Media log

This is a short, informational book about horse ethology ! Not an essay nor a fiction, but I've read it so why would I not include it here :D

The book is giving academic informations about horse ethology, how to "read" a horse, and what kind of behavior do horses display thorough their life. A colleague of mine lent it to me after I told her I will go in vacation at my friend Léa's family house in the countryside in August, and that part of our programm is to spend time and work the horses! I don't know horses well but I do know dogs, and we like to talk about behaviors and animal well-being with Léa. I can't wait to meet her horses.

The book had a lot of pictures and explanations, which was great to better understand horses' behavior. However I have to say I'm a little disappointed, because I don't fully feel like I've learned a lot? It goes fairly quickly over a broad range of situation, and even though it does go into a little details and cite academic papers, I did feel a little fast. I think I would have liked even more pictures and more precise descriptions.

It highly encourages reinforcement methods (instead of punishment and neglect) and emphasizes the well-being of animals, which is great MOSTLY within the horse industry. I generally liked the vibe and it made me even more impatient to meet my friend's horses (and to introduce them to my dog)!

Super touching and fun movie! I loved it for both its story/storytelling and art (loved the style: it made me want to look into studio Madhouse).

I also THOROUGHLY enjoyed the "non-romanticized" sight of Japan, and the depiction of very real crass, violence and struggles. The movie is not making it weird, or just showing violence on screen for the sake of it, and I appreciated it.

I developped a lot of fondness for the characters, they're all very fun and touching in a way :) Although I was not that much of a fan of the "family is everything" subtext. I felt like it lacked depth and nuance. Didn't prevent me from having a nice time though.

I never read the summary, and didn't expect LGBTQI+ themes to be anywhere in such movie. I was surprised (mostly pleasantly?) to see Mlle Hana being a queer character holding a main role that I found to be much more than just comic relief. Definitely unsuuuuure about how I feel about her despiction, and I highly doubt she'd been written with LGBTQI+ representation in mind. But I do believe she works well and was written and animated with kindness. She feels caricatural in a way that remains more subtle than plain prejudices and misconceptions to me (but please, trans women and old f**g on the internet go give a lecture to this little trans dude if he's being rude).