6/16 - 7/4
-Weekly (it's been more than a week) Reads-
Useless Ponko: read my thoughts on it here.
Lackadaisy: My friend was recommending this to me, so I read the first volume of the comic. I’m pretty sure this is an animation as well. Anthropomorphic cats set during the 1920s speakeasy era with a Sepia tone aesthetic. The dialogue is also pretty humorous.
Dracula: I really liked the first part with Jonathan chilling in the castle with Dracula. Now that it’s Mina and Lucy (+ suitors) I feel like I’m being ping ponged around with their pov’s. And obviously it’s all leading up to Dracula and vampire stuff (very cool), but also this work has been unintentionally funny in some parts.
Yotsuba: need I say more.
-Games Played-
LiEat: read my thoughts on it here.
Class of ‘09 + Re-up: it’s really fun and the humour feels like the ghost stories dub. It took me a single afternoon to get through the first game, so now I’m on the Re-up. 3/7 endings so far yipee. I loved when Nicole got shot by a cop <3
6/6 - 6/15
Happy Birthday to this website! Can’t believe it’s been a year already :3
-Weekly (ish) Reads-
Can’t Stop Cursing You: read my thoughts on it here.
The Villainess Flips the Script: It’s cute and lighthearted. I read up until season one (and a tad bit of s2). I really prefer the scanlator title “It’s Time to Change the Genre”. It’s a much cooler title imo. But regardless, while I do like the characters of Judith and Luka, I don’t care abt the ML. Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of the “cold duke who never smiles and has big muscles blah blah blah” trope.
What Do You Wish For With Those Murky Eyes: This is like the opposite of isekai wish fulfillment. The mc gets reincarnated in a poor farmer family and ends up as a soldier in war, so as you can imagine, he is having the time of his life. It’s a gritty, grimdark-type of fantasy world. Heavy on battle tactics and some politics.
Our Wives Under the Sea: read my thoughts on it here.
-Games Played-
LiEat: Part II is donezo!! Just one more part to go.
5/30 - 6/5
Updated some layouts :D My coding skills are iffy, but everything should look fine… theoretically. Also since 123guestbook is shutting down I switched to smartgb.
-Weekly (ish) Reads-
I’m Trapped with the Male Lead in a Horror Game: obligatory isekai villainess story of the week. This one isn’t super cliche, and I can sniff the incoming angst. It’s also fun how the system keeps pulling bullshit on the mc, she can’t catch a break. I just wish there were more horror elements. Sort of like how in ‘How to Survive as a Maid in a Horror Game’ it can be very creepy at times. Because comparatively, there hasn’t really been anything scary about this mansion (unless giant angry teddy bears are threatening to you)
Our Wives Under the Sea: Due to procrastination, I have been reading this book for ten thousand years. But I’m almost done with it!! I didn’t expect to learn so many ocean-related facts from this book, but the more you know. There’s also all that quiet grief, but we shall discuss at a later time.
-Games Played-
LiEat: This game was on sale and it’s from the same developer as Alicemare, so I decided to get it. The story and worldbuilding are cool, and the game mechanics are pretty straightforward. I finished with part one, and it’s really fun so far.
5/7 - 5/28
I love how my last entry was declaring “I’m back”, and then I proceeded to fuck off for two weeks.
But but, I’ve got a good reason. I went on a trip to France and Belgium with my grandma. It was really fun and I had a good time (I’m going to miss having reliable public transportation). We went to the biggest bookstore in Lille… so of course I spent my time staring at manga. I was pretty tempted to purchase something tbh, but I couldn’t think of any reason to have manga in French. However, I did get a copy of The Little Prince. This book makes me feel so nostalgic and I'm glad I now have a copy in it's original language.
Oh, and to anyone who cares, I lost my 4.0 gpa. It’s a 3.9 now since I got an A- in two classes (what a tragedy, this is the start of my downward spiral into failure).
-Weekly (it's been more than a week) Reads-
Houseki no Kuni: read my thoughts on it here.
Tonari no Aki to wa Kakawaranai: short and sweet josei romance. I actually dropped it at ch. 12 (just two chapters away from the finale). While I appreciate having an aged-up office romance, it was just too vanilla for me. Nothing against it, I was just bored.
Shin Tokyo: The cover art looked cool so here we are. It’s a pretty average edgy manga, just a bunch of school kids dying. It took three chapters before getting hit with the gratuitous panty shot. Which generally never fails to crack me up at the ridiculous angles and poses mangaka’s pull for this shit.
-Watched-
Queen’s Gambit: I know I’m late to the party,, but I finally watched Queen’s Gambit. My thoughts in three words: It was good. I really liked Beth’s character, her flaws were interesting and I was always rooting for her. The romance aspects were sort of meh for me tbh, but other than that I really enjoyed it.
2/23 - 5/6
I’m back on my bullshit ^_^
I blinked and now it’s May. This is my least favorite month, but I’m almost done with this semester!! so I guess there’s some good things with May. Will I still have a 4.0 gpa? (no, but I’m delusional optimistic). I just finished taking a final, so all I can think about right now is schoolwork,, pls bear with me.
I was going through it™, so I skipped going to lab for 3 weeks straight for my BioAnth class (oh yeah I’ve never mentioned before I’m an anthropology major lol). When it was time for the lab exam I was just taking shots in the dark when identifying bones. I couldn’t even tell the difference between a male and female skeleton! I was trying to measure the pelvis to see which was wider, and I stg they were the fucking same. Also shoutout to Homo Erectus for having a distinct looking skull and not making me doubt my sanity. The funniest part was that I scored the highest in the class, I know this bc the exam was curved and I got a 100. I’ve got no idea how that happened lmao, and somehow that’s the second time in this class (out of 3 exams) that I’ve scored the highest. The results speak for themselves, I must be a genius of some sort (this is a joke I’m joking).
The highlight of these past couple of months is when I skipped my classes and chilled (ie: ceased to be a tangible human being, no sentience, I was lost in the sauce or whatever) in the library for 7 hours straight. It was also nice when I brought an orange with me to eat for lunch. Then I was hit with memories of highschool and eating lunch with my best friend. He always brought a gigantic orange that he’d slowly peel while we talked, and we would share the slices together. Now I’ve moved away and I’m in college, so instead I’m eating an orange by myself in the library and there’s no one to share the slices with. I couldn’t help but think about all those poems about oranges and friendship... yeah anyways, a few weeks ago I had a discord call with him on his birthday and we played minecraft together for hours, so everything is fine I’m just dramatic. Stay tuned for my mundane life updates.
This entry about my personal life is wayy longer than usual, so sorry abt that I’m just feeling chatty and more high energy than usual. It’s also to make up for the fact that I don’t have manga to write about since I haven’t read any recently. But I’m finally starting to push past my brain fog so yay.
-Watched-
Thesis (1996): A Spanish thriller movie that follows a film student named Angela who's working on her thesis project about violence in film. She ends up stumbling upon a snuff film and realizes that the girl in the film is a missing student at her university. Ameutur sleuthing occurs and she (along with her friend Chema) end up in some deep shit. I don’t have much to say, it’s just a pretty good movie.
Spice and Wolf (2024): Spice & Wolf getting a remake 10 years later was definitely not something I was expecting. I actually watched the original for the first time about a year ago, so the story is still sort of fresh in my mind. Anyways, I’m enjoying the remake so far it’s cool. Also Kevin Penkin doing the OST is great, but I do miss that one track (Kagen no Tsuki) from the original OST.
Konosuba S3: it’s konosuba, what more can I say.
2/14 - 2/22
Lethargic, as always. But I bringeth pleasant news. Happy Aromantic Awareness Week! I was almost late with this celebration since it ends in two days lol. I’ve been meaning to make a rec list for aro and/or ace characters in manga, maybe I’ll do it while I’m rotting in bed.
-Weekly(ish) Reads-
Misu Misou: read my thoughts on it here.
She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat: fluffy and sweet. Makes me want to learn how to cook past frying eggs. Also a yuri manga that has a woman who isn’t the standard skinny body type?!
-Watched-
Mashle: Magic and Muscles: watched the first three episodes and I never knew how entertaining it would be to see budget draco malfoy get beat up. I approve of my peer who sits in front of me and watches this anime during class.
Revolutionary Girl Utena: went from evil therapy elevator arc to evil car arc. But yeah, as always the metaphors and symbolism goes crazy. I've definitely picked up on the more overtly sexual tones that this arc has contained. Maybe it has to do with the prominence of Akio in this arc, one of the few adult characters (also I haaate him, he's so suspicious). Still don't know what the heck the car could represent though.
2/6 - 2/13
There’s a snowstorm outside. Barely read this week because I’ve been floatier than usual.
-Weekly(ish) Reads-
Watashi (Kari): read my thoughts on it here.
Our Wives Under the Sea: I got to the Twilight Zone part (off topic, but I remember watching the Twilight Zone show with Rod Sterling as a child, and that shit was crazy). Anyways, I really love this writing style and how the story is tackling grief.
1/27 - 2/5
I’m just a silly little guy who is about to reach their fucking limit. I’d like to lay in my bed all day or maybe take a nap forever. The temptation of never leaving my room again is strong, but I’m fighting the good fight.
Anways, let’s focus on the beauty of the world or something. The person next to me in my 9am class was playing “A Date with Death” (that dating sim with anime boy grim reaper), plus the person sitting in front of me was watching Mashle: Magic and Muscles. And all I can say is that we're all probably going to fail this class. But we'll fail it together. teamwork.
-Weekly(ish) Reads-
Yotsuba&!: Finished my reread binge of Yotsuba. Acquired happiness, even if only temporary. And as a side note, I found this cool playlist on youtube if you wanna listen to bgm while reading Yotsuba.
Boku to Mimoza no 75-nichi: Yakuza, crime, blood, and two unlikely people trying to find happiness by forming a makeshift family. Will they succeed? Probably not, this has a tragedy tag for a reason lol. I read this mangaka’s other work ‘Iyagatteru Kimi ga Suki’ but I dropped it because I was feeling meh about it. However, I really loved their artstyle, so here we are. This manga also explores psychological stuff and complicated relationships, but surprisingly it’s actually more tame than their other work. Anyways, I also don’t really feel too strongly about this manga. It’s definitely interesting, but I just think it’s ok.
Carmilla: read my thoughts on it here.
-Games Played-
My Wings Your Wings [itch.io link]: A short visual novel with an indescribable plot and lovely art style. Honestly, I wasn’t too sure what was happening other than vibes. The ending was really sweet and while I might’ve not known what was going on, the emotions of the characters still came through. An itch.io comment described this as a “fever dream” which is exactly what I felt too. Probably because I was also sleep deprived while playing this lol.
The House in Fata Morgana: Finally finished up the second door. Tbh I wasn’t super invested in the story, so that’s why it took me a while to get through it. However, when the twist hit I was eating this shit up. I saw part of the twist coming, but I didn’t realize that the other bestia he encountered at that time was Pauline until they showed her perspective. I was like :0 Anyways yeah, stuff about the blurred line between humans and monsters. Also also, after the second door I got to the part where I inspected the mirror. And now my running theory– spoilers (just in case): maybe we’re the white haired guy, Michel. Since we saw a flash of white hair in the mirror, and also I just think he’s important since I’ve seen him in promo art lol. Also maybe the white haired girl is Morgana the witch, I’m still not sure how she would keep showing up at the mansion though. Maybe she is the curse, bc misfortune always starts when she appears. Idk.
1/17 - 1/26
School and work are back in full swing. And of course, it comes with many trials and tribulations (I have to do tasks everyday, oh no). Fun Fact: I’m actually in class right now, as I type this up. I got unlucky with scheduling, so I only have 15 minutes in between one of my classes. Meaning, I have to haul ass in that 15 minutes. Once my first class ends I have to speed over to a different building and run to my next class on the third floor. Granted my campus isn’t that big, so this is completely doable in 15 minutes… but still I’d prefer if I had some more leeway.
My complaints aside, two good things did happen this week. Tumblr Live is gone! Sayonara you little shit! That feature was so useless and no one ever used it, I hate how tumblr keeps making pointless updates. And the other blessing of the week is the weather. I had two days where professors either canceled or switched to virtual because of the snow :D
-Weekly(ish) Reads-
Requiem for the Rose King: I’ll hold off on writing too much right now, since I’m on vol. 12 and near(ish) to the end. But basically, I like it.
From Today on, I’m a Boy: A short, light read. Crossdressing shenanigans and stuff. I think the ending was a bit rushed though.
All the Lovers in the Night: read my thoughts on it here.
Yotsuba&!: I need the serotonin lol. But this does genuinely make me feel better. I’m actually rereading from the beginning. I can’t read this manga in public tho, because I’ll be uncontrollably smiling and giggling.
1/6 - 1/16
Current Quest: survive the horrors
Second semester has just started, so I’m doing absolutely abysmally. Experiencing unprecedented amounts of stress and I haven’t even fucking done anything yet. But don’t worry, I bring my proactive mindset of 'ready to curl into a ball and cry at any moment'
-Weekly(ish) Reads-
Houseki no Kuni: I enjoyed every bit of this spiral into despair and it’s contemplations on humanity along with cool gem drama and Buddhist symbolism stuff. Spoilers (as of ch. 105): The Invasion Arc in particular was so gripping. It felt almost satisfying to see Phos filled with vitriolic hatred, and have them destroy everything. The Cinnabar fight was probably the most emotional fight for me. Phos and Cinnabar’s relationship turning out like this is so painful. Speaking of wrecked relationships, there’s of course Antarcite and Ghost, but also fucking Cairngorm. They were my favorite character, until they went to the moon and dropped everything for Aechmea (I’m an Aechmea hater btw). THe betrayal! Oh well whatever, Padparadscha is still cool at least despite everything.// The direction this manga is going was nothing that I could have predicted, but it feels like it’s reaching a satisfying conclusion. These chapters of softness and peace are so sweet, and I wish Phos all the best. I was already aware that Phos was going to undergo some insane character development, but uhhh wow that really escalated. Proud to say that I’m a Phos apologist. I supported them every step of the way, even as they made questionable decisions.
-Games Played-
Ghostpia: read my thoughts on it here.
-Watched-
Dungeon Meshi: Procrastinated so much on starting the manga that the anime adaptation came out lol. I’m really enjoying this so far, the worldbuilding elements have been really thought out and also cooking monsters is cool. I’ll probably pick up the manga once the anime is finished.
Sasaki and Peeps: picked this one up on a whim since it seemed mildly interesting. It’s ok so far. It’s like mashing up a standard isekai with modern day psychic stuff I guess.
Continuing to watch: Apothecary Diaries,,, and I stg I'll finish Utena by this week12/25 - 1/5
Congrats to everyone for making it through another godforsaken year. I’ve archived the previous entries, so 2024 gets a fresh start.
It’s time to focus on all the media I’ve consumed!! It’s a bit more sparse than usual since I’ve spent large amounts of time sleeping and blankly staring at the wall,, but you can always count on me to be on my bullshit.
-Games Played-
The House in Fata Morgana: I ended up buying this one because I can’t resist steam sales. I’ve heard nothing but praise for this vn, so I’m really excited. So far, I’ve finished door 1 and read a little bit of door 2. The set-up is really intriguing and also the ost is fantastic. I think that the start of door 1 was a bit slow, but once the plot picked up I was really invested. Spoilers: I picked up on the incest-y vibes between Nellie and Mell, but I was completely blindsided by that Odepius-ass twist. There was so much tension as Nellie was peeling away at the painting, and it was really fun to see Nellie go completely ballistic in the end.
-Watched-
Revolutionary Girl Utena: I’ve been meaning to watch this for so long, and I’m finally getting around to watching this wonderful mess of metaphors, symbolism, allegories, and yuri. All wrapped up in this theatrical and dramatic presentation. There’s so many things that I just accept as magical realism bullshit (affectionate), but other times I feel like I’m yelling at the screen ‘what does it all mean??’ I swear to god this story is manipulating me. I’ve finished up the black rose arc, so I think I might be entering the final arc of the show. Hopefully, they’ll be answers and I can finally learn whatever the hell is going on.
