'

'Marceline and The Scream Queens'

'Marceline the Pirate Queen'

'Adventure Time: Seeing Red'

'Adventure Time: Thunder Road'

'Adventure Time: Bitter Sweets'

'Marcy & Simon'

'Adventure Time with Fionna and Cake'

'Adventure Time: The Fionna and Cake Compendium Vol. 1'

'Adventure Time with Fionna & Cake: Party Bash Blues'


Final Score (for 'Princess Power!!!'): 3.5/5