Our Favourite Media of May 2025

[helloladies]

Each month, we look back over the media we loved in the previous month, from books to film to video games and more. This entry in the series was written a while ago, but we haven't posted a favorite media since then, so we're posting it now for maximum completion!

Anna

Our Song Season 1 (2019) — I consider myself very unmusical so I was surprised by how much I loved this Chinese singing competition! It was amazing! The show pairs established singers with newcomers, to compete as pairs. I love how excited everyone was to learn from each other, and the rapport with the teams. It’s very firmly in the genre of reality TV shows where the contestants like and support each other.

I found myself rewatching many of the performances again and again. Sometimes I would go learn a bit about the history of the song or look up the lyrics and then watch a few more times. I watched semi-synchronously with a friend and between the two of us we learned so much about the history of popular music in China.

Susan

Sinners (2025) — I had no idea what to expect from Sinners beyond "The Devil Went Down to Georgia, but with vampires and the mob," and honestly I don't know if I could have expected it. The music! The contrast between the Smokestack Twins trying to build a community and bring others with them, versus the vampire forcing people into his "family!" The protagonists keeping and creating their own identities, versus the vampire as representation of forced cultural assimilation! The fight scenes! The visuals! The music! God, there was so much going on and I am still turning it over in my brain, but it was excellent.

Frieren S1-2 — This might be the first show I've watched with a long-lived character where time actually feels like it has weight. Frieren's scale of experience is so different to that of every other character, and watching her trying to fumble her way towards bridging that gap is delightful. And I loved that the show itself is focused on the small moments of living! Like, there are fights and Heroic Quests and things, but they're not the point – the point is what those fights and those quests reveal about Frieren and the people around her. It's such a quiet show, and I really enjoyed it.