洗濯風待ちサンデーナイト sentaku kazemochi SUNDAY NIGHT Waiting for the laundry (sentaku) and the wind to blow my way on Sunday night 選択できるオツムがない sentaku dekiru otsumu ga nai I’ve got no brains to make up my mind (sentaku) 生きのびるだけじゃ笑えない ikinobiru dake ja waraenai I can’t smile just by surviving 約束だって守れやしない yakusoku datte mamoreyashinai I can’t even keep a promise
公共料金払えない koukyouryoukin haraenai I can’t pay my bills 生活はいつも余裕がない seikatsu wa itsumo yoyuu ga nai I’m always living on the edge 生き抜くための愛想笑い ikinuku tame no aisowarai Forcing a smile to survive 生乾きのシャツ走るチャリ namagawaki no shatsu hashiru chari Shirt half-dry speeding on my bike
これじゃ何にもできない kore ja nannimo dekinai I can’t do anything like this おれは何にもできない ore wa nannimo dekinai I can’t do anything at all 君を幸せにしたい kimi o shiawase ni shitai I want to make you happy だけど何にもできない dakedo nannimo dekinai But I can’t do anything at all おれは何にもできない ore wa nannimo dekinai I can’t do anything at all
これじゃどうにもならない kore ja dounimo naranai I can’t become anything like this おれじゃどうにもならない ore ja dounimo naranai I can’t become anything at all
これじゃ何にもできない kore ja nannimo dekinai I can’t do anything like this おれは何にもできない ore wa nannimo dekinai I can’t do anything at all 君を幸せにしたい kimi o shiawase ni shitai I want to make you happy だけど何にもできない dakedo nannimo dekinai But I can’t do anything at all おれは何にもできない ore wa nannimo dekinai I can’t do anything at all
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A yuri isekai, need I say anymore? Though thankfully, the isekai aspect doesn’t really come into play much.
You don’t need me to tell you why this incarnation of the franchise is amazing.
Extremely rushed, especially towards the end, and there’s some BS space magic. But that ending song is a killer.
If you liked Love Live Nijigasaki High School Idol Club, then this is a fun series of shorts about the characters, but otherwise it’s not worth watching.
I found the concept (magical girls, except having ballet dance battles) interesting, and the story gets unexpectedly dark (though that seems to apply to a lot of old shojo shows?). Unfortunately since I mostly watch anime on the side while doing something else, I wasn’t able to give this show the full attention it deserved.
I’m still utterly confused (and I think the jokes about it basically being Clannad kinda hold up?) but it’s a time travel story that does seem to hold up. It also sorta feels like a grown-up version of kids’ series like Digimon in a sense, what with interdimensional adventures and Okabe’s chuunibyou act.
More of the first season (+clearer hints at who Tsukasa is).
As messy and flawed as it is, it says a lot about the strength of the source material that even despite shoddy animation and pacing, this was still the only show this season I bothered to finish. It’s hard to talk much about this season without spoiling things, but overall, the story has found a way to break the pattern that the first season settled into, keeping it interesting while finding a way to address the core conflict. Season 3 was also confirmed.
This is a spinoff of Love Live! Sunshine!!, which I didn’t watch. It was still alright; there were probably little jokes, but if you treat this as a fantasy slice-of-life with a focus on music it’s a comfy watch. The central conflict doesn’t really work, though, since it’s too obviously only ever as much as a threat as the writers happen to need in that exact moment.
How you feel about this comes down to whether you can tolerate a bit of corniness/soppiness and some bad animation/direction. The plot twists are fairly obvious and the film is heavy-handed in telling, rather than showing, things. So if you like the summary, but maybe aren’t sure, I’d recommend you read the book instead. (See below; the book was a 5/5 for me.)
Ok, I never thought “Better a pig than a facist” was a real line.
Ended quite abruptly, but a nice short watch.
A continuation of the story from the previous movie. I though the animation relied a bit too much on obvious CGI, and I wish we had gotten some more action scenes, but overall I’m happy with the movie and can’t wait for the fourth movie (coming soon to Japan, at least).
While as beautiful as expected from Makoto Shinkai, somehow Suzume didn’t hit for me like Your Name and Weathering With You did. I was going into it with lower expectations already, admittedly, having read the light novel in Japanese last year, and I did appreciate the visuals and the ending more in theaters. And in some sense, this film feels like a redemption of Children Who Chase Lost Voices. Unlike that film, Suzume is her own hero and really has her own arch. But they also feel like they both fall short in the same way.
Mainly, I didn’t like Souta and wish it had been a yuri roadtrip as Shinkai mentioned in an interview. That’s not just the yuri fan in me speaking; I disliked the weird age gap between the two and felt like Suzume really had no reason to get entangled with Souta in the first place. The call to adventure, so to speak, was lacking in the first place, and it put the rest of their relationship on a shaky foundation. (Children Who Chase Lost Voices has this same problem, in my opinion.)
The visuals were nice, but the escalating disasters kind of meant that the climax didn’t feel impactful; it was just the same, but a little bigger. Suzume’s own trauma didn’t feel adequately explored in the runup, either, making the climax also feel like it was a bit out of nowhere. And it’s disappointing that the movie basically ends on a “status quo”; yes, Suzume has moved on and that could be taken as the message but then it’s in this awkward spot where it doesn’t feel as thematically interesting or impactful as Weathering With You while lacking the grand romantic themes of Your Name.
But overall, I’m happy that Shinkai seems to be trying to shake up his formula just a little, and I hope he is willing to take bigger risks for his next film.
A recently dumped guy finds a lost-and-found for his girlfriend’s heart.
Supportive parents in anime, is that even possible?
Transfer student OOTSUKA Ayano has beautiful handwriting, or so her classmate SASAMURA thinks. When she visits his family’s stationery shop, they begin to grow closer, but she’s hiding a secret in the letters she writes.
The new transfer student is a born-and-bred gyaru, except not really, as our main character knows—she’s actually an avid bookworm who must’ve reinvented herself. But she does her best to keep up the act!
A woman comes to New York City alone and happens across a young man who speaks Japanese.
A young boy wakes up in a hospital after an accident with amnesia; a woman calling herself his wife visits him.
He wants her to be his hero…she wants him to be her boyfriend!
Two plain honor students decide to shake things up in high school by becoming a gyaru and a yankee…and end up standing out because they’re at a prep school!
A cute oneshot from the perspective of two dolls watching their owner’s love blossom.
A cat yokai needs her human friend to keep her human form…but he doesn’t quite seem to understand her feelings.
A shady job working as a “mermaid” leads to a chance encounter.
A serious student’s free-spirited roommate turns out to be a shy cosplayer-in-the-making.
The ghost of Nagi’s dead partner returns in a dream to tempt her with food, but it is said that eating the food of the dead means you can’t come back.
A gag based on the custom of giving the button on your school jacket to the one you like.
Contrary to expectations, this collection of yuri works by nekohariko22 was rather…sultry. But that wasn’t a bad thing; this collection had a mix of stories, some more pure (like 恋するDolls—see 持ち主の女のコと、恋する人形のお話 above) and some are more spicy. Most revolve around adults. As with 麺面むすび below, it’s refreshing to see adults and more adult situations in manga.
A pure fluff story about two childhood friends who grow up and eventually get married. Only 1 volume long and told out of chronological order. Not much of a real plot, mostly just snapshots of their lives at different times.
100 yuri illustrations, some of which are loosely connected or feature the same characters. Otherwise, there’s no real plot. Fun to flip through with a variety of situations.
An anthology of gyaru yuri oneshots. Not very interesting overall, though if you’re a big fan of Yukiko or Mikanuji they both have decent stories in the collection.
An anthology of yuri oneshots featuring working adults. Not really worth it, even for the Mikanuji oneshot.
Perhaps a basic setup (witches seeking revenge on humans, two witches falling in love), but with lovely art. I didn’t like how the ending was a bit too perfect though (think Clannad ending).
(Dropped) A fantasy-in-real-life story about a girl sold as wife and student to an inhuman sorcerer. While interesting at first, I got dragged down in the school arc and realized I hadn’t bothered to keep up with releases, so I dropped it.
Maybe I read through it too quickly, but it kinda felt like a bunch of nothing. fly’s art is beautiful, but in some ways I sort of wish this had been a focused oneshot.
An anthology about different otaku hobby interests (manga, crane games, voice actors, etc.). Not particularly interesting either way, but if you like nametake or ARIMA Rishin they both have oneshots here.
A sweet enough yuri series, but I honestly forgot everything about it as soon as it ended.
This one is on me: I didn’t really read the summary or look through this collection, I just jumped on it since it said “yuri anthology”.
It turns out this is 90% sex. Not my thing. Maybe yours.
A fairly straightforward, slightly pervy self-insert story about ‘your’ long-distance girlfriend.
NSFW content A collection of yuri oneshots. The first two (one mildly steamy, one pure), which featured adults, were the best; I didn’t like the art style of the third, and the last two were school oriented.
See the recommendation.
Not really a story, more like a collection of illustrations, originally posted on the author’s Twitter.
An alright fluff about a socially invisible boy and the girl who sits next to him. Nothing in particular makes it stand out for better or for worse.
See the recommendation.
A slice-of-life/light mystery revolving around the search for a supposed mermaid, tied up in the traditions and tragic history of a seaside village.
See the recommendation.
(Dropped) A somewhat racy series about a straightforward husband and his 0 defense wife. It got somewhat repetitive after a while, and it unfortunately writes its ostensibly adult married couple like a pair of teenagers.
(Dropped) While Tanemura is the Queen of Shojo for a reason, and I do really like her art, I haven’t been able to enjoy her actual writing. Part of it is that I’m not the target audience, true, but I feel like the anime-only changes in Searching for the Full Moon (where I originally discovered her) helped a lot—I didn’t like the source manga, and I couldn’t get into this series of hers, either.
A drama set in a school with a “special class” where students formally hold a popularity poll, making a social hierarchy with one student at the bottom. Suji, a transfer student, finds it weird that everyone goes along with it and starts unraveling the origins of the game.
An otome isekai with a strong/proactive female lead. (Minus one point because resolving isekai stories is always hard, I can see why authors want to drag them on forever instead of trying to figure out a satisfying conclusion.)
Another anthology of Lycoris Recoil stories. The cover is gorgeous, but the stories themselves are just alright.
Another anthology of Lycoris Recoil stories. Some funny stories; the last one was my favorite (and was very different in tone).
A great premise (a band of samurai brothers, reborn into the present world as classmates…except some of them are now girls) that slowly slid downhill until (trigger warning) one character just decides to go and sexually assault another, after which the series is axed with an incredibly unsatisfying ending.
A Lycoris Recoil fanbook collecting stories from various authors, both manga and short stories, as well as fan art.
A yuri anthology about mismatched, intense emotions. An interesting concept, but most of the stories didn’t really live up to it.
A Lycoris Recoil fanbook featuring Chisato/Takina going to Kyoto.
An unfortunately short story about a pair of samurai buddies who reincarnate into the present day—but one’s now a woman! And of course, they fall in love at first sight, reminiscing over their past lives while making new memories together.
CONTENT WARNING: sexual assault
A collection of somewhat twisted yuri oneshots from YATOSAKI Haru. While not generally explicit, the stories can get racy, and of course there’s the content warning. If that’s not a deal-breaker, the art is exquisite, and the stories are quite interesting because they depict relationships that are slightly off the beaten path.
An alright, but otherwise nothing special, anthology for the series Yuri Is My Job!.
See the recommendation.
A mildly ecchi Lycoris Recoil fanbook featuring Chisato/Takina gags.
A quick collection of short stories generally revolving around relationships and reflecting on life.
A chronicle of a salarywoman’s fake pregnancy with some commentary on work culture and expectations.
(Dropped) A fairly boring story about a loner and a supernatural girl that just didn’t hold my interest.
A retelling of I’m in Love with the Villainess from Claire’s perspective instead of Rae’s. While it’s nice to revisit this story, knowing the ending of the series makes this rather anticlimactic, unfortunately.
A collection of 12 rather absurd short stories: ceremonies where we eat the dead; a woman with five different personas but none to call herself; a family meltdown about eating habits; and more. See the short story recommendation.
While on the surface, this seems like an isekai story, it actually doesn’t really conform itself to those limits at all. Seven troubled children find themselves in a different world—but instead of going on quests to fulfill their destiny, their year in a magical castle gives them the time and space to heal, and to grow. Now, the final plot twists are admittedly a bit predictable, and it comes together in maybe an overly sentimental and perfect way. But it’s a fulfilling ending, one that isn’t perfectly happy but still a fairytale ending. It’s beautifully bittersweet, and I wolfed down this story and felt content at the end.
Also see ANN’s review.
To be honest, I liked this story more when Anis was an adventurer and a brat; it is nice that the story is moving forward, but what I originally liked about the story isn’t quite there anymore.
The passivity of the FMC, while justified in the story, makes this a fairly dull read beyond the first volume.
A collection of short stories; several of them follow a couple called Nell and Tig. Overall, the stories were alright and didn’t leave much of an impression; the last few ones about Nell and Tig were most interesting—about Nell trying to keep on going after the death of her husband. Also, “My Evil Mother” was a fun tale about children becoming parents and having their perspectives slowly shift.
A near-future book about where the anti-Asian racism in America could all to plausibly lead. It draws on history both recent and distant, and frankly was just difficult to read at times because it’s terrifyingly realistic, and you just feel powerless. I would say the ending was a bit of a letdown—but frankly, there isn’t any way there could be a satisfying ending, not one that would actually fit.
A collection of time-travel romance stories. As usual with anthologies, the quality is uneven, but I think everyone can find one or two that’ll speak to them.
A comedic account of a woman who goes searching for a simple, easy job and finds anything but. It’s decently funny and somewhat reminded me of George Saunders, with a sort of matter-of-fact approach to rather ridiculous events, but for me it started dragging a little at the end.
A completely by-the-numbers oblivious isekai villainess story that nevertheless manages to be consistently funny just by playing all the tropes straight. It does move extremely fast, so much so that I wonder if the story couldn’t have been padded more, but overall it was probably for the better.
(Dropped) The light novel version of the anime. Doesn’t really have any differences with the anime, so just watch that instead.
I feel like Yellowface is a bit too excessively meta, winking a little too much at the reader. The satire is layered on really thickly, and it’s definitely a caricature of white/Asian-American tropes, even if it’s a caricature I delight in. Of course, it’s also an author writing about being an author: deeply personal, but also an exercise in navel-gazing (and one the book itself makes fun of). But it’s still a fun read, even if I think I prefer Disorientation’s approach to the core themes. And the first person narration here is an interesting effect, especially as June absolutely refuses to admit guilt and throws out all manner of justifications. Athena Liu may not have been perfect—she’s certainly depicted as quite flawed, calculating, cunning—but again that’s used as an excuse to justify things against someone who was only human.
A mild fantasy story about a world where memories leave physical residue on objects. The story centers around two people, one who cannot feel these at all (which is very unusual) and one who can only feel memories personal to her (which is unusual).
A fever dream where it’s hard to tell what’s going on or even how one paragraph follows from another.
An interstellar search for a long-lost friend.
See the recommendation.
]]>鏡の中で溢れた ついに何かが折れた kagami no naka de afureta / tsuini nanika ga oreta Spilling from the mirror / At last something broke Calling Calling 精一杯の愛で応えたけど Calling Calling / seiippai no ai de kotaeta kedo Calling, calling / I answered you with all my love, but じっと耐えてきた君の その不器用さ悪くないさ jitto taetekita kimi no / sono bukiyousa warukunai sa You’ve been patiently bearing it / That clumsiness isn’t bad, you know たった一つ報われる そんな日のために tatta hitotsu mukuwareru / sonna hi no tame ni For the sake of that day / That you’ll be rewarded with just one thing
時間だね 涙拭いて もう時間だね 息を吐いて jikan da ne / namida fuite / mou jikan da ne / iki o haite And now it’s time / So dry your tears / And now it’s time / Take a breath もういいんだよ、頑張らなくても 十分だから mou iinda yo, ganbaranakutemo juubun dakara It’s ok now, even if you don’t hold out / It’s enough もっと大きくなれだなんて motto ookikunare da nante “You need to get bigger” 誰が言ったの? 無責任に dare ga itta no? / musekinin ni Who told you that? / So irresponsible 武器の似合わない 君を、愛してる buki no niawanai / kimi o, aishiteru Weapons don’t suit you / I love you
拳を下げたとしても 諦めるとは違うよ kobushi o sageta toshitemo / akirameru to wa chiigau yo Even if you lower your fists / It’s not the same as giving in Rolling Rolling 全速力で時代は転がってく Rolling Rolling / zensokuryou de jidai wa korogatteku Rolling, rolling / The times are charging ahead 口が上手いだけの詐欺師が いつも僕たちを騙すよ kuchi ga umai dake no sagishi ga / itsumo bokutachi o damasu yo Those crooks with their honeyed words / Are always deceiving us 戦うのも逃げるのも 下手くそな君へ tatakau no mo nigeru no mo / hetakuso na kimi e You’re no good at fighting or at running / So this is for you:
自由だね 力抜いて もう自由だね 息を吸って jiyuu da ne / chikara nuite / mou jiyuu da ne / iki o sutte And now you’re free / Loosen your shoulders / And now you’re free / Take a deep breath もういいんだよ、鎧を脱いでも 大丈夫だから mou iinda yo, yoroi o nuidemo / daijoubu dakara It’s okay now, even if you take off your armor / You’ll be alright もっと強くなれだなんて ただもみくちゃにされた君が motto tsuyokunare da nante / tada momikuchani sareta kimi ga “You need to get stronger” / Those words just crushed you まだ生き続けてくれて、うれしい mada ikitsuduketekurete, ureshii But you kept on living, and for that I’m happy
ああ 助けて aa / tasukete Oh, save me ラララ ラララ la la la / la la la La la la / la la la ただわかって欲しかったね tada wakatte hoshikatta ne I just wanted you to understand, you know?
]]>What:
Author: R.F. Kuang
Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.
1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation — also known as Babel.
Babel is the world’s center of translation and, more importantly, of silver-working: the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation through enchanted silver bars, to magical effect. Silver-working has made the British Empire unparalleled in power, and Babel’s research in foreign languages serves the Empire’s quest to colonize everything it encounters.
Oxford, the city of dreaming spires, is a fairytale for Robin; a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge serves power, and for Robin, a Chinese boy raised in Britain, serving Babel inevitably means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to sabotaging the silver-working that supports imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide: Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence? What is he willing to sacrifice to bring Babel down?
Babel — a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal response to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell — grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of translation as a tool of empire.
Where to Read: Purchase a copy at your favorite brick-and-mortar or online retailer.
The Good:
Babel is simply amazing, and I find it hard not to draw comparisons with our contemporary tech industry. In R.F. Kuang’s steampunk alt-history setup, the industrial revolution is underway, thanks to the literal magic of silverworking that can make miracles happen. But all this is only possible thanks to highly skilled immigrant labor, shipped in and painstakingly educated solely to be an unfortunate middle class between the laborers and the true citizens. Magic only happens in the difference in meaning between two words with a shared etymology, and in a rapidly globalizing world, it is only the East and South Asian languages that remain effective here. To this end, England imports (and I mean imports) a select few students from the Far East to be educated at Oxford for the purpose of advancing their magi-linguistic advantage. Their families are left behind, and they will not be sent back to improve their countrymen’s lot: magic is for the English people only. But of course, should they fail an exam or show less promise than expected, they will be unceremoniously dumped back in a land that is no longer theirs.
As if that wasn’t enough, those at Oxford further engage in subscription rent-seeking. This magical Silicon Valley treats its people well with generous stipends and luxurious balls, but this is all funded by leeching from their customers. While laborers protest losing their jobs (the Luddites make an appearance), the rich and wealthy treated to a parade of quirky but dubiously useful gadgets claiming to make their lives easier. All of these require periodic maintenance (and payment), with the knowledge of how to do this carefully limited to only those at Oxford. Over time, Oxford has woven itself into the country’s infrastructure, such that if Oxford falls or refuses to do its job, the rest of the country would literally fall apart—and even the government wouldn’t be able to do much about it.
On top of that, Babel painfully pokes fun at how it feels to be an Asian immigrant: feared, desired, with the things of your culture put behind museum glass and the people put under dirt or behind bars. A quick walk around town early on in the story quickly turns dangerous as our students realize that despite their academic privilege, despite even growing up speaking and breathing and eating English, they will never truly be seen as people. A meeting with townspeople nearly results in a fight, while a meeting with nobility is an evening of tedious questions about Oriental mysteries.
‘How strange’, said Ramy. ‘To love the stuff and the language, but to hate the country.’
‘Not as odd as you’d think’, said Victoire. ‘There are people, after all, and then there are things.’
In short, Babel may fall under “fantasy”, and it does a fantastic job of that. But at the same time, it deserves to be read as social commentary (if not quite outright satire), and that is what makes me love it so much.
The Bad:
Overall: 5/5.
Scale for reference:
君の知らない夏服が増えていって kimi no shiranai natsufuku ga fueteitte Summer outfits you’ve never seen are piling up, 今年もクーラーを入れた kotoshi mo kuuraa o ireta And I turned on the AC this year, too 君の嫌いなトマトを買わない癖が kimi no kirai na tomato o kawanai kuse ga And I still haven’t kicked that habit of never buying 今も抜けないんだ ima mo nukenainda Those tomatoes you hate あれから一度もご飯は炊いてない arekara ichidomo gohan wa taitenai Since that time I haven’t made rice even once だなんて君には言えないな danante kimi ni ienai na Not that I could ever tell you
雨だった晴れだった そんな日々だった ame datta hare datta / sonna hibi datta It was rainy days, it was sunny days / Such were our days バカだった好きだった 無駄に過ごした baka datta suki datta / muda ni sugoshita It was stupid, it was love / So we wasted our time 眠って目覚めてただそこにいて nemutte mezamete tada soko ni ite Asleep, awake / You were simply right there 君が僕の日々だった kimi ga boku no hibi datta You were the one that filled my days
僕は知らない 君が住む駅の名を boku wa shiranai / kimi ga sumu eki no na o I didn’t know / The name of the station you lived by, 次の人の髪型を tsugi no hito no kamigata o Or the way the next person did her hair, 君は知らない 僕が本当は野球なんか kimi wa shiranai / boku ga hontou wa yakyuu nanka You didn’t know / That honestly, baseball 好きじゃないことを sukijanai koto o Wasn’t my thing あれから何度か適当に朝帰りして arekara nandoka tekitou ni asagaerishite Since that time I’ve stayed out all night long many times 部屋着は散らかしたままで heyagi wa chirakashita mamade Leaving my dressing gown crumpled on the floor
年老いて寄り添って たまに罵倒しても toshioite yorisotte / tamani batoushitemo We were getting old, we were getting close / Even if sometimes we’d fight, つまずいて駆け寄って 呆れて叱って tsumazuite kakeyotte / akirete shikatte We’d stumble and we’d run / We’d get fed up and scold each other, 一緒に憶えて一緒に忘れて isshoni oboete isshoni wasurete Together we’d remember, together we’d forget 君が僕の夢だった kimi ga boku no yume datta You were the one that filled my dreams
君は知らない kimi wa shiranai You didn’t know 僕が本当は掃除なんかできなかったことを boku ga hontou wa souji nanka dekinakatta koto o That honestly, I couldn’t clean at all
雨だった晴れだった そんな日々だった ame datta hare datta / sonnna hibi datta It was rainy days, it was sunny days / Such were our days バカだった好きだった 無駄に過ごした baka datta suki datta / muda ni sugoshita It was stupid, it was love / So we wasted our time 眠って目覚めてただそこにいて nemutte mezamete tada soko ni ite Asleep, awake / You were simply right there 君が僕の日々だった kimi ga boku no hibi datta You were the one that filled my days 日々だった hibi datta Those past days…
]]>「愛」どこで誰が創造したもんなんでしょうか 難解なんだね “ai” doko de dare ga souzoushita mon nan deshou ka / nankai nanda ne Was love something that someone dreamed up somewhere? / Isn’t it hard to understand? 感情ってどこへ向かうべきもんなんでしょうか そっと教えてよ kanjou tte doko he mukau beki mon nan deshou ka / sotto oshiete yo Are feelings things that should head somewhere? / Quietly, tell me 飛ぶ鳥は大空を迷うことなく飛べるのに tobutori wa oozora o mayou koto naku toberu noni And yet the birds never get lost soaring in the vast sky いったい僕らはどこへ向かうんだろう ittai bokura wa doko he mukau ndarou Just where on earth are we heading?
恋愛の成功率はね 散々でね いつだって成就しないまま ren’ai no seikouritsu wa ne / sanzan de ne / itsudatte joujushinai mama The success rate of love / Is all over the place / It’s always unfulfilled とはいえ好きになっちゃうんじゃ もう嫌になるよ towaie suki ni nacchau nja / mou iya ni naru yo Nonetheless I’ve fallen for you / And soon I’ll get fed up with you どうかいなくなれ こんなんなら存在自体よ消えちまえ douka inakunare / kon’nan nara sonzai jitai yo kiechimae I wish it’d disappear / If it had to be like this, existence itself can go disappear そう思ってどのくらい経つだろう sou omotte donokurai tatsu darou How long was I there, thinking that? 来週はいつ会えるんだろう raishuu wa itsu aeru ndarou I hope we’ll see each other next week
愛すべき人は運命的に決まってるって それが本当なら aisubeki hito wa unmeiteki ni kimatteru tte / sore ga hontou nara They say the one you love is decided by fate / If that’s true, 視界に入ったものすべて受け入れてしまえばいいんだ shikai ni haitta mono subete ukeireteshimaeba ii nda Then it’s fine to accept everything that comes into view 解っちゃいるんだよ wakacchairu nda yo It’ll all become clear 大通りのど真ん中を歩けるような僕じゃないから oodori no domannaka o arukeru you na boku janai kara I’m not the kind of person who can walk in the middle of the street 大抵足元を気にして生きている taitei ashimoto o kinishite ikiteiru I’m usually the kind that lives watching my step
最大の問題点はね 現状じゃね どうしようもない関係だね saidai no mondaiten wa ne / genjou ja ne / doushiyoumonai kankei da ne The biggest problem at hand / Is the status quo / It’s a helpless relationship そのうえ会いたくなるんじゃ もう嫌になるよ sonoue aitaku naru nja / mou iya ni naru yo And on top of that, I miss you / And soon I’ll get fed up with you どうかいなくなれ こんなんなら存在自体よ消えちまえ douka inakunare / kon’nan nara sonzai jitai yo kiechimae I wish it’d disappear / If it had to be like this, existence itself can go disappear そう思ってどのくらい経つだろう sou omotte donokurai tatsu darou How long was I there, thinking that?
いったい僕らはどこへ向かうんだろう ittai bokura wa doko he mukau ndarou Just where on earth are we heading?
恋愛の成功率はね 散々でね いつだって成就しないまま ren’ai no seikouritsu wa ne / sanzan de ne / itsudatte joujushinai mama The success rate of love / Is all over the place / It’s always unfulfilled とはいえ好きになっちゃうんじゃ もう嫌になるよ towaie suki ni nacchau nja / mou iya ni naru yo Nonetheless I’ve fallen for you / And soon I’ll get fed up with you どうかいなくなれ こんなんなら存在自体よ消えちまえ douka inakunare / kon’nan nara sonzai jitai yo kiechimae I wish it’d disappear / If it had to be like this, existence itself can go disappear そう思ってどのくらい経つだろう sou omotte donokurai tatsu darou How long was I there, thinking that?
最大の問題点はね 現状じゃね どうしようもない関係だね saidai no mondaiten wa ne / genjou ja ne / doushiyoumonai kankei da ne The biggest problem at hand / Is the status quo / It’s a helpless relationship そのうえ会いたくなるんじゃ もう嫌になるよ sonoue aitaku naru nja / mou iya ni naru yo And on top of that, I miss you / And soon I’ll get fed up with you どうかいなくなれ こんなんなら存在自体消してしまえ douka inakunare / kon’nan nara sonzai jitai yo kiechimae I wish it’d disappear / If it had to be like this, existence itself can go disappear 来週はいつ会えるんだろう raishuu wa itsu aeru ndarou I hope we’ll see each other next week ねぇ、僕らいつ会えるの? nee, bokura itsu aeru no? Hey, when can we see each other?
]]>それは今はもう光らなくなった星 部屋の片隅で sore wa ima wa mou hikaranakunatta hoshi / heya no katasumi de You were a star that no longer shined / In a corner of a room, ずっと 僕に 気づいて欲しそうに 待っててくれたんだ zutto / boku ni / kiduitehoshisou ni / mattetekuretanda Always looking like / you were wishing for me / to notice you / You waited for me
揺れる僕らの淡い始まりを 思い出してたんだ yureru bokura no awai hajimari o / omoidashitetanda I remembered how we were shaking / in our fleeting beginning いつも ひとりになりたかった なのに 君と走り抜けたかった itsumo / hitorininaritakatta / nanoni / kimi to hashirinuketakatta Always / I wanted to be alone / And yet / I wanted to run through it all with you
手のひらのぬくもりが 僕に叫んでること te no hira no nukumori ga / boku ni yonderu koto The warmth in the palm of your hand / Calling out to me 現在いる この瞬間が いつか宝物になる genzai iru / kono shunkan ga / itsuka takaramono ni naru Right now I am here / In this moment / Which someday will become my treasure
土砂降りの雨に降られちゃって 最悪!って笑えてきて doshaburi no ame ni furarechatte / saiaku! tte waraetekite Caught in a sudden downpour / Laughing it off, “This sucks!” 明日のことなんて知らない ashita no koto nante shiranai We don’t know what waits for us tomorrow ずぶ濡れではしゃいじゃって 馬鹿だな!って寝転んで zubunure de hashaijatte / bakadana! tte nekoronde Frolicking while soaking wet / Throwing ourselves down, “So stupid!” 僕ら自由だ bokura jiyuu da We are free 本当の気持ち 隠さないでいいよ hontou no kimochi / kakusanaide ii yo You don’t need to hide / How you really feel 傘なんて 探すくらいなら いっそ濡れちゃえよ もう kasa nante / sagasu kurai nara / isso nurechae yo / mou Don’t bother / Looking for an umbrella / Might as well get soaked / Already
渇いた喉を潤すレモンソーダ パチッと弾けた kawaita nodo o uruosu remonsouda / pachitto hajiketa To soothe my parched throat / I crack open a lemon soda 君を追いかけた あの夏の胸の痛みみたい kimi o oikaketa / ano natsu no mune no itami mitai I chased after you / Like that pain in my heart that summer
悲しいこと程 笑って話してた 君の横顔を kanashii koto hodo / waratte hanashiteta / kimi no yokogao o The sadder something is / The more we need to smile and talk it over / I wanted to protect 守りたいと思っていた 思っている それだけじゃダメだった mamoritai to omotteita / omotteiru / sore dake ja dame datta Your smile I saw from the side / I still do / But just that isn’t enough
どうして 君に好きと 伝えなかったんだろう doushite / kimi ni suki to / tsutaenakattandarou I wonder why / I couldn’t tell you / “I like you” 無傷のままの心じゃ 泣くことさえ出来なくて mukizu no mama no kokoro ja / naku koto sae dekinakute With my heart, unwounded / I can’t even cry
土砂降りの雨に降られちゃって 嘘でしょ!って笑えてきて doshaburi no ame ni furarechatte / uso desho! tte waraetekite Caught in a sudden downpour / Laughing it off, “You’re kidding me!” 昨日のことなんて知らない kinou no koto nante shiranai We don’t know what happened yesterday ずぶ濡れではしゃいじゃって もうやだ!って寝転んで zubunure de hashaijatte / mou yada! tte nekoronde Frolicking while soaking wet / Throwing ourselves down, “That’s enough!” 僕ら自由だ bokura jiyuu da We are free
365日のたった数秒で変えられる未来 sanbyaku rokujuu go nichi no tatta subyou de kaerareru mirai 365 days passed, but the future can be changed in an instant 早いも遅いも関係ない 青い春を迎えに行くんだ hayai mo osoi mo kankei nai / aoiharu o muakae ni ikunda It doesn’t matter whether we’re early or late / We’re going to meet the springtime of our life
それはもう1度 輝きだした星 sore wa mou ichido / kagayakidashita hoshi You were a star / That shined one more time もう大丈夫だよ、強がりなんかじゃないよ mou daijoubu da yo, tsuyogari nanka janai yo It’s ok now, you don’t need to keep up this front
土砂降りの雨に降られちゃって 最悪!って泣けてきて doshaburi no ame ni furarechatte / saiaku! tte waraetekite Caught in a sudden downpour / Laughing it off, “This sucks!” 明日のことなんて知らない ashita no koto nante shiranai We don’t know what waits for us tomorrow 何度だって名前を呼ぶよ ずっと nando datte namae yobu yo / zutto No matter how many times I call your name / You don’t have to いつでも 本当の気持ち隠さないで良いよ itsudemo / hontou no kimochi kakusanaide ii yo Always / Keep how you really feel hidden 自分らしさ 探すくらいなら いっそ捨てちゃえよ もう jibunrashisa / sagasu kurai nara / isso sutechae yo / mou Don’t bother / Looking for yourself / Might as well give it up / Already
いっそ濡れちゃえよ もう isso nurechae yo / mou You’re soaked / Already
]]>Scale used for reference:
Quite possibly my favorite show of the year—don’t let the absurd premise turn you off. The show is basically a yakuza/gangster show, that completely seriously uses those tropes to tell an “origin story” for Tokyo maid cafes. Or in other words, it’s a maid parody of gangster TV…except it plays it completely seriously. Sure, they use the maid theme for some easy comedic relief, but the underlying story is interesting, with lots of foreshadowing and an overarching plot stretching a few decades. The production is well done (the studio is P.A. Works after all) and the music fits the show, too, somehow.
Rating: 5/5
A comfy, down-to-earth slice-of-life show that fully differentiates itself by featuring adults as main characters and depicting a different kind of familial relationship than simply parent-child (as opposed to something like Usagi Drop or Sweetness and Lightning). As a bonus, we get a lot of focus on wagashi (traditional Japanese confectionery) and that delightful Kyoto accent.
Rating: 4/5
A somewhat ecchi romcom series that gets presented as a horror series, since the main love interest is a ghost. The contrast helps distinguish it from all the other romcoms, though if you weren’t a fan of the basic genre template, then this probably won’t change your mind.
Rating: 3/5
A continuation of the 2021 series. The basic premise is that Noé, a vampire, and Vanitas, a human, team up to investigate a rash of vampires going insane and attacking people. Vantias happens to possess the legendary Book of Vanitas, giving him the power to actually cure these vampires, though many distrust him.
Take a mystery/action anime, add in Yuki Kajiura’s slick soundtrack, a lot of Victorian and steampunk flair, make everyone essentially bi, and you get Vanitas: an often-steamy steampunk adventure that’s engaging and fun. Note, however, that Vanitas absolutely does not respect boundaries when it comes to his crush Jeanne, and that may be uncomfortable for many (-1 point).
Rating: 4/5
A story about loss and loving on that gets framed through a cyberpunk lens. While it takes a while to really reveal what’s going on, and the AR technology that it all revolves feels both quaint and futuristic at the same time, it manages to use its fancy technology to tell a story that is still grounded in the real world—it’s what Belle should have been. It also feels strangely nostalgic to watch, like a 90’s or early 00’s kids anime.
Rating: 4/5
One of my favorite shows so far this year (June 2022). I don’t want to spoil things, so: go in blind. It’s a riff of isekai tropes, and while it can be corny at times, I think this is to its benefit. The worldbuilding behind the series hints at a grander plot that sadly the anime doesn’t have time to fully explain, but makes me want to grab the original novels ASAP.
My main complaint is that Momo, the protagonist’s sidekick, is a little over-the-top, and the fanservice in this series feels wildly out of place with everything else (but is thankfully mostly minimal).
Rating: 5/5
A slice-of-life with a post-apocalyptic, philosophical bent—kind of the same vibe as the OG Kino’s Journey.
Rating: 4/5
A retelling of a historical epic from the perspective of a biwa player with a supernatural eye. Like IRODUKU below, I didn’t enjoy this show as much as I thought I would because it just doesn’t work with the way I watch anime now—mostly on the side while doing other things, which is a little unfortunate (for me) given the pedigree of this show.
Rating: 4/5
I feel really conflicted about this one since I really adored the premise, art style (Fly is the best character designer, BTW), music, and ending. But the show itself had trouble holding my interest; the episode-to-episode events were just on the border of not quite moving fast enough to be a proper drama, but too much to be a proper slice-of-life. If I had the time to watch this by itself and in fewer sittings, like a movie, it probably could have been one of my favorite shows; but instead it’s merely very good.
Rating: 4/5
Another food-oriented slice-of-life based on Kyoto (like Deaimon above), this time showing what it means to be a maiko (an apprentice geisha). While a relaxing watch, this show suffered from releasing once-per-month and hence de-emphasizing any actual story to instead be a kind of variety show, with a little self-contained plot and some standard “talk about food” segments in each episode.
Rating: 3/5
A comedy featuring the adult cast members of a children’s variety show, showing the contrast between the effort they put into their jobs and how much of a failure they are at everything else.
Rating: 3/5
A fairly standard (but well produced) idol show with a large cast and lots of songs. I personally didn’t find it all that interesting (though Lanzhu Zhong at least made for a fun foil at first), but the songs are enjoyable (particularly Eutopia).
Rating: 2/5
Another entry in the Love Live franchise. Unlike Nijigasaki School Idol Club above, there’s only one group, there’s fewer members, and all the members are new to the business—I think this worked out much better, since each character gets more screen time. On the other hand, I didn’t like Liella’s songs as much as the ones put out by Nijigasaki. So this one was a better watch, but I’m not going to listen to the songs afterwards.
Season 2 introduces four new cast members, bringing the total up to 9. I think they rush developments a bit much as a result, trying to give everyone enough screen time, but I still liked the season overall. I still think Liella’s songs don’t hold up very well, though. Season 3 was announced, along with a recruitment contest for one new member, so hopefully that will give everyone some breathing room (it appears there’ll be a total of 11 members, possibly 12, in the end).
Rating: 3/5
The plot is rather messy, but if you’re not overly fastidious about that sort of thing, Lycoris has a lot of charm and a lot of heart…and a lot of explosions and guns. Chisato and Takina’s dynamic definitely carries the show here.
Rating: 4/5
An otherwise standard ecchi rom-com that benefits from characters who are more straightforward about what they want (in the case of the girl) and being an interesting character in their own right, not a generic self-insert (in the case of the guy). Still suffers from the Maniac Pixie Dream Girl trope (“I have no self-confidence but the most popular girl in school happens to be really into (an adjacent) hobby”).
Rating: 3/5
While some of the visuals are a little janky, this sci-fi action/mecha show somehow makes a large cast and complicated plot work despite a standard 12-episode runtime. The large cast could easily have led to things feeling unfinished or unsatisfying, but good use of tropes made everyone feel reasonably fleshed out, and the main characters get a good amount of development on top of that. The oddball premise and cast makes this a fun watch with a worthwhile ending.
Rating: 4/5
A Chinese court drama about a supernatural consort (though consort in name only) slowly breaking out of the shell of tradition and institution. The anime focuses on her solving different mysteries around the palace, which in turn causes her to open up and reveal more about herself.
Rating: 4/5
A hugely influential cult classic for good reason, Utena is a highly metaphorical anime that deals with surprisingly heavy content. Though I probably understood less than half of what was going on, it was still definitely worth a watch.
Rating: 5/5
I…don’t even know how to describe this. A fairly abstract show about three teens processing their emotional trauma with the help of kappas and…butt stuff. But don’t let that turn you off! There’s apparently Buddhist connections if that makes you feel better.
Rating: 5/5
A mash-up of an idol show, magical girls, and mecha where the plot is absolutely bonkers, the fanservice is gratuitous…and the songs are actually pretty good. Definitely a surprise favorite, even if I admittedly didn’t pay attention to the plot.
Rating: 3/5
A decent magical girl show, with a few problems. On the plus side, the plot moves quite quickly, because it’s been compressed down from the original, and the updated character designs are adorable. On the minus side, the male love interests are…handsy, and the opening theme kinda grates on the ears. If you like magical girls, though, this is a solid choice.
Rating: 3/5
Sort of like Plastic Memories, Vivy centers around bringing emotion to something that definitionally and philosophically can’t. But instead of a slice-of-life drama, Vivy follows the centurylong journey of an idol singer android who is unexpectedly tasked with saving humanity. While I feel like the songs weren’t super interesting, the point isn’t to be an idol anime, and incredible animation more than makes up for it.
My other favorite show for this season. Zhuge Liang (courtesy name Kongming), legendary tactician of the Three Kingdoms period, wakes up in modern Shibuya after passing away. Restored to his youthful self, he wanders through Halloween festivities into a club, falls in love with Eiko’s singing, and decides to accomplish his goal of world peace by bringing her singing to the people.
An addictive opening song (and other songs), bonkers plot, and a well-rounded set of side characters and antagonists make this fun even if you aren’t necessarily into “idol” series. And you can’t miss the multiple rap battles through the season.
Rating: 5/5
A reasonably cute show with a twist on the father-daughter dynamic, sort of in the same vein as Usagi Drop or Sweetness and Lightning. But while the contrast between the yakuza business and the slice-of-life moments are funny at times, more often than not it doesn’t quite land right, making this show feel a little all over the place.
Rating: 2/5
Names will be given in English if licensed, Japanese otherwise. I’m not going to bother listing everything; unnotable oneshots in particular will get skipped.
Rather an odd book with an “empty”, emotionless narrator. Admittedly I had trouble keeping up interest in the book, but it’s fairly short and it may resonate better with some.
Rating: 3/5
Rating is for volumes 1–4.
Rating: 4/5
I don’t even know where to begin.
I don’t think I would’ve appreciated this book without having done fan translations, since this is a book about language. But this is also a book about belonging; about being part of a society you can never be a part of, about revolution, about linguistics, about supply chains, about the fragility of the foundations of society, and so much more. Along with Disorientation and Light from Uncommon Stars, this is one of my favorite things I’ve read this year, and one of my favorite things I’ve ever read.
Rating: 5/5
A memoir about immigrating from China to the United States in the ’90s. This one was interesting: while my own parents arrived around the same time, they never seemed to have had such a hard time, or did they ever really talk about anything like all the explicit and casual racism that Qian faced. Part of this is that my family was much more fortunate: instead of fleeing a country due to adversity, my father came for postgraduate education and to find a job, and had more familial support. But I think for many Asian-Americans, Qian’s story of not quite fitting in, not quite growing up the same will find its mark even if our own individual experiences are all across the spectrum.
I’m also quite glad I had the chance to live in New York; being able to see and imagine the places Qian describes, having walked through many of them before, made this memoir much more visceral than it would otherwise have been.
Rating: 5/5
The third book in a series, revolving around a backalley Tokyo café where one can travel into the past for a few minutes, with many restrictions (can’t leave the seat, etc.). Despite that, the author expertly plays your emotions even with the limited time travel here, and although each book in the series tells multiple peoples’ stories, they all tie together perfectly in the end.
Rating: 4/5
A fairly bizarre set of short stories that somehow feel connected, even if I can’t actually articulate how. Each story has something that defies reality, whether it’s a recreational invisibility drug or a baby’s arm poking out of the womb, yet in every case the narrator just rolls with it, making it all the more strange.
Rating: 4/5
Rating is for volume one.
An unfortunately extremely standard isekai/villainess light novel that doesn’t really do much to stand out in either shaking up the usual formula or executing well.
Rating: 2/5
Rating: 4/5
Rating: 4/5
I can’t exactly recommend this book, because it slams violently against so many touchy subjects, but that’s exactly what I enjoyed so much about it. By the end I think I had copied down half the book as interesting quotes. It’s absolutely worth a read…just be prepared to be confused and, potentially, rather offended.
Rating: 5/5
Rating is for the complete series.
A villainess story with a twist: the characters are actually characters in a game, and our two protagonists are players commentating on the game…except one of the characters can hear the commentary and thinks it’s God talking to him. While extremely tropey, tsundere villainess and all, the unusual setup keeps it interesting, and as a bonus, it wraps up neatly all within two volumes.
Rating: 4/5
Rating is for volumes 1–5.
Rating: 4/5
Rating: 3/5
A somewhat rambling, non-chronological tale of the friendship between two Taiwanese immigrants with vastly different life experiences. I’d almost call it a slice-of-life, in that there’s not really an overarching narrative or goal, except this one is a dramatic and at times fairly painful story.
Rating: 3/5
Rating: 4/5
Rating: 3/5
A fairy tale story about a custom of sacrificing women to appease the Sea God. Unfortunately, the premise didn’t really draw me in and the main character didn’t really seem to be much of a player in her own story.
Rating: 2/5
Rating is for volumes 1–2.
Rating: 3/5
It’s refreshing to see another non-Tolkien fantasy, but this duology stands on its own merits too. Of course, it draws heavily from myths and stories that most won’t be familiar with, but Tan expands them quite a bit, making them her own. Xingyin is a fairly frank character, but one that’s easy to root for. And in tune with the stories it draws from, the author doesn’t shy away from making things bittersweet instead of making everything magically right at the end.
Rating: 4/5
Rating is for the complete series (3 volumes).
Take the “dual protagonists” trope (think Yugi & Yami Yugi in Yu-Gi-Oh, or Sora & Shiro in No Game No Life), make one of them the villainess trope, and mix them up in a Victorian-style political drama/mystery. Unlike many of its peers, the plot keeps moving at a brisk pace, and Scarlett (the villainess) and Constance (the purehearted one) complement each other well. As a bonus, it’s a non-isekai villainess story—no Main Character Syndrome here.
There’s also a manga adaptation, which does move a little slowly as it tries to keep most/all of the details—but it’s also worth a read.
My main complaint is that Scarlett is a bit too much of a get-out-of-jail card for Constance, and while Constance does get more confident over the series, even in volume 3 she’s still a little too slow compared to the other characters who inevitably save the day. Of course, this is a common pitfall for stories built around character tropes (My Next Life as a Villainess being a prime example); letting the “dumb” character get smarter kind of ruins their shtick, even if keeping them “dumb” can lead to frustrating moments. (Competent characters like Executioner’s Menou, on the over hand, seem to lead to power creep.)
Rating: 4/5
Initially a near-future pandemic novel that evolves slowly from real life to speculative fiction to pure sci-fi. Interestingly, it’s told as a series of intertwined short stories with recurring, interlinked characters, giving it a more grown-up version of the same vibe as Spirit Circle. Unlike other speculative climate-apocalypse novels here such as Termination Shock, How High We Go in the Dark is driven by its characters and their stories, with us watching a horrifying pandemic and its aftermath through the experiences of characters ranging from morgue janitors to patient zero.
Rating: 5/5
See the review.
Rating is for volumes 1–5.
See the review.
Rating: 4/5
Rating is for the complete series.
Rating: 4/5
A collection of surreal, not-quite-everyday short stories, with even the more sci-fi ones reading and sounding like they happened a year ago.
Rating: 4/5
Some of the stories were quite fun, but the rest of the stories wore on a bit much. The ones I liked: “Liberation Day” and “A Thing at Work”.
Rating: 3/5
See the review.
Rating: 5/5
Rating is for volume 1.
Rating: 4/5
Rating is for volume 1.
Rating: 3/5
While it starts as a lazy Sunday read about the unremarkable happenings of a quiet neighborhood, the strangeness of the events slowly escalates as you realize not everything is quite as it seems. (Or are these just the memories of a child with a wild imagination, Calvin without Hobbes?)
Rating: 3/5
Rating: 3/5
Rating: 3/5
A fun urban fantasy book revolving around the middle-class version of “magical Batman”: Conrad can see magic, but can’t use it except without the help of artifacts, leaving him more vulnerable than most—especially since his very existence is an affront to most other magic users. It has a few too many deus ex machina moments for my liking, but it gets lots of points for being very much set in New York City, Q train and all.
Rating: 3/5
Rating is for volumes 1–2.
Rating: 2/5
Here, the story of a pair of lovebirds gradually unfolds. One is dead to the world at a psychiatric facility, while the other is running from his troubles on a fishing boat in the Pacific. I’m not sure I really could sympathize with the leads—but it is interesting to slowly find out exactly what troubles they had, and it did come together unexpectedly at the end.
Rating: 3/5
What’s most impressive about this series is that so many different plot threads, spanning two continents and dozens of characters, managed to get brought into a reasonably satisfying conclusion. And on top of that, the conclusion isn’t obvious, nor is the way we get there. And at only four (very long) books, a lot of much more popular authors could learn a thing or too…I do have one complaint. While the silkpunk constructions in the previous books were cool and still somewhat believable, by now, they’re sophisticated beyond belief, especially the ones that are basically computers. At some point, it basically becomes divine intervention.
Rating: 5/5
Granted, my Japanese level is such that I could only understand like 30% of the book, even with all the furigana in the Tsubasa Bunko edition. Nevertheless, I was a little let down to find that Shinkai has really been trapped in the success of Your Name, and that it was following the same formula as his previous movies. I figure the movie itself will still be a fine watch, but the book is probably not worth it.
Rating: 3/5
Adapted into a cult classic anime of the same name, The Tatami Galaxy tells multiple parallel stories of one downtrodden college guy’s life and (bad) luck with romance. It mocks him (or really, he mocks himself inadvertently, since it’s told in first person) and yet sympathizes with him, gives you hope even as you realize that really, he deserves it all. While I honestly think the anime’s adaptation actually improves on the novel, it’s also infamous for its waterfalls of dialogue, and the novel is also a nice way to experience the unnamed narrator’s story.
Rating: 4/5
In classic Stephenson fashion, the characters and writing are questionable, but the scenario is interesting—in this case, he explores what it might take to “solve” climate change via geoengineering.
Rating: 3/5
A now-homeless retiree looks back on the tragedies that defined his life, mixed in with a look at what homeless life is like. A fairly short read.
Rating: 3/5
Another novel by the author of The Tatami Galaxy and The Night is Short, Walk On Girl, dealing with similar themes. It predates these two, and it shows—while not exactly being sympathetic to its main characters, it feels like it just ends without them really learning a lesson, either. The Tatami Galaxy will be published in the U.S. soon, and at least its anime is a better watch with the same ideas.
Rating: 2/5
While a supernatural tragedy would normally be up my alley, I found this story rather boring—there’s basically nothing between the two leads, and the narrator was unconvincing and wooden. It might be better in anime film format, which should be arriving this year.
Rating: 2/5
A collection of stories, some previously published by qntm online. Absolutely worth it for the particular kind of existential horror this author is able to bring without needing to invoke anything other than humanity itself.
Rating: 4/5
Rating: 5/5
A supernatural mystery involving time travel in 1-day steps, all occuring on an isolated Japanese island. Overall, I think an interesting story got somewhat cheapened by the use of suicide at the end as a plot/drama device, but if you’re OK with accepting that (also: the whole “broken man just needs the right woman” thing), it’s not the worst light novel.
Rating: 2/5
Rating: 3/5
I felt rather mixed about this one; while fun, the depiction of Tokyo’s personification rubbed me the wrong way, and then I started brooding over how the personifications are extreme caricatures. The ones for New York and its boroughs are fun and positive—though mean-spirited, in the case of Staten Island. They don’t rely too those archetypes. In contrast, the one for Tokyo is borderline racist and just throws out some stereotypes. That reliance on stereotypes, positive or negative, is already touchy for Asian-Americans. (“But Tokyo is Asian!” Yes, but Americans don’t care about the difference. See: “Asians in Asia don’t care about seeing Asians in film!”) To be fair, Tokyo really only gets a few short pages and there isn’t time to do more, and probably for most readers this is going to seem like me being overly sensitive. But I probably would recommend other books from this year over this one, if you asked me.
Rating: 2/5
Rating: 3/5
I…don’t really know how to feel about this one. At the very least, read it all the way through before making up your mind. To me, this story is skewering the “incel-adjacent” mentality of “I’m doing everything right, so why don’t women like me still?” In the end, even if you do everything “right”, relationships (romantic or otherwise) aren’t about checking off boxes, and this is true whether you put your partner up on a pedestal or down in the gutter. It’s rather…blunt…in how it goes about this, and I can’t decide whether this is to its benefit or detriment.
Rating: 4/5. I…don’t know how I feel, but check it out regardless.
A dreamlike sci-fi short that melds the supernatural with outer space. Yoon Ha Lee is a brilliant author, and this is another example of why.
Rating: 5/5.
A series of stories about different ways of looking at time.
Rating: 4/5.
]]>Ordinary office worker Oohashi Rei wakes up in the body of the protagonist of her favorite otome game, Revolution. To her delight, the first person to greet her is also her favorite character, Claire Francois–the main antagonist of the story! Now, Rei is determined to romance Claire instead of the game’s male leads. But how will her villainous ladylove react to this new courtship?!
Author: Inori
Where to Read: Purchase a copy at your favorite brick-and-mortar or online retailer. Note that print copies may be of the original translation, which notably was missing some text.
Also see Okazu’s review.
The Good:
Overall: 5/5.
Scale for reference:
Author: Ryka Aoki
Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six.
When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka’s ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She’s found her final candidate.
But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn’t have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan’s kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul’s worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline.
As the lives of these three women become entangled by chance and fate, a story of magic, identity, curses, and hope begins, and a family worth crossing the universe for is found.
Where to Read: Purchase a copy at your favorite brick-and-mortar or online retailer.
The Good:
“Gets” Asian-American culture, with casual mentions of ricers and lots of poking fun at racism:
“That’s—”
“A violin from China,” she said without looking up. “Yes, I know.”
“No, I mean, it’s all in pieces.”
“Yes. So are we all.” (pg. 95)
Characters insult “Chinese violins”, discover the joy of Hainanese chicken and steamed fish, visit favorite real-world LA shops selling Chinese BBQ, and most of all, find meaning through their music.
The Bad:
Overall: 5/5.
Scale for reference: