#about Masago

[sanchoyo]

learned the other day that years ago mcdonalds tried to make bubblegum flavored broccoli and it obviously didn't get past the concept stage because it was confusing and gross (obviously). HOWEVER ☝

I think it would be the perfect food theme for a kishigo lovechild . mew bubblegum broccoli....

[adobe-outdesign]

While I'm talking about the Pokemon TCG I would like to give a special shoutout to Kimiya Masago. I don't know how to describe their style other than it somehow makes every Pokemon look exactly like a sleep paralysis demon

and it slaps

[sepublic]

Do you have any fancasts for who should voice/play any particular characters in a Metroid show/movie? Of course Samus is a more loaded topic, and some characters like Raven Beak and Anthony have VAs, but what about Ridley? Mother Brain? Kanden? If you wanna get really speculative, what about Sylux?

Okay okay this is my time to pitch for Mother Brain either Cate Blanchett (for her role as Hela in Thor: Ragnarok), or Angela Bassett (for her role as Shatter in Bumblebee); I’m leaning more towards the latter because Bassett’s performance was specifically an evil duplicitous robot who puts on this friendly facade, that either reins in or lets loose her more sadistic, reckless male counterpart that has big child with a magnifying glass and ant hill vibes (AKA Ridley). There’s this very sickly sweet yet condescending and insincere tone to Mother Brain in my head. I’ve been sitting on this fan cast since forever and I’m so glad for the opportunity to bring it up. I’ve also considered Lorraine Toussaint, for Shadow Weaver from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and Masago from Star Wars: Visions. Lots of gaslighting “Join me in bringing order to the galaxy” and “I totally backstabbed everyone for good reasons” vibes.

Can’t think of anything for anyone else, at least in terms of specific actors. But for voice HCs… For Kanden, I’d prefer him to just be silent entirely, and for the rare times he speaks it’s in a low, rumbling, presumably Enoema dialect; That way it still preserves the idea of him being incomprehensible, alien, not quite heard or understood by the viewer.

For Ridley, it’s hard to describe but I like to have him with this almost buzzing filter, like he’s speaking through a radio; No static though! So not necessarily a raspy voice. I HC him as speaking the way parrots do, so his mouth and lips don’t necessarily move. Despite my previous comparisons, no I’m not considering Justin Theroux as a fan cast, too deep unless he shows a lighter vocal range. At which point it’d feel too perfect not to pair him up with Bassett again lol.

Kraid I’m still figuring out because despite him being a fave I’m obsessed with, somehow I’m still struggling to nail his personality and dynamic with Ridley and Mother Brain… But I am kinda inspired by this brief, slavering line by Benedict Campbell’s performance as King K. Rool, used in this fanmade Captain N reboot trailer, since I see a lot of similarity to K. Rool and Kraid;

K. Rool is often paired with Ridley because they were revealed back to back in cinematic trailers for Ultimate, being heavyweight villain entries to Day One franchises in Smash that otherwise had only heroes, with a huge amount of hype and demand about them for years no less. They’re even both reptilian pirates!!! Sakurai evidently picked up on the similarities because when doing Kraid’s Spirit battle, he used K. Rool to represent him. Sometimes I consider taking my perception of K. Rool’s personality and just transplanting it into Kraid, because it’s not as if I’m imagining doing a pitch for a(nother) Donkey Kong show haha…

I always thought Kraid’s Super design gave me vibes for a voice like Polpo’s from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, either his original VA Hideo Ishikawa or Brook Chalmers for the English dub. I’ve considered Polpo as an inspiration for Kraid since they’re both huge fat villains who spend all their time in a room they somehow managed to fit in, and rely on a bunch of defenses to even get to them; But are still incredibly dangerous and high-ranking themselves, giving out orders from within their ‘cells’… They even have some strange regeneration going on with their fingers.

Polpo is a wealthy guy with a taste for the finer things in life, and Kraid seems built for defending things, more on that in another post; So characterizing him as a dragon with a hoard of treasure (making both Space Pirate lieutenants dragons, fittingly) and leaning into the material greed aspect of the Space Pirates, feels appropriate. Though sometimes I worry about leaning into fatphobic stereotypes by characterizing Kraid as a hedonist…

Of course, I consider the Dread design the new standard for Kraid now, and the vibes there feel more K. Rool to me… But at least more stereotypically piratey, which is good because I want to hearken to the OG vibes behind the term ‘Space Pirate’ before Metroid evolved the group into an entire military coalition. There’s also Darin De Paul as Sloth from Darksiders III, who even resembles Kraid, esp the more insectoid interpretation that almost made into Prime. Sloth’s vibe is meant to be more apathetic, but that might be relevant to Kraid’s static position, and even if toned down is a way to foil the more aggro ambition of Ridley and Mother Brain; He relies a lot on minions, something I also consider for Kraid. And simply for vibes is Clancy Brown doing Hades from God of War III, there's the deep and gravelly inflection, plus a monologue for vengeance that could hearken to Kraid outliving all of the other Space Pirates.

[tsukiyadori]

"Amidst Stars Spread Out Immeasurably Like Sand, There is One Star Shining Towards me"

 The Case Files of Jeweler Richard Side Story: Masago Nasu 真砂なす(Like Sand)

Finally, finished reading that side story. It took it to the last split part to actually get to the title's meaning that had been in a riddle to me for all this time. As it turns out, it's a from a song/haiku from poet Masaoka Shiki (1867–1902) from the Edo period in old Japanese and the nasu would be something like のうような or と同じくらい or 形づくる, basically a fancy way of saying 'like'.

『真砂なす数なき星の其その中なかに吾われに向かひて光る星あり』

Amidst stars spread out immeasurably like Sand, there is one star shining towards me

Which is to say, this is the origin story of Seigi's shift to calling Richard his 'shining star" in volume 12. It was just a little detail dropped in a conversation with Minoru, not explained, but probably noticeable to any observant reader as it has nothing to do with gemstones or natural phenomenon or anything he used previously.

Also.

Every time he calls him that, it's literally actually a confession basically???

I mean, that's pretty much the same thing they already did in Moonstone?? Just using a piece of more obscure classic literature that isn't so overused, like Souseki's The Moon is Beautiful. And with none of that teasing playfulness.

I still think Claire the Lune has to be right after the bulk part Masago Nasu, before its epilogue. It didn't get so much of a confirmation rather than another reference (Seigi having to realize, he's not the youngest any more, when he overeats.) And with that it's a whole string connecting it all together. But in any case, this is a direct prequel to the Overture side story. Which again is a direct prequel to volume 12. Both of them along of with v12 exorbitantly make me think of....

Series convergences (that maths thing) or the Sorites Paradox.

As in: How close do you have to get, how many grains do you have to pile up until it is basically as good or actually that same thing?

Seigi keeps insisting he's Richard's "Private Secretary". And it's his way of differentiating it from that usual stuff, to which he has clearly distanced himself more than one time. That's not the nature of their relationship, despite anyone outside thinking it could only be that. I still remember how I felt like screaming to the void when he declares as much to Jeffrey in the Otsukareta Hanashi short story (from Tsujimura-sensei's blog) that is set right after the epilogue of volume 10. (I mean, how often do you get something served that screams queerplatonic and then basically confirms it even if it doesn't use the word?)

But is it that still? (Was it that to begin with??) Does that differentiation even matter at this point? Couldn't they just go with that usual way?

In Ouverture the topic of marriage gets brought up by a Sri Lankan woman, Seigi dodges it, but there is no way he hasn't considered it. It's cut short by an interference by Richard. Seigi and Shimomura have a phone conversation and Shimomura treats his work as the same as a Jeweler, Seigi corrects him, his job title is 'private secretary' and he's stubborn about that, but also by this point, as Shimomura points out, he's doing effectively that very same work. Saul makes sarcastic implications about that job title in Masago Nasu, only for Richard to cut him short and basically muzzle him. But Seigi even has to and does agree. He even reiterates that fact in v12 by his own accord, his work is now essentially the same as Richard's as a jeweler (though he says he's still a sort of lesser Richard.) And 'private secretary' which really is his very Seigi-roundabout way of naming their nature of relationship that also just makes sense only to them. And the analogy to their relationship is palpable. It's been a running trope since at least Diamond that they look like a couple, but they have piled up a lot more of things that make it look just like that. And short stories like the Itsuka Operaza de actually depict the details from an outsider's eyes with more details, which almost feels like the narrative is trying to make a persuasive case.

And then there's Masago Nasu's main point. Saul telling them the story of his and his wife Masago, over whom he sing-sangs another ancient love poem, including a word that means sand and is her name. And he warns them, they are so similar, their headspaces are similar, it's like their souls are twins, so they are prone to not talk about some things, because they simply already know. But if tragedy strikes (Masago dies by the machineries of Truck-kun), you may be left with the regret of not having said enough that you loved them, when you had the chance. And there's the whole chess play, with Richard first being in a clear lead, but then bang, Saul drove him into checkmate, things aren't always going the way you think they will.

And Seigi has bullocks of things to say, but doesn't manage while it's probably super simple actually (he even basically concludes this in Clair de Lune!) while also not, but also he probably wouldn't ever use it that way, because as he already says in Sardonyx it feels like it would become trite to say it like that. Also, he's probably scared in a few ways about that on top of it. Not being able to say anything is 'salvation' to him. But also, Richard's waiting for that. Although clearly he very much knows already what it would be, because in all the numerous roundabout ways Seigi has long since said it, more than just a trillion times, but still apparently thinks he hasn't, but kind of also, he knows Richard knows (because he kinda always knows what he wants to say). But despite that, Richard looks very much like he wants to hear that. (At least that interlude in v12 and many other spots has him always look like internally sighing.) So he waits for Seigi to get there. (And even keeps any external interference away for him at that.) But what's worse, Seigi knows that. But still fails to, at this point, mostly because he keeps dodging the easy ways that are.

Couldn't they just settle for that usual thing? It really does undeniably look very similar. It would be simpler.

But where's the beauty in that trite simplicity? Why round up the convergence value, if you can have a beautiful endless irrational number?

(And there is still undeniably something still different. Or why make the point that they are sleeping in different hotel rooms or still have their own floors in the Sri Lankan house so clearly?)

It's a convoluted something, but unlike any other case of can't they just open their mouths and talk turkey?? It doesn't feel like there will be any miscommunication drama to be had here whatsoever.

Oh, I dig this dodgy roundabout way of all sorts of coded analogies, context-sensitive, but to outsiders entirely incomprehensible metaphors and talking around the bush while also having zero of the bad consequences not talking straight typically has in that old trodden infuriatingly stupid trope. I so dig it.

.... But I still also want to shake Seigi a few times though. Just because he says he'd wait a hundred years until you are both just bones in your graves; don't have this way too patient poor tsundere wait so long for it. Get it over or just settle on that there is no need to do this talking between you and don't tease the poor fellow so much. :<

In any case, quite curious where this is going to go towards in the next volumes. There seems to be little plausibility that this doesn't get picked up as a theme one way or another, me thinks.

Less than a week left until v13~

[vintagestagehotties]

Hot Vintage Stage Actress Round 3

Eartha Kitt: Member of the Company in Carib Song (1945 Broadway); Helen of Troy in Doctor Faustus (1951 Paris); Mehitabel in Shinbone Alley (1957 Broadway)

Zsa Zsa Gabor: Elvira in Blithe Spirit (1961 National Tour); Ann Stanley in Forty Carats (1968 Broadway)

Claire Bloom: Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (1956 Broadway); Masago, The Wife in Rashomon (1959 Broadway); Johanna in Altona (1961 West End)

Propaganda under the cut.

Eartha Kitt:

The most exciting woman in the world! She talked mad shit to the First Lady about the Vietnam War and made the woman cry so the CIA branded her a “sadistic nymphomaniac” and every single part of that story is so sexy

Zsa Zsa Gabor:

It makes total sense to me that she had 9 husbands because just look at her. I’d propose on the spot if I ever met her. At the very least I’d instigate a passionate torrid affair

Claire Bloom:

the r+j photo makes me weak at the knees

[pokemoncardcritique]

KABUTOPS Illustrated by: Kimiya Masago Sometimes I forget how scary Kabutops is. It has those giant scythes for arms, so alongside Scyther, it's definitely one of the Pokemon you'd least like to have use Slash on you!

What I really like about this card though is it feels like this is how Kabutops would look when hunting all those thousands of years ago. Some unsuspecting ancient Pokemon swimming around when suddenly the water parts in a burst of bubbles as Kabutops lunges towards you, scythe first! The details in the water really help with making it feel like an underwater perspective. The little stream of bubbles coming out of its mouth is an interesting touch too, since normally it can breathe underwater and wouldn't produce them. Maybe it's letting out a yell as it prepares to attack?

It's a very mean looking Kabutops to be sure, but I used to think this card had it propelling forward or perhaps even mid-swim. I can actually see its legs, and both are bent meaning it's not quite pouncing. That does make the card a little less dynamic than I thought, but I still think putting Kabutop's angry expression and one scythe arm forward still does a good job of making it look mean and imposing. It's one of the most fearsome Kabutops cards I've seen; there's a pretty sinister Kabutops EX in EX Sandstorm, but this Kabutops is shown in a way that really makes you wary of those scythe arms I too frequently forget should be feared!

I also like what might be proportion exaggeration here. I know perspective is somewhat responsible for Kabutops looking so large since it's presumably right in our face, but older cards would go off-model more often which lead to some memorable and intimidating looks for Pokemon. Fossil Golduck really accentuated its claws, and Fossil Aerodactyl irreparably impacted how I imagine Aerodactyl's head shape! Kabutops often looks a bit gangly to me, but I like this squat, bulky look for it. I'm a little torn on my ranking for it, I think the legs did make it a little less dynamic than it was in my memory, but maybe this is the start of it springing towards us, swinging its arms back and forth in a frenzy of slashes! It still looks so cool, so I'll go with my gut!

★

[katabasiiis]

get to know the mun

What's your phone wallpaper? lock screen is me and my fiance @deathswcrn, home screen is a screenshot of my babydarling sigrid in fallout

Last song listened to: wasteland, baby! (which i modded into fallout as the main menu music)

Currently reading: a court of mist and fury which ive been stuck on for about two months after devouring a court of thorns and roses in two days

Last movie: the princess and the frog with Small Cousin

Last show: finished s1 of the acolyte tonight and oH MY GOD. THERE HAS TO BE A SECOND SEASON. PLEASE. leslye headland i am wailing outside your door

What are you wearing right now? jammies

How tall are you? short :( 5'1"/155cm

Piercings/Tattoos: ears

Glasses/Contacts? glasses! if i don't have them i walk into walls

Last thing you ate? a genuinely absurd amount of masago. no rice or anything, just straight from the container.

Favorite Color: #003463

Current obsession: fallout. the radiation is eating my brain like a feral ghoul.

Do you have a crush right now? don't tell anyone but i have a huuuuuuge crush on my fiance

Favorite fictional character: my babydarling sugarbean honeypie light-of-my-life sigrid

Last place you traveled: los angeles for passover with a friend

tagged by: @daughterofhighever-blog <3

tagging: @deathswcrn, @oathwilled, @oathfcrged, & @rosawept!

[the-kirin]

Mao manga musings...

So, I thought I'd hold off on posting my thoughts about the latest chapters until I saw how the Daigo vs Yurako confrontation turned out. And...

... well.

After revealing his issues, backissues and subscriptions to Yurako, Daigo tries to blackmail her into joining him by claiming that Mao will give up on her once he learns the truth about Sana's murder.

Yurako on the other hand, flat out refuses to work with Daigo. She still sees Mao as her only hope, even though she dreads what will happen if he ever finds out about Sana.

Mao feels guilty about not making more of an effort to help Yurako in the past and wants to save her from the Goko clan, although he's somewhat conflicted over whether or not this is the right thing to do. It seems a Mao vs Daigo confrontation will be on the cards sooner or later.

If that's what it comes to, then it's going to be a tough fight for Mao, to say the least. Daigo is arguably the most powerful onmyouji we've seen so far and his earth magic has the advantage over Mao's water magic. Mao looked up to Daigo like an older brother and still cares for him, even if he's not sure he can trust him. Add Mao's complicated feelings over Yurako and Byouki's possible interference into the mix and we could have a recipe for disaster.

Enter Nanoka. She's been struggling with her own feelings of jealousy and insecurity regarding Mao and Yurako. She also feels like her own skills are still far behind the Goko clan's onmyouji, let alone Daigo's. This sets up another training arc for her.

Takahashi has focused a lot on Nanoka developing her combat and exorcism skills. Mao's statement from chapter 233 foreshadows Nanoka having to take on more dangerous opponents without his help.

Masago also makes a reappearance at the end of the chapter. If this mirror is connected to Masago, then it's likely to provide a serious power boost for any water user. If the Goko clan get hold of it, Nanoka will face even more pressure to improve her skills.

So, where am I going with all this? If Daigo turns on Mao, Nanoka may well have to step up to save him. Granted, there's still a big gap between them for now but I suspect Takahashi made her an earth user for more reasons than just being a foil/complement to Mao. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing where her development goes.

[angelkin-food-cake]

Tempura Asparagus

8-10 oz. asparagus spears

1 cup ice cold water

1 large egg, beaten

1 cup flour

⅛ tsp. baking soda

1 cup mayonnaise

1-2 Tbsp. Sriracha chili sauce

1 Tbsp. wasabi powder

1 Tbsp. water

2 Tbsp. eel sauce

1 Tbsp. tobiko or masago (flying fish roe)

1 green onion, chopped (green parts only)

cooking oil for frying  

Wash and trim the woody ends of the asparagus spears. Mix the ice water and egg together in a bowl. Mix the flour and baking soda together in another bowl. Stir the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until combined. Lumps are okay. Refrigerate the tempura batter until you are ready to use it.

In a small bowl, mix ½ cup of the mayonnaise with the Sriracha (to taste). Set aside. In another small bowl, mix the wasabi powder and 1 tablespoon of water together to make a paste. Whisk the remaining ½ cup of mayonnaise into the wasabi powder until combined. Set aside.

Heat 1-2 inches of vegetable oil to 350°F in a large pan. When the oil is ready, dip the asparagus spears (1-4 at a time) in the tempura batter to coat. Carefully put the battered asparagus spears into the hot oil one at a time making sure they don’t stick together. Fry until golden (about a minute or two) and remove with tongs. Drain on paper towels.

Serve the asparagus tempura with the Sriracha mayonnaise and wasabi mayonnaise (either drizzled on top or in bowls on the side for dipping). Top them with unagi sauce, tobiko or masago, and green onions for garnish. Serves 2-4.

[sanchoyo]

Hi! For the OC ask: 1, 5, 8!

YAAY HIII u didnt specify which oc so I'm just going to default to Ms Main Character Mira ✨ (tho if u intended for me to answer for a specific character lmk!!) long so, under the cut

What was the original thought that led to the creation of this character?

oh, this is kind of a silly story.

I made mira (and the concept of tm2) when I was browsing deviantart (yes..this was when it was poppin with great navigation/communities and not basically dead. so 2014..ish...), ff.net, and other fanish sites and realized. wow hey there's like...not a ton of masaya/ichigo fankids. its all kishigo, and when it is masago kids, they tend to follow...certain tropes... not that this is a bad thing (I <3 tropes), but I was like. ok how can I make this like. different. I wanted to set up certain expectations to subvert them!! This is still kind of true. I didn't make her in a vacuum, I made persi and aqua at the same time because a lot of what I was seeing for next gen kids was like: 'ok, here's the kids of the main 5 girls!! they form a team with their mom's colors, and have similar roles and personalities!!' and I was thinking. like. wouldn't it be fun if that wasn't the case?? what if we threw in a bunch of different species. a new enemy. new roles for old characters. what if they are all gay

I also can't see all 5 of the og mews wanting kids or all of those kids being perfectly around the same age, and no one in the fandom seems to want to make lovekids with weirder or rarepair ships which annoys me but thats besides the point

another trope I saw a lot of was the fankids being surprised at the mew mew stuff implying ichigo/masaya wouldnt tell them or they wouldnt find out and I was like. well what if the kid knew all along and it shaped their worldview? what if unlike a lot of the tmm fan stories, she isn't compatible with the iromote cat dna- but still wanted to be like her mom? like, I deny her the regular tropes but she still wants them and I think thats really fun to play with.

there's a lot of stuff thats left unanswered in tmm or I thought 'this would be really fun to play with more in a spinoff' just in general, so that thought had me thinking about ways I could shape her as a character :3 design-wise the original thought was red and blue because I liked the colors of a slush puppy cutout I stole from a gas station and it was on my wall when I was drawing her. I wish I was kidding. listen the type of person I was at 17 is not the same as I am now!!! forbidden evil lore. uhh. symbolically its fun too because ichigo=red masaya=blue, but that was a secondary thought. not actually Me Being Clever when I was making her jksfdkjashdf

5. How did you choose their name and why? Was it simply based on vibes or is there any specific meaning behind the name? Are the reasons behind their name different in- and out of universe?

ok the thing with tmm characters is the aliens are all named after pastries and the mews are all foods and so like. I learned about miracle berries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synsepalum_dulcificum and i was like oh man i NEED to make a mew with that. at the time I didnt see any other mews with that fruit but ive seen a few since making her!! very fun, conceptually, to have a character named after a fruit that can make bitter/sour things sweet. like. hmm symbolism :-) heheh. (also, not all of my tmm/tm2 ocs are named in accordance to this naming scheme which SEEMS like an oversight but I promise its not and will make sense later >:'))

theres also another really funny thing- that fruit is in the Sapotaceae family whiiiich. was not intentional but thats the silliest coincidence. her and sapote are not blood related but in my heart they are homies because of this :)

in universe ichigo and masaya want kids but are content to adopt, because he was adopted and I think it'd mean a lot to him- (esp to be a better parent than his adopted parents were. who said that) and also because...with him being an 'artificial' human + her mew stuff theyre convinced they CANT have biological kids anyway. so mira was a surprise. in the miDDLE OF THE ADOPTION PROCESS THEY REALIZE SHES PREGNANT. so they named her mira, standing for miracle because thats much nicer than accident or surprise LMAO. however there's also some other fun interpretations, like mirror. I don't have a set kanji for her name but maybe I should. but there's so many good versions I might actually never set a 'canon' one lol

8. What is the origin of their personality? And let's be honest - how much of it is projecting?

mira's original personality was WAY different. it's changed a lot over the years! she was originally a very serious and stubborn girl, who was quiet and blunt and had anger issues- which was honestly not so fun for me to write (not saying serious characters aren't fun, and they're def refreshing sometimes in the mg genre!! but...it didn't suit the story, imo, to have her be one of the main characters like that. at least not to start off. so some years ago I did a total overhaul- so I'm not sure the original origin of her personality matters so much now?)

now she's more prone to dramatics, still very stubborn (donkey DNA makes that worse, but its always been a Core Trait) and has a selfish and jealous streak despite trying very hard to be the Typical Sweet and Bubbly magical girl who helps people and fights for good. she's not a bad person. she is...messy. she tries not to be. but she wants things SO strongly. shes always been more booksmart than common-sense smart. to be a magical girl who saves people, or fights monsters, people have to be in danger first, or monsters have to be a problem...you can't put out a fire if there isn't one burning, ykwim? she's more interested in being a story people tell, a really iconic magical girl a lot of people know and admire than..um. a Person? 😳

she has a bad habit of demanding the same of people around her and reducing them to how she wants them to be. and baby not everyone is going to fall in line with the tropes you're trying to assign them... its fun! also love to play with the idea that no matter how selfish a motivation is, if you're putting good into the world and helping people just to feel a certain way, like...that's still overall a Positive thing to do.

the origin of her current personality...over the years I've considered what I want the themes of the story to be and what kind of main character would best serve that kind of narrative. I thought having a character who is aware of the typical magical girl tropes and strives towards them actively would be really, really interesting. it can come off as funny- and it is, at times, I love to play it up for jokes! but she's truly a style over real substance girl. if shes presenting in her ideal way no one needs to know whats really going on in her brain! and if they aren't perceiving her the way she wants shes going to freak out (this is why she considers masayume a problemmmm for her up until she believes they're on the same page, girl inside her brain Knowing her Deeper thoughts is kind of her worst nightmare lol :))

miracore posts:

I def would not say this is projecting at ALL, I personally do have a strong sense of self and don't try to emulate my parents or fictional characters so much, lol. the only trait i give her from me is The Gay 🫶

this all also really applies to what I consider Book One Mira. in my brain there are arcs. so she like all my ocs are subject to character development for better..or worse... :3

[hungryhistory]

Sushi Part 2!

Today I’m talking about Nigirizushi and other, more novel forms of Makizushi!

First is Temari!

Temarizushi is fairly straightforward! It’s sushi that has been shaped into a ball! You won’t find these most places, more upscale and traditional places.

Gunkanmaki!

Gunkanmaki is “battleship” maki! The seaweed is wrapped around both the filling and rice like a battleship! You can find these fairly often depending on what you buy, Uni and Ikura will almost always come as Gunkanmaki if you get nigiri!

NIGIRIZUSHI!!

Nigiri is the next variant of sushi! Unlike Maki, Nigiri rarely has seaweed, and focuses on just fish and rice. Nigiri is the easiest (and cheapest) way to taste the full flavor of the fish, without it being overpowered like a maki roll, or hurting your wallet like sashimi.

SABA - Mackarel, distinctly fishy in nature, not as fatty or rich as salmon or tuna, a white fish

IKURA - more mature salmon roe! The biggest of the roe, orange in color, they pop in your mouth similar to popping boba. Distinctly salty and briny like the ocean, full of umami and hits you in the back of the mouth. Makes your mouth water for a while after.

HOTATE - Scallop. More of a texture than a taste, mild in nature and used to soak up the flavor of whatever it’s cooked in. The tofu of seafood!

UNI - Urchin. Yellow in color, and distinctly resembling a tongue in texture. It will melt in your mouth and dissolve, it’s somewhat sweet like shrimp, but also salty and sea water tasting like Ikura.

KANI - Crab! Most likely imitation crab stick. Tastes like crab!

HAMACHI - Yellowtail. Similar to mackarel in nature, though some may have a preference.

TAKO - Octopus! Similar to scallops, it doesn’t take on much flavor as it has texture. While scallop has a thick, spongy texture, tako is rubbery and may still have its suction cups. Good for soy sauce i guess!

UNAGI - Eel. Specifically barbecue eel! Unagi often takes the place of plain eel on common menus for the fact that people find its taste and texture unique and unappealing. BBQ eel is a very strong flavor of japanese bbq sauce, but it’s also very slippery, fatty, and rich! Since, again, it’s an eel and doesn’t produce muscle.

EBI - Prawn! Similar to shrimp but a less sweet flavor.

MASAGO - The inbetweener of Ikura and Tobiko! A more yellowish color. Not as crunchy or popping. Somewhat rare on sushi menus!

IKA - Squid! Unlike tako, ika is a slippery and more eel-like type of sushi! It’s also more difficult to prepare. A very rare item on sushi menus!! I would say Ika takes on a scallop-y flavor! Delicate and sweet, very mild.

TOBIKO - the smallest of roe! Crunchy, snappy, though not very flavorful. More of a textural experience than a flavor experience!

ESCOLAR - also known as ‘White Tuna’! BEWARE: this fish can only be consumed in small amounts. Escolar is not tuna at all! It’s Butterfish! This fish only contains fat, making it taste and feel buttery. However, the fish cannot break down the fat, and neither can humans! It can make people very sick, and is often banned in most countries!

TORO - Tuna! Tuna can come as “OTORO”, which is fatty tuna belly. It’s highly marbled, and known as the “wagyu of the sea” for how it melts in your mouth! It’s a highly sought after piece! There’s also “CHUTORO” which is medium fat tuna! Most lean tuna will be found as just “MAGURO”. Tuna is the most fishy of fish! It’s also quite lean most of the time, with tons of health benefits!

SAKE - the most famous and common of Nigirizushi! Salmon! Salmon can come in a variety of ways! Fatty salmon (like fatty tuna!), just Sake, or Smoked Salmon! Salmon will taste fishy but also rich and fatty on its own! Look for distinct stripes in marbling, and you’ll typically have a good piece of Salmon!

The best way to eat Nigiri for cheap is to find your favorite pieces (through trial and error usually) and pair one or two orders of nigiri with Veggie hosomaki! It’s very rare to leave a sushi restaurant feeling full, as that’s not quite the purpose! It’s made for more of a snack or inbetween meal! Therefore, it’s best not to try and eat sushi on a budget depending on where and who you are, as well as what you eat! It can be done, but it’s difficult. When I try to eat it on a budget, I am for combos (nigiri combos in particular!) and request my favorite fish if possible with an order or two of veggie rolls depending on my budget! Lots of times, they’ll serve combos in my area with miso soup and salad; That’s enough for me to get full! I’ll usually get 10 pc of nigiri, 6 pc of an avocado roll, miso soup, and a salad! The final part of this series is on Sashimi!

[entamewitchlulu]

reading a book for work reasons (long story short we're reading stuff from different genres to like. study the genre deeply for better reader's advisory) and it's a romance and i'm just. I always think "oh i like romance! Romance is nice! I write all kinds of romance and think about it all the time!"

But then you put a mainstream romance book in front of me and i'm just like

ranting under the cut because i need to get it out of me and my enjoyment is not the point so i have to go back to reading this with an eye for genre rather than reading as a reader anyway

the man is an asshole. why are so many men in romance stories assholes. is this like, sexy? am i too lesbian for this?

like this book is what people think you mean in the mainstream when you say 'enemies-to-lovers' but to me enemies-to-lovers should mean that both individuals have their own causes that threaten each other and have some massive stakes involved and someone may or may not be attempted murdered by the other. this story, on the other hand, is just two catty adults who never progressed past middle school snarking at each other because of a miscommunication that someone has lasted THREE YEARS already. i'm a chapter and a half in and i'm exhausted. how do you spend that much time around each other and let a miscommunication go on that long before you finally figure something out.

but generally i just don't. i don't like mean love interests. maybe it's just me. i physically cannot wrap my head around the idea of continually feeling any attraction to someone you hate so viscerally. Like sure, aesthetically you can still understand they look nice but to constantly be mooning over the eyelashes of a guy who's guts you hate, who actively makes you feel as though you are being put down constantly (even if you're misinterpreting him?)? I don't understand how attraction could begin there. it doesn't compute to me.

again this is most likely a me problem. i was the kind of person who was obsessed with Masago in Tokyo Mew Mew after all, maybe it's just a preference for soft guys, but i feel like i don't see many soft guys in mainstream romance. maybe i'm not looking hard enough.

the circumstances are just so......stupid. i'm not going to get into the details i don't want to name and shame the book because i KNOW this is a ME problem and that plenty of people love this stuff and more power to them!! but i think the way the two characters end up stuck together for long enough to ""fall in love"" is so stupid and convoluted and no one would ever act this way in real life.

also there's a gay cousin who is like, a walking stereotype of the gay best friend and i cringed the second he walked into the scene. made me feel somewhat insulted and i'm not even a gay man.

anyway. i'm just. tired. i don't wanna read this book but i gotta.

[vintagestagehotties]

Hot Vintage Stage Actress Round 2

Lizabeth Scott: Sadie Thompson in Rain (1942 Off-Broadway); Sabina understudy in The Skin of Our Teeth (1942 Broadway); Sabina in The Skin of Our Teeth (1943 Boston); Anna Lucasta in Anna Lucasta (1949 New Jersey and Connecticut)

Claire Bloom: Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (1956 Broadway); Masago, The Wife in Rashomon (1959 Broadway); Johanna in Altona (1961 West End)

Propaganda under the cut

Lizabeth Scott:

She’s sooooooooo fucking hot I want to have sex with her soo badly. Everything about her, her voice, her smile, the little way she looks up from under her eyelashes, her little smirk. I’m insane for her

Claire Bloom:

the r+j photo makes me weak at the knees

[tsukiyadori]

Reading (+Watching) Log 2023.09-11 - September to November

Trying this out, not sure if a continuation is feasible, this took a bit to collect...

Reading languages: German, English, Japanese, not listing which was what

Titles are as I've read them either first or most and thus remember it for that title mostly

Not going to bother putting in the original titles of translated reads

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SEPTEMBER

Tried starting reading some of that little stack of doujins and failed to continue right after the first

Still in the middle of an Anime watching slump, but there's an actual tiny titbit watched. Somehow it was only now that I realized Puella Magi Madoka Magica apparently gets counted as a GL?

Anime:

Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Walpurgisnacht Rising Trailer

Doujinshi:

Gusari (Natsuki Kizu) - Kuroko no Basketball Fanbook 2: Ashita no Tenki

Light Novel:

By the Grace of the Gods V2-5

Manga:

Aishiteru Game wo Owarasetai ch38-39 Ane no Shinyuu, Watashi no Koibito ch20-21.1 Boku no Diamond Star ch11-12.2 Buta no Liver wa Kanetsushiro ch29 By the Grace of the Gods Ch35.3-4 Cinderella Closet v6ch24 Deep Scar v2ch14 Die rachsüchtige weiße Katze und der Drachenkönig ch1Leseprobe Eikyuukei ch5 Girl Crush Ch46-52 Hari to Hitsuji no Fune ch7.2-8.1 I'm a Maid, but I've Pulled Out the Holy Sword?! Ch21-24 Juuban-sama no Enmusubi: Kamiari Hanayome Kitan ch2.2-3 Kakegurui Ch103 Kemutai Hanashi ch7-10 Kimi ni wa Todokanai ch40.1 Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata bangai-wink Komorebi Shoutengai no Changing Wonder ch14 Leaving Our Truths to the Shooting Star ch1-4.3 Love is an Illusion - The Queen Intro ch1 Midnight Clubbing Sex V1 Midnight Delivery Sex v1 Miryou no Otome to Katabutsu Hittou Majutsushi no Hatsukoi Kiroku ch13.3-4 Moteki v1-3ch15 Motokare ga Fudanshi ni natte Orimashite v2 Mr. Mallow Blue ch27 My Regret ch9final.2 Noragami ch106.2-107.2 Oshi no Ko interlude 1-4 Oshi no Ko ch126 Phantom Seer v1 Prinz Freya v2-v6ch18 Promise Cinderella Ch119 Re:Zero the Mansion v1ch4 Seraph of the End ch117-129 Shuumatsu Touring ch32 Sonna Kazoku nara Sutechaeba? ch55-56 Taberare Usa ch67-70 Tenmaku Cinema Ch1-21 The Case Files of Jeweler Richard Masago Nasu Part 2-3 The Devil is a Part-Timer! v18ch90-94 The Villainess's Guide to (Not) Falling in Love Ch7-12.1 Unnamed Memory ch30.1-2 Verliebt in die Nacht v5-9 Watashi wo Tabetai, Hitodenashi ch32.1-3 What did you eat yesterday? v20 Yoshios Jugend ch1?

Notes:

Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata - Excellent as usual, but only a special there

What did you eat yesterday? - Excellent as usual, but it was a wee bit weaker than the last one or two volumes

Oshi no Ko - I keep going back every week

Seraph of the End - What are they even doing now. This smelled like something inbetween queerplatonic to the edge of romance (? - albeit a not exactly healthy one) for a helluva long stretch, but then it just has to come around the corner of, hey, look, they weren't even humans. Well, ok, they weren't really all that "human" right of the beginning. But anyway, can we go back to having some more Mahiro? Thanks.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OCTOBER:

End of the month, at the same 27th October it was supposed to be a Jeweler Richard day as both the new English and Japanese volume were coming out. Things that went wrong: Seven Seas botched up v6's English release by leaving out the second half the Sinhalite extra case and the afterword. I also went out of my way to take a few days off to read the 13th's volume in Japanese in any sense of a safely time planed healthy manner right upon release, but entirely forgot, that ebooks have a delay in release date, so that one came out a week later. I was positively furious about my own stupidity and misplanning.

Light Novel:

Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki-kun v6.5 By the Grace of the Gods LN v6-9 The Case Files of Jeweler Richard Masago Nasu Part 4 The Case Files of Jeweler Richard v2.Garnet Reread The Case Files of Jeweler Richard きらきら星たちのパーティ

Manga:

100-nengo ni Tenseishita Watashi, Zense no Juukishi ni Kyuukonsaremashita: Heika wa Watashi ga Moto Oujo da to Okizukidenai you desu ch12.1-2 Aishiteru Game wo Owarasetai ch40-41 Ane no Shinyuu, Watashi no Koibito ch21.2 Ane no Shinyuu, Watashi no Koibito tokubetsuhen.1-2 Ano Natsu ga Houwa suru. ch11-12.1 Arte v13ch64-v16ch79 BL Game no Shujinkou no Otouto de aru Koto ni Ki ga Tsukimashita ch17 Boruto: Two Blue Vortex ch2-3 Buta no Liver wa Kanetsushiro ch30.1 By the Grace of the Gods c36 Dead Company v1-3 Dekiru Neko wa Kyou mo Yuuutsu ch100 Deliquent Daddy & Tender Teacher v1 Detektiv Conan v101 Flüster mir ein Liebeslied v1 Girl Crush Ch53-55 Harebare Biyori ch20.2 Hatsu * Haru v1ch4, v3-6 I've become an Omega Today v1 Isekai de Ane ni Namae wo Ubawaremashita ch12.2-14.1 Kemutai Hanashi ch11 Kimi ni wa Todokanai ch40.2 Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata Ch71-72 Kuni Watari no Renkinjutsushi: Ouji ni Damasare Oukyuu wo Oidasareta Watashi wa, Aru Tabi no Ichidan to Deaimashita ch6.3-7.2 Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuu Kimama na Hanayome Seikatsu wo Mankitsusuru ch26-27 Love is an Illusion - The Queen ch2 Miryou no Otome to Katabutsu Hittou Majutsushi no Hatsukoi Kiroku ch13.5-14.3-4 Motokare ga Fudanshi ni natte Orimashite v2-v3ch18 My Dear Agent v1ch4 My Regret ch9final.3 Noragami ch108 Okazari Ouhi ni Nattanode, Kossori Hataraki ni deru koto ni Shimashita ~Usagi ga Iru node Hitorine mo Sabishiku Arimasen!~ ch20-21.4 Oshi no Ko ch127-130 Rental Girlfriend v17-v18ch157 Seraph of the End ch130 Shinde Miro to Iwareta no de Shinimashita. ch5.1-2 Sonna Kazoku nara Sutechaeba? ch57-58 Taberare Usa Ch74-75 Motokare ga Fudanshi ni natte Orimashite v3ch17 The Lady Likes a Nerd over Princes Ch1-7 The Saint's Magic Power is Omipotent ch36-37.2 The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent: The Other Saint ch1-4.4, ch21.1-4 The Valiant Must Fall v1-v2ch18 Watashi wo Tabetai, Hitodenashi ch33.1 Yomei Ichinen to Senkokusareta Boku ga, Yomei Hantoshi no Kimi to Deatta Hanashi ch6-7.1 Your Tears are Mine Ch1-25 今日からここで暮らシマ��!? ch1

Notes:

Arte turned into out to be surprisingly good after all. Both characterization and artstyle (especially on Arte herself) have gone quite a long way compared to the beginning. Irene is posively an awesome character and the covet yet devoted and subtly beautiful one sided GL-side plot was a surprise addition I hadn't expected at all.

Boruto: Two Blue Vortex - Sarada your earrings are actually pretty, but do you know some space time jutsu to freeze your coat in space like that without ever falling off despite all sorts of moves and jumps?

By the Grace of the Gods - The MC is technically this super overpowered character stereotype that is quite prevalent, but there's something about this character just going methodically step by step and just conquering everything that somehow never makes him come off as boringly OP. Also it has quite some iyashikei effect properties to it. It kinda feels... healthy. (Well it is a story about healing.)

Dead Company - This was kinda trash that had me confused if I missed out on some prequel (I didn't, there's only Doubt and Judge otherwise), and while it goes and explains the foundation mechanics of those two, it effectively is just a short version of Btooom.

Deliquent Daddy & Tender Teacher - Soft cheese, it kinda is predictable, but there is nothing offensive about it and propagates a healthy relationship, so worth a mention especially in the BL department. Obligatory spicy extra chapters remain cursed, but this was at least inerweaved with the characters and their relationship progression.

Girl Crush - This series has been excellent before, but with chapter 54 it has become a marvel that positively floored me. The climax of that chapter was nothing short of awesome. It's also such a great culmation of the main character's, Tenka's, character development progression in a nutshell. She was that character, which she is employed to depict in a music video, she met someone, showered her with irritation and jealousy, couldn't stand herself so resolved to leave it all behind and pursue getting that one thing she was so jealous of by going into the same career. But she also can't have in the same way, so grinds to the place in her own meticulous way. Gets this acting job where she's playing a role very like her past self and she pulls it out with this beautiful scene reel while thinking of what she almost became and then throws the papers for the scene but also at her past self. It's such a picturesque showing of how you can still be ashamed of what you were and did in the past, but still look back at it and use the experience to forward yourself instead of just desperately trying to bury it. I'm cursing and crying: Why does this series not have a print version. Neither in English nor Japanese or anywhere. 😭

Hatsu * Haru - I've read some vols of Yuzuki-san Chi no Yon Kyoudai from the author and that one was pretty good, but this this one is a patience wrecking piece of Highschool-Shoujo-Cheese. It does have some fairly interesting paneling here and there. But darn it, it's just exhausting.

I've become an Omega Today - Certainly wins a price in the "if you only talked (but then we'd have no plot)" category. Noteworthy tho for especially being Omegaaverse and not abusive or dubiously coercive. (How sad that this is something noteworthy.) Also interestingly this is the third in the set now that shares the same visual character design and personality template as I Hear the Sunspot and Summer with You.

Isekai de Ane ni Namae wo Ubawaremashita - Cute, nice dresses and just gimme those hairdoes, too.

Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata - Very good as usual, this now has a sort of Aishiteru Game wo Owasetai arc atm, but it's a helluva better one.

Speaking of Aishiteru Game wo Owarasetai, sigh, I'm really not liking how it introduces some kinks, depicts the courage it needs to confess to it to your crush, only for the narrative to keep using it for gags that ultimately imo are based on shaming on it.

Motokare ga Fudanshi ni natte Orimashite - I previously had read the first few free chapters and then the end of the series on pixiv as it ran. I thought they were all just kind dense adorkable adults or a bit of late bloomers, but then it turns out that of the four main characters 3 are looking very demi aro/ace, and furthermore it gets revealed that two of them are about as officially aroace as you can possibly be without using the label.

My Regret - Finished. Excellent series that I had started at around the same time as My Diamond Star which both had me confused if it was supposed to be BL or not. The latter turned out to be one, this one pleasantly did not and was just about two very different people, whose lives get connected though an old man dying and leaving behind a legacy of grief, self reflection and self betterment. The climax would have been a perfect stopping point, but then it throws in the epilogue that comes along with a complete curveball of looking like something that smells queerplatonic and seems even more interesting. Which makes the series now just mean for stopping right there. D:

Taberare Usa - Flashback arc, so there is a break of the buns-as-sweets doom main plot. Instead lots, lots of bun cheese.

The Case Files of Jeweler Richard: Masago Nasu - I wrote about that one a bit before. But Seigi, Seigi, what are you doing with just hanging up on Richard after splurting off something like that?

The Valiant Must Fall: I thought Gunslinger Girl was a pretty good series. But this series from the same author is kinda on the nose about how much it has researched the history of that epoch. Sadly this is also the only thing really interesting about it. There's a few pages of essays by a historian at the end of the volumes and probably I may stick to it simply for those.

Yomei Ichinen to Senkokusareta Boku ga, Yomei Hantoshi no Kimi to Deatta Hanashi - This guy totally is gonna live in the end, while the girl dies, it just screams that trope. And woe and behold: Surprise surprise there is actually a possibility of an operation for this terminal death doomed heart disease teen. (And silly boy refuses to do it as of yet, are you serious?)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOVEMBER:

I noticed Comikey's "free" and "free with ads" per day isn't globally counted (like Manga Up! for example), rather than per title.

That caused a reading spree there, which saw the advent of a good bunch of webtoons.

There was a regular classic novel read inbetween (gasp)

Reading actually good series remains a health hazard of reading everything too quick with too little breaks and sleep (Unnamed Memory, Goddess of Healing)

I still have not even started Jeweler Richard v13 and don't dare to for health and stamina safety reasons...

Light Novels:

By the Grace of the Gods V9-V11 Unnamed Memory v3-6

Novels:

The Old Man in the Corner

Manga:

A Side Character's Love Story Ch1-14 After God Ch1-27 Aishiteru Game wo Owarasetai ch40-41 Alabaster Ch1-4 Ano Natsu ga Houwa suru. ch12.2 Arte Ch81-83 Asobi Asobase Ch1-20 Barbara Ch1-14 Beauty as the Beast Ch1-15 Brutal ch1-8.1 Buta no Liver wa Kanetsushiro ch30.1-4 By the Grace of the Gods Ch34-V8Ch40.3-4 Color of Happiness v9-v11 Crime and Punishment ch1-4 Dekiru Neko wa Kyou mo Yuuutsu ch100 Dienerin des verfluchten Kindes v6ch29-ch38 Eikyuukei ch7 Fesseln der Liebe v6 Girl Crush ch56-57 Grimoire Heilkunde magischer Wesen v4-5 Hari to Hitsuji no Fune ch8.2 I'm cute enough to get away with it Ch1-19 Isekai de Ane ni Namae wo Ubawaremashita ch14.2-ch14.4 Kakan no Oukoku no Hanagirai Hime ch7.1-8.2-3 Kemutai Hanashi ch12 Killer in Love Ch1-30 Kimi ni wa Todokanai ch41 Kindergarten Wars ch1-25 Knitter's High ch23-24.3 Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata ch73-74 Komorebi Shoutengai no Changing Wonder ch15 Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuu Kimama na Hanayome Seikatsu wo Mankitsusuru ch26-27 Lost Youth Ch1-2.2 Mein geliebter Gaming-Freund ist mein fieser Boss?! v1ch20 Miryou no Otome to Katabutsu Hittou Majutsushi no Hatsukoi Kiroku ch15.1-2 Monster 8 ch70-97 Mr. Mallow Blue ch28 Noragami ch108.2 Okazari Ouhi ni Nattanode, Kossori Hataraki ni deru koto ni Shimashita ~Usagi ga Iru node Hitorine mo Sabishiku Arimasen!~ ch22.1-2 Oshi no Ko ch131-132 Phantom Seer v2-v3ch25 Repeating Your End Together ch1-5.1 Shibatarian Ch2-16 The Ichinose Family's Deadly Sins ch1-48 The Lady Likes a Nerd over Princes Ch8-16 Together Forever Ch1-16 Unnamed Memory ch31.1-32.2 Verliebt in mehr als dein Gesicht v1-4 Watashi wo Tabetai, Hitodenashi ch33.1-3 Witch Enforcer ch1-3 Yomei Ichinen to Senkokusareta Boku ga, Yomei Hantoshi no Kimi to Deatta Hanashi ch7.2-8.1-2 Your Tears are Mine Ch26-31 Zombie 100 v7-9ch34

Webtoons:

A Royal Princess With Black Hair ch1-47 A Spoonful of your Love ch1-20 Blind Passion Ch1-3 Breed my Dear Enemy Ch1-43 Conspiracy of Love Ch1-9 Corridor of Mirs Ch1-19 Dawn the Teen Witch Ch1-65 Fall in the Night with you Ch0-40 Flowers for the Outcast ch1-23 Flowers in the Secret Place Ch0-2 For Stella Ch1-33 If Future Ch1-49 Night Crying Crow v4ch35 Phoenix in the Imperial Palace ch1-7 Sand Castle ch1-35 She Had You at Hello ch1-7 She is also cute today ch0-47 Spirit of Peach Blossom Ch1-27 Taberare Usa ch75-79 The Blue Snake and the Red Moon Ch0-32 The Giantess wants Love Ch0-60.5 The Goddess of Healing Ch0-159 The Mermaid Wears a Dress ch1-25 To be Winner Ch0-49 To be or not to be Ch5-11 Scroll of the White Silk Cloud ch4-31.4

Notes:

By the Grace of the Gods - Things are progressing more actual plot wise and it has had a few twists in there. The healing bit of this tale has even more strongly become a center piece and it just works. Does that count as an iyashikei? I'm inclined to count it. Also gimme some of these slimes. They seem like such a life enrichment.

Unnamed Memory - Positively excellent series, tho the ending had me a bit "somehow this is too easy, why didn't they just do this from the start". Anyway, it's not actually the end there, but Yen Press still has no announcement for the After the End sequel. Booo.

The Old Man in the Corner - read because it was mentioned in The Case Files of Jeweler Richard v5. *cough*. Granted it is very good classic orthodox mystery.

After God - This is weird and trashy, and sometimes just, uuuh, okay.... but also some of these monsters' designs and drawings are quite the eyecatcher.

Barbara - Read because Tezuka and being one of his gekigas. Same boat as MW. It was rather "what the...."

Beauty as the Beast - I've read Arcana from the author before. There is something sad about knowing how the art looked like in classic print b/w-style and then to see how it looks after moving on to webtoon, and this one is one that clearly downgraded, especially on the backgrounds and coloring. The narrative is still starting off straight forward and moving on to become about as convoluted and confusing as Arcana was. Funny also the main character is called Ines yet again.

Color of Happiness - I think I do not like that ending at all. It feels a bit like it took the easiest way to dodge the a cheese-cheese route (which would have come off as questionable given she is so young) and took the only one that was going to be safe from even any implications. And the way it went about it is a bit too deus ex machina convenient, while making hardly any sense. Do think it's kinda too bad, that it also ruins the side plot about the mother and grandmother, that wasn't so uninteresting about how toxicity gets inherited. How to break the chain could have been a nice focal theme and it's also kinda there, but completely drowned by that nonsense pulled, which ultimately renders the mother right with her telling Sachi it wasn't "going to go her way" after all.

Kemutai Hanashi - Chapter 12 is absolutely great, a generally important conversation to be had and breathtakingly beautifully depicted. I exploded in word count and basically translating most of the whole thing over here.

Killer in Love - I'm not sure what this is, it looks very toxic, but also seems to be a bit of.... I don't know why something about these two's relationship reminds me a little bit of Azure & Claude. Maybe it's this flair of this is absolutely going to be doomed, they are definitely doomed bit?

Kimi ni wa Todokanai - After a long detour from going from a shoujo-style that happens to be a BL to feeling very BL-genre BL, I finally got some shoujo feels back from it. Specifically it reminded me of A Condition Called Love, as far as I read that one. As in that talk about a sort of desperate to obsessive desire vs. someone who is on track of developing desires, but not quite so quick vs. boundaries. Considering that the talk about that in v4 was something I thought was great, if it comes back to what happens between v5-7 with all the bad dubCon glory and discussed that, maybe I'll come to like those bits in hindsight or when revisiting, too. (Personally I am inclined to suspect the drama adaption may have had a hand in this detour of tonal style.)

Kindergarten Wars - This was surprisingly way better than expected, too bad, that the art is a little bit unpolished. (Imagine that, but with, like, Spy x Family levels of art? Actually they have kinda similar vibes, just no Anya there.)

Shibatarian - It is creepy, it is horror, it's doing it's job right, but it is also just so creepy. The scenes in the aquarium were definitely quite a beautiful mood. Despite or maybe right because of all the snarling creepiness looming.

The Ichinose Family's Deadly Sins - Does its mystery box mystery very well, especially in the first half, but can't say I really have re-read urges. If there is, it probably would be about the art in the beginning - It is a bit on the cruder side of things, but manages to cement it right as its own signature style (kinda Shin Chan-wise), but then also has these panels and double spreads with an absurd amount of detail levels. Unfortunately all that experimental bit about the art vanishes after a while. (Would not surprise me, if it just was to taxing to draw.)

Together Forever - I think the girl is actually pretty creepy. But this is essentially a female Seme character and the older guy is a sort of uke. Female Semes are ludicrously rare, so I'm somehow still on it...

Witch Enforcer - This has some really good looking art, especially in the color pages.

Your Tears are Mine - Starts decently enough with centering around a little kink of the protagonist girl and goes steady with that and the relationship. Unfortunately just feels axed by the end.

A Royal Princess With Black Hair - The main is a strong female lead and perfectly cool and entertaining to follow. Also consistently solid art despite being a full color webtoon.

Blind Passion - The art is pretty good looking, also historic setting GL, Arte kinda appetized me a bit on that. Will probably take a good while until the free bonus coins on Leizhin will have collected it up.

Breed my Dear Enemy - The title is eyebrow raising as is the premise that has an isekai into a book, where the main doesn't even read the book, but just gets to have it magically downloaded into her brain, while isekai'd. But anyhow, some very digital looking, but still pretty art, especially in terms of the customes of that historic china epoch. And the female lead is a strong and wry one, that's always good.

Dawn the Teen Witch - Cute and good looking art and colors and actually shadings and all, also solid characters and good worldbuilding and weavings of a intruiguing wide spanning mystery plot next to a coming of age + romance plot. And then it just ends. Feels very like an axed series, and while it kinda ends with a finish line, it feels more like just a season end than anything else.

The Goddess of Healing - The complete suprise hit of the month out of blue nowhere. Very pretty dawings. Lots, lots of hairdoes, hair ornaments and jewelery, a huge wide wardrobe of outfits from that ~16h century China epoch. A huge display of varied pouts. The female lead is great. The whole plot is a multi layered mystery/thriller plot. It has a little bit of plot armor, but then it's also a reincarnation story with tinges of fate implied, so kinda excused. The lead is very determined and just so badass, clever, determined, who can stand her own ground, but also knows how to rely to compensate her own weaknesses. Her romance with the male lead is build over mostly intellectual attraction. There's even a little side romance of another pair, adult, mature, cute and chiefly over emotional attraction. Both have integrity at their foundational centerpiece. I quite like all of that.

(3h 50m: 1.5h of which data extraction)

[n7viper]

Sooo.

What's your favourite food? :3

Ahh! I am awful at picking just one thing, so I will give you several.

Generally, I like simple sushi, not too many fillings/what-have-you. Just a simple salmon roll or salmon nigiri is enough for me. I also like tobiko or masago nigiri! I could eat way too many. I also generally like noodle dishes, especially noodle soups. I tend to eat a lot of Southeast Asian foods, even though I can't really handle spice 😅 I power through or make things at home to my own taste haha.

It's almost not fair to include it if you're a noodle soup enjoyer, but pho is my ultimate comfort food - usually beef, phở bò. The one I generally order when I'm eating out has a few different slices of beef, beef tendon, and tripe. If I'm making it at home, I generally don't put that much in it. It's hard to find offal here, and I'm about an hour from groceries that sell the cuts I want. This is one of my favourite recipes to make it at home. It's not perfect, imo, but it's really great for making it at home. It's a really complex thing to make at home, and this is the best I've tried.

One of my favourite things to make myself is a simple pasta dish my friend always makes. They no longer live nearby, so I make it when I'm missing them. (We still talk! They just don't live near me anymore.) It's a sausage alfredo pasta sauce - mild Italian sauage, garlic, onions, some worcestershire sauce and a little balsamic vinegar, dill, cayenne, and then just some alfredo sauce. It's not something I can eat a ton of at a time, but it's so comforting and easy to make. I made some earlier in the week, and I've been eating it for lunch. 💖

For desserts, oh man. I have such a sweet tooth. But honestly, I don't usually have baked goods around. I don't particularly enjoy baking, and I don't always care for the things that are easy to get at the store. We don't really have local bakeries here either; I live in a small area. But every once in a while, I'll buy a little boxed brownie mix and make it for myself. I'm really picky about brownies, so I generally only eat them if I've made them.

[redbeansnricedidntmissher]

January 7, 2025

Japanese Sushi Dinner - 430pm ish

Hot Green Tea Mix

Squid salad (only 1)

Spicy Salmon Handroll

I had about half a bowl of Udon

(Not pictured - shrimp/calamari tempura)

Asparagus Roll

Tobiko, Masago

Ell Sauce, Spicy Mayo

-

Late Night Taco Bell - 430am

+ candy little of this, little of that. Not lots. But not nothing.