#koi suru vampire

[feymure]

Shoujosei (Shoujo and Josei) Anime to look forward to in 2024

With the return of Kimi no Todoke after 12 years, I welcome all to the Shoujo renaissance! Let’s roll on the hype train! (MyAnimeList links are in titles)

Winter Anime Season (January - March)

Momochi-san Chi no Ayakashi Ouji Airs January 6th

Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuu Kimama na Hanayome Seikatsu wo Mankitsu suru Airs January 7th

Isekai de Mofumofu Nadenade suru Tame ni Ganbattemasu Airs January 1st

Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san Airs January 8th

Yubisaki to Renren Airs January 6th

Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon: Watashi no Shiawase na Katachi Airs March 15th

Gekai Elise Airs January 10th

Akuyaku Reijou Level 99: Watashi wa Ura-Boss desu ga Maou dewa Arimasen Airs January 9th

Wonderful Precure Airs February 4th

Ensemble Stars!! Tsuioku Selection Checkmate Airs March 10th

Spring Anime Season (April - June)

Hananoi-kun to Koi no Yamai Airs April 4th

Vampire Dormitory Airs April 7th

Touken Ranbu Kyoden Moyuru Honnouji Airs April 2nd

Rabbits Kingdom the Movie Airs June 14th

Tonari no Youkai-san Airs April 7th

Summer Anime Season (July-September)

Senpai wa Otokonoko Airs July 5th

Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai: Kyou kara Jiyuu na Shokunin Life Airs July 6th

Kimi ni Todoke 3rd Season Airs August 1st

Yeosin Gangnim Airs August 7th

Fall Anime Season (October - December)

Hoshifuru Oukoku no Nina Airs in October

Rekishi ni Nokoru Akujo ni Naru zo: Akuyaku Reijou ni Naru hodo Ouji no Dekiai wa Kasoku suru you desu! Airs in October

Natsume Yuujinchou Shichi Airs in October

Goukon ni Ittara Onna ga Inakatta Hanashi Airs in October

Acro Trip Airs in October

Haigakura Airs in October

Yarinaoshi Reijou wa Ryuutei Heika wo Kouryakuchuu Airs in October

[books-movies-anime-shows-games]

Newest Spoon.2Di, part 3, love that half of this issue is a Visual Chronicle with the most popular illustrations of the past four years 😍😍 I get so much good art in a single go!

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - People of Earth we have VERSE rep in 2 Thai BLs! Amazeballs!

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

March 2024 Wk 3

Ongoing Series - Thai

Deep Night (Thurs iQiyi) ep 2 of 8 (10?) - Everyone seems to be a bit of a player and I’m not mad about it. It’s nice to see high-grade flirting, and I really love how very gay the leads feel. Not BL gay. Actual gay. We shall see how it goes, I suspect we are in "messy gay" territory in which case, I predict utter carnage and that this show will drop ranks precipitously for me. But right now? Of all the Thai BLs airing, I'm enjoying this the most. How bizarre. 

I like the side couple (thrupple?) too, despite the prat fall kiss and possible cheating. They very pretty:

To Be Continued (Thai C3 Thailand grey) ep 4 of 8 - oh dear NO honeychild, face masks are gross tasting!

Rule no 966 of the BL world. He’s never asleep. 

Argh Achi wants Ji so bad. Nice mutual kiss tho, despite Ji's baggage. I guess Ji knew what would happen if Achi stayed? But why is he so scared? Just deeply closeted? The backstory is very high school achy and I feel like it explained Achi but not Ji. And the crying in the movie was lovely, so we totally understand Achi's but Ji is just messed up and confused? I admit to being a bit confused too. Why is Ji the one so angry?

On a totally different aside, I really like how the set dressing is done in Ji’s apartment. It looks lived in and not staged. Super rare in Thai BL. I'm reminded of Ai & Pond's dorm room in Love By Chance, which actually looked like a real college dorm.

City of Stars (Fri iQIYI) ep 7 of 12 - Why is it always the pulps that actually trot out the best communication, conversation, consent, and healthy relationships? Yes I'm still wincing over the truly bad acting but I’m enjoying their good relationship. The sex scene was sweet and tender, although the likelihood of rose petals getting stuck places wigs me out. (Flower petals + lube = terrible combination. Just FYI.)

ALL PRAISE VERSE REP! And a bottom who owns it! Yay! 

1000 Years Old ep 5 of 12 - How ridiculously colorful and flirty they all are. There is nothing at all vampire about this show. I’m a bit bored by the restaurant plot but I'm tuning in for the bonkers approach to goth. How dare they be so cheerful with my precious emo youth, but also, how very Thai pulp of them.  

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Unknown (Taiwan Tues Youku YouTube) ep 4 of 11 - oh it’s SO GOOD. Reading the yaoi and crying. COME ON TAIWAN HAVE MERCY. The red wrapping of the hands (red thread, yes yes we get it). The boy who doesn’t want to box for so many reasons. Not the least of which is how unpleasant it is to spar with a lover. 

This is easily the best BL currently airing and it is going to hurt us. But I don't care. I love it.

AntiReset (Taiwan Fri Viki/Gaga) eps 8 of 10 - This show is dangerously cute and I’m scared for everyone involved, including me.

Love is Better the Second Time Around AKA Koi wo Suru nara Nidome ga Joto (Japan Gaga) ep 2 of 6 - Poor baby thrown in all willynilly amongst a pack of queeny bitchy gay intellectuals. I'd be lost too. It's the worse kind of fight, one you have to philosophize your way out of.

Although I Love You and You AKA Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 10fin - They are extremely adorable and it was a very good ending - mature, adult, and bittersweet. I liked it a lot. But I didn’t love it the way I wanted to.

The promise of this show, younger cook courts older divorced office worker, should have been my catnip. I mean if someone pitched this to me in an elevator I would have downloaded it by the second storey. Unfortunately, it did not exactly fulfill that promise, not in the way I'd hoped. Did I still enjoy the ride, yes, but I feel just a little let down. 8/10 

My Strawberry Film (Japan Thurs Gaga) eps 5 of 8 - Honestly now I’m just shipping the two girls getting together. Frankly, I really don't like this show, and normally I'd DNF but there's only a few eps left and nothing else is airing rn.

It's done, ready to binge, maybe I'll finally get to it this weekend

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps

The Servant and the Young Master (Vietnam YouTube)

Began Beginning (Myanmar YouTube) - A Burmese BL? @heretherebedork vouched for it, so I will watch eventually.

It's airing but...

Time the series (Tue Gaga/YT) 10 eps - it's finished now, I dropped it at ep 4. Should I bother?

Close Friend Season 3: Soju Bomb! (Thai ViuTV grey) 10 eps - I'm exhausted by this franchise and the variety pack style of BL. If there is a particularly good couple (or installment) I might watch it, but I'm letting others decide for me.

A Secretly Love (Thai WeTV grey) 10 eps - I watched the first ep but grey is too much work for this inferior of a show. I may pick up and binge if it gets distribution but for now, it gets a DNF from me. KimCop might have held this crap together but Kim without Cop? No thank you.

Lady Boy Friends (Thai WeTV grey) 16 eps - reminds me a bit too much of Diary of Tootsies only high school, not my thing. DNF unless it turns a corner and is truly amazing for some reason.

Gossip

The choreo controversy - Deep Night vs OnlyOneOf. Look, like a musical rift, or a styling photoshoot, there are no new ideas in choreo, I feel like Madonna did this pose too, a long time ago. Certainly someone in the 80s. Or whatever. Anygay, it's an ironic thing to see a Thai BL being called out by a gay-branded Kpop group when both are exploiting eroticized homosexuality for commercial profit... just saying. (HOW DID WE GET HERE?) Not to mention that BOTH are ALSO exploiting the kink community. We live in interesting times, BLabies. In the end, it's a good publicity stunt all round. And I think Nine knows exactly what he's doing (and why he is doing it). Finally: Drama drama drama around coreo? That is V gay boys. Fun fun fun, carry on everyone.

Strike a pose.

You're being recorded for posterity.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Starting

3/21 Two Worlds (Thai IQIYI) 10 eps - One of those "he's dead Jim so time travel" thingames staring MaxNat. I'm over this concept but Asia flipping loves it and I do enjoy MaxNat. Phupha (Gun) and Khram (Nat) love each other but Phupha is murdered. Then Khram is pulled to a parallel world where, 12 years ago, Khram and Tai (Max) were in love. However, Khram was killed by Tai’s dad. Now Tai finds alter-Khram apparently alive. But then there is ALSO an alter-Phupha to deal with. (Phupha is played by Gun Thanawat who was Khom, the repressed butler bodyguard from Unforgotten Night. We like this, we scared of the love triangle aspect.)

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

Forgive me a moment of industry noodling?

Have ya noticed that it's slender pickings right now but it shouldn't be? This is not the mid summer slump nor end of year lull. We should be getting some heavy hitters on first quarter release. (Side eyes GMMTV. Perhaps those painful Japanese acquisitions were a bigger issue than any of us realized?)

Anygay, IMHO, Thailand's BL bubble has popped and sponsor money is drying up. This is my shocked face:

Look, the 2021-2023 level of release and growth (exponential) was never gonna be sustainable, so I'm not surprised. I suspect that in 2024 Thailand will actually produce fewer BLs than 2023 (73, 64 in 2022, and 40 in 2021).

I know I'm sticking my neck out predicting any film industry but... I have seen this kinda thing before and it just *feels* like shrinkage. Thai BL's load has been shot, my peeps. (Not to be crass or anything.)

Oh, don't worry you pretty head about it, it's not going away, just getting less prolific.

Don't we all in our old age?

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

My favorite trope, sniff him!

Queen. (both Deep Night)

King. (City of Stars)

Verse rep verse rep verse rep!!! Can you see me doing a little dance this side of the screen?

(Last weeks summation)

Streaming services are listed by how I'm (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are too much work.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog

If ya wanna be tagged each week leave a comment and I will add you to the template. Easy peesy.

[tsukiyadori]

Reading (Watching) Log 2024.02-2024.03 - February-March

Previous: Reading Log 2023.12-2024.01 - December-January

Finding the good things be just like chasing after elusive bubbles and wondering how long they'll last

Reading languages: German, English, French, 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 unless there is something worthy of note to it

Cursive titles have been completed

Tumblr's four thousand so and so max characters per block is annoying as hell

——————————————————————————

FEBRUARY

JNC Nina licenses Unnamed Memory both in French in February and German in March. And so now I am reading it for a second and third time simultaneously and also got a subscription for it and then you gotta not waste the buffet, do you?

The reason I never subbed to the JNC English site was because I feared I'd never read my other backlog if I'd get roped into chasing expiry deadlines over all the time, so there was extra zeal on that too avoid the nightmare scenario.

And soooo the LN pile read off has had an increase not seen in years.

Light Novels:

Anime Supremacy

Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki LN 8.5-9

Hell Mode v1-2.7

I Met You After the End of the World v1-2

See You When the Snow Falls

Spice & Wolf v21

The Apothecary Diaries v1-2

The Eminence in Shadow v1

Unnamed Memory LN v1.p1

Manga:

100-nengo ni Tenseishita Watashi, Zense no Juukishi ni Kyuukonsaremashita: Heika wa Watashi ga Moto Oujo da to Okizukidenai you desu ch15.1-3

A Certain Scientific Accelerator v10-v12

A Certain Scientific Railgun v17-18

A Kingdom of Quartz ch1

A Side Character's Love Story ch35.2-50.1

After God ch53-54

Alabaster ch5.3-10.2

Ano Natsu ga Houwa suru. ch15-16.1

Beauty as the Beast ch36-49

Black Butler v31

Bloody Bites at Boarding School v1

Boku no Diamond Star final chapter

Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki Manga ch8-24.2

Buta no Liver wa Kanetsushiro ch33-34.4

Captain Ken ch1-7

Close to your Skin

Daijuukou to Unicornis no Otome ch14.1

Dance Dance Danseur v1-3 (JP v1-6)

Dekiru Neko wa Kyou mo Yuuutsu ch104

Der Geschmack nach Melone v1

Diamond in the Rough v1

Die Braut des Wasserdrachen v8-9 (out of order read)

Gebt mir mehr, bitte sehr v2

Geliebter Wetterfrosch v2ch6-11

Girl Crush ch62-63, ch81-82

Give Her Back to Me

Gleipnir v2-9, ch59-88

Haikyu v34-39

Harebare Biyori ch23.1

Hari to Hitsuji no Fune ch9.1-2

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri ch19.1-2

I have a Crush at Work ch1

I'm cute enough to get away with it ch20

Iki Dekinai no wa Kimi no Sei: Super Pink

In the Sunset ch0-12

Isekai de Ane ni Namae wo Ubawaremashita ch17.2-4

Kakan no Oukoku no Hanagirai Hime ch10-11.2

Kijima-san & Yamada-san ch1-6

Knitter's High ch25-26.2

Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata ch79

Kono Koi wo Hoshi ni wa Negawanai ch11.1-2

Lust auf ein Date? v9-10

Miryou no Otome to Katabutsu Hittou Majutsushi no Hatsukoi Kiroku ch18.2-4

Mr. Villain's Day Off ch54-64

My Awkward Senpai ch1-37

Okaeri Aureole

Okazari Ouhi ni Nattanode, Kossori Hataraki ni deru koto ni Shimashita ~Usagi ga Iru node Hitorine mo Sabishiku Arimasen!~ ch23.2-3

Oshi no Ko ch139

Our Dedication

Porno Superstar

Porträt eines Vampirs v2

Ran the Peerless Beauty v4

Reincarnated as the Daughter of the Legendary Hero and the Queen of Spirits ch19.4-58

Rental Girlfriend v19

Requiem Of The Rose King v9-10

Resist Destiny v3ch10-15

Ride-On King v3

Sakura, Saku v3ch11

Sasaki and Miyano v7

She is also cute today ch52-75

Shinde Miro to Iwareta no de Shinimashita. ch9-10

Shuumatsu Touring ch35

Sky Link v1

Snow Fairy v1

Snowball Earth v2-5

Solange wir zusammen sind v1

Sonna Kazoku nara Sutechaeba? ch64-66

Sooper Spooky ch1-4

Spice & Wolf - Die Abenteuer von Col und Miyuri v1-2

Suicide Notes Laid on the Table ch1-9

Sweet & Tart Boyfriend Ch39-53

Take Over Zone v1ch5

The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten ch13.3-14.1

The Diamond of Heart v3ch11-15

The Heroic Legend of Arslan v12ch71-76

The Ice Guy and the Cool Girl ch16-38

The Killer Inside v1-6, ch53-97

The Villainess's Guide to (Not) Falling in Love ch12.2-15.1

To be Winner ch76-114

Together Forever ch36.2-42.2

Tomorrow, make me yours

Unnamed Memory Manga ch34.1

Watashi wo Tabetai, Hitodenashi ch35.1-36.1

Zombie 100 v10ch38

Webtoons:

Breed my Dear Enemy ch92-110

Can the Grand Duke and the Marquis be Friends? ch13-32

Flowers in the Secret Place ch1-52

Ice Lamp: The Chronicles of Kira ch8-41

Marry my Enemy ch8-60.5

SOS My Love has a Bug ch0-3

Spirit of Peach Blossom ch49-80

Taberare Usa ch88-92

The Giantess wants Love ch96-170

The Mermaid Wears a Dress ch38-60

The Villainess Behind the Mask ch1-53

To be or not to be ch12-36

Non-Fiction:

Some Greek mythology book (ISBN 9789463598965)

Notes:

Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki LN 8.5-9 Wow. Wow. So I thought volume 8 was kinda really not too great for me, but ultimately that (and v8.5) are built up to volume 9, and ho boy was this a surprise. It even starts right off with doing the right thing about dating - talking it out - then root issues and problems are being pointed out and then there is also still the Popol and the Fireling analogy going on. And Kikuchi's then even in world essentially totally realizing that she is effectively up against narrative fate. And then there is Hinami. And it's not like Tomozaki has a crush on her, like he does with Kikuchi. While he can perfectly be attracted to her, it's not like he has all the crushy feels he has for Kikuchi. But that bond is there. And it's so paramount, most important he's ready to let go from Kikuchi, when it looks like he can't have both without some sort of suffering happening somewhere. At this point I steadfastly declare this series as being pretty much queer. I thought this before already, that Tomozaki isn't really all that straight, like he is easily attracted to a lot of the girls, but also he's got the heart flutter moment with Misuzawa already and just generally looks up at him copying it. If this had wanted to take a BL turn, this wouldn't really have come out of nowhere either. While this potential route probably is not ever going to be explored, what he has there with Hinami just screams queerplatonic to me. They have all the issues of naming and describing it, the next best thing they can tangibly go for is, she is his mentor in the game of life. But there is definitely more going on from both sides, and at least for Tomozaki it's overly clear how huge her existence is in his life. And he longs to keep it. But it's not the same thing he has with Kikuchi and what's more Kikuchi just.... gets it. And yes, it's a queasy and axiety inducing, but ultimately that ending being like all in the break up mood and she being like she's gotta make a decision herself, so asks him to let her make the request - how often do we get a girl finally stands up to make a decision for herself to end things? Not Kikuchi, she does the entire opposite. Rather than ending it, she reinforces that ending of v7, that this is a selfish wish, but she desires him. And it's not just her crush, it's because he also is her ideal Popol. Which he wouldn't be without Hinami being there as such a paramount existence. And it's just this whole great thing about that ultimately decisions and what one makes out of it is the most supreme thing of all. And what Kikuchi did is, she gave narrative fate a middle finger.

The thing with the badges is kinda a bit of sappy cheese, but it definitely feels well earned. And next to that, there is also this whole setting of boundaries with Hinami, too. When Tomozaki just goes and requests Hinami to shut up, when she is saying her logical, but not empathetic reasoning and he makes it clear, that this is not rejection, not rejecting her, not rejecting her values, but self-preservation, that he needs that distance to protect his emotions and to prevent himself for developing bad ones towards her. It's just so really beautifully respectful while drawing that important boundary. And he also follows up with that game meeting, just to prove, it wasn't just empty talk. He still fully intends to have her in his life. That makes it just buyable. And that also makes the ending clear, that he is upset with her for using him like that, but he does not even contradict her on her methods of working. He just doesn't agree with her attitude and motivation in this. And it's a clear telling off, but it also doesn't feel salty, because clearly after all this, he's not just going to let her walk out of his life AND IT'S NOT BECAUSE OF ANYTHING ROMANCE. (In a RomCom(Drama), set up a bit harem-like no less.)

You have all that talking with Mizuzawa about you can't have it all, things are spilling, you gotta at least be aware and deliberately toss something and usually this is where people go and pick Za most important loved one to become the OTP and what does this guy do? Starts ditching everything that by all means logic is transient and "replaceable" - until Mimimi makes it clear to any reader she is way too good to let go - is all ready to ditch his new self he has come to like himself, is ready to ultimately ditch the notorious supreme SO. breathes in ISN'T THIS OUTRAGEOUS??

Like completely outrageously rare. I did not expect this. I was all whining that I didn't want to see it end on Tomozaki and Hinami winding up the OTP simply by virtue of the narrative fate of first girl to show up, and the Kikuchi just comes and trashes it down. This is great stuff. And then it is even more, it's talking about compatibility, it's talking unbalance, it's talking about how the solution ultimately was Kikuchi sucked it up, but it's not entirely one sided, either, as it also was her deliberate intentional steadfast choice to put an ideal over her anxious feelings. And it's just so neatly full circle to v7. And it also manages to level up Rena who really was slap worthy in v8. She really is in it to push the limits, but once Tomozaki clearly tells her off, she backs away. So all you have to be steadfast, for everything else, you only deserve to be her prey. That's an interesting one, too, especially considering, who she really comes off as somebody who doesn't respect any boundaries, but all it needed was steadfastness? And then her and Mr. Professional Player talk about relationships from an adult perspective, it being about setting boundaries for the partner meaning relationships and it's all really interesting and convincing for a healthy relationship and Tomozaki is pondering about it and it all looking like it completely falls apart, but then Kikuchi finds a different way that does away with the conflict. .... Isn't that kinda quintessentially queer(platonic)? To not be all following whichever norm was out there set by your predecessors. But not necessarily denying all and everything of it either. And then it ALSO brings in the subject of what loser or winner means in life and that line about how Tomozaki actually is a winner type - because he can recognize status and value, but it entirely not attached it so has no second qualms to just let go it, because he doesn't see it as something that propels himself forward - was really a thing to think about, while it finally tied the gamer aspect into it the rest. Tomozaki never had a need to validate himself, and it was actually something he's had from the beginning. But since he had such a self-sabotaging resigned attitude and approach it perverted it into merely being an arrogant loser. But turns out it actually was just lacking the toolset and guidance to make use of what he's always had. And really just the sheer miracle of meeting somebody, who is equipped with an eye to see that value and then confront and nourish it, even if it may be out of questionable motivations (but it's not like they are exactly harmful to him), it's just so so grand, and.... I think I'm rather jealous of it. Does this even happen in reality? This series makes it buyable that it may actually be possible.

Hell Mode v1-2.7 Here we go with a case of you just read it, because it was there. One of the few current titles on JNC Nina and it just felt like a waste to not make use of it. Turned out, it's not so bad, although it's nothing I'd ever actually pick up on my own. The steady leveling up and checking out stats and experimenting with it is quite like By the Grace of Gods, just without any of it's healing compf properties. The protagonist kinda reminds of the one from Gamers!, just in less of a pathetic loose-type. Maybe that makes him more like the protagonist of Shangri-La Frontier, but in terms of personality he's a bit off. But it takes its very decent solid time to establish actual stakes, the one major thing that made Shangri-La entirely not work for me. The MC even mentions it himself, it's a whole pain to have been reborn and spending all these years, but though it he has a bond with them (which kinda is like Ascendance of a Bookworm, now that I think about it), and these are his stakes. He doesn't just do things because of his gaming obsession, but also because he wants/needs his family to get into better conditions. Not a bad read, it solidly does what it sets out to do so far.

See You When the Snow Falls Uh, hmmmmm. This tried to jug multiple genres and then none of them were exactly terrible, but somehow though the split none of them managed to shine. The split was actually fairly even, too. The mystery bit turns out to be an actual murder mystery, and it was even guessable to the reader, but because it's always background focus it ends kinda anticlimatic, despite being fairly round. And to begin with, nothing about the premise (and the compf cover) looks like a murder mystery.

Cheese wise it was, err, uncommon, I guess? Meets the ghost, looks like a the fated person, meets another girl, also has an air of a fated person, actually starts dating somebody entirely else, and after some detour winds up with his future wife. Some lines really weren't bad, and there is some of the ugly side of relationships depicted quite down to earthly, but maybe it was just way too matter of factually reported, this hardly qualifies as romance as in the genre either. And as a coming of age drama of something who lacks any direction and purpose in life it's too entangled to those two subplots than to shine, he kinda gets dragged around by them and big dramatic moment happens and then just happens to do his thing, because why not.

It has a nice realistic sense to it at places, but somehow it's completely not what you'd think it'd be from the cover and blurb.

(Also has nothing to do with that other 2 volume series, which I only found out after finishing this one.)

As an oel otherwise it was a bit weird at places. Aside from "a kuro tech company" it uses words like chikan, keiko just like that in Japanese with italics and those are words that really need not have to be Japanese, next to some Nee sentence starts (why not simply "groping", "honorifics", "hey"?). Not too many lines, but they have a strange weeb show off effect. At some point it also has a bit of an air about flaunting knowledge of that culture, like how it comes around with explaining how onsen were used for talks because nude means you can't hide weapons. I'd guess this is an obvious snippet of knowledge to any native writer as I've never seen it show up explained anyway beyond No Game, No Life where it was just in a tirade to distract from the main topic and Zombie 100 where the weeb foreigner comes to flaunt her knowledge. 🤔

I Met You After the End of the World v1-2 And there I thought these were all the volumes of this series, but apparently there's gonna be a v3… I was surprised by this series. It was present already in See You When the Snow Falls, but it's clearer here. This writer's style has a distinctive male gaze, and it doesn't shy away from sexuality and being just a bit philosophical contemplating. This kinda reminds me a lot of Asano Inio or Haruki Murakami or Oshimi, but it's not like…. as wrecked. Not that it is to say that there isn’t lots and lots of doom material by premise and setting, as well as plenty of assholes, but the few that are there are kinda all side characters (who get their just desserts by plot). The MC is quite upstanding instead and treats the female MC very respectfully. And it starts off with a mood that comes to a close around a third to half line in the first volume. They are alone in a Tokyo, where everyone died of a virus. It takes months until the stink of the corpses emerges and then it needs the electricity network breaking down for them to properly have it sink in, that they were spending their whole time next to corpses en masse and now need to leave the place. I was thinking the reason why there was no stink was kinda hard to buy at first, but then it's maybe not entirely impossible either. And you'd think, why are they such idiots and didn't prepare stocking up on fuel before gas station electric pumps would fail, why not stock up on battery charge, but not look for this and that. Didn't they know this was gonna break down sooner or later? They even mentioned having feared it before. But it all seems so plausible with the mood. You have this guy, who just is totally burned out from life and was all ready to simply wait for his death by the virus and the girl has her own share of issues and they just are there enjoying the luxury of modern life without its responsibilities and artificial social pressures and they just spend their time to… heal. Did they know to be more clever in preparing more? Probably. Somewhere in the back of their heads. But they also looked to me entirely not being in the mental state of actually following up on it. And this is just the worst thing about extended periods of exhaust. You lose that onlook or care about even a mildly midterm future. Just floating in and out of the days. I didn't even know I'd find that mood interesting, but here were are.

After this it turns into a road trip and the obligatory romance was gonna progress, too. Heads up for a perspective of, the female character can get horny as well and that being solidified as something perfectly not shameful. (Even if the phrasing of “people have their needs” used to cement it is a clunky one that can go to hell.) And some meetings are almost always mystery cases, in between. (I find it rather funny that she'd carry that book about cults of all things all the way from Tokyo to the south, just to have it ready at the right time, lol.)  All the hints of more survivors being there is a nice set up for potentially something grander and will be interesting how this is going to weave together with the romance between the two. It gives me slight Eden It's an Endless World vibes there. The end of the world, humanity and everything…. but look there, after a while you'll see humans still survive after all and you gotta see how to live in this world where some things just never change. Could imagine that coming in as a theme, too, but we're not there yet. The MC is already contemplating personal true value vs. artificial social value and the whole thing about it already was dead, but the tsunami comes and and sinks everything down and even the hubris is gone. There was just such a solemn mood about it, like all the things you hated, but you also realize you were attached to it nonetheless. And just how that hits down as a very lonely thing. Kinda reminded me when I heard that my old school was torn down and I looked up some pictures taken from the teardown side filled of rubble. AND THEN volume 2 comes in with…. a ghost and a deity. Huh???? Suddenly it's also Fantasy???? I have no idea where it is wanting to go. But not even a date for v3 yet…

The Apothecary Diaries v1-2 I have to say the beginning was a bit dry and if there was anything at all it was just the narrator’s cheeky tone going for me. It was like the narrator has a personality entirely of their own, while omnipotently knowing about everything past and future and present and sometimes doing a little commentary. (Unfortunately that one vanished quite soon enough.) It requires its time to set up all the characters and especially Maomao. I was expecting that it would just utilize the fact that she is just too into her special interest and doesn’t see anything else of the world trope to justify it until said interest would shift, but surprisingly she is not wholly obsessed about it for larger parts of the first volume at all. And her being so entirely in the know about the Red District certainly doesn’t make her the too innocent-trope. So when the narration goes to state she expressly has no interest, despite the ability to see the attraction by common standards my eartips perked up. This increased with all the weary moods over watching other people’s marriage going right or going wrong and there is just this whole mood of like Ah-Dou and the emperor not really being lovers but bosom friends and confidantes and her just being a strong support to him rather ever really be his concubine. Or Maomao and her adoptive father and just how remote romance and sexual indulgence can be from a home to get back to. At that point I thought that would have been interesting with Jinshi being an Eunuch and that being mentioned as 'losing sometime vital', something that isn’t at all so vital to Maomao herself. If Maomao was pretty much as good as ace, that could have made an interesting match, of one who is dumbly in love and the other entirely not, but slowly finding some intellectual and emotional ways to connect. Like she did with her entire found family. But duh, of course that couldn’t stay that way. 

I raged at that v1 epilogue. WTH do you mean she got pink cheeks, blushing from a darn cheese move? At the end? This last minute?? It felt so entirely like, that v1 was set up to work standalone and then it’s just bait, like, imagine the rest of that ship on your own. Which felt entirely like betrayal to the set up of Maomao herself and also if that was where it was gonna go, then it was just half-baked. My best guess was that it was just being bait, and look there volume 2 just goes and essentially retconned it. And then adds a comment in that volume to have Maomao say it was she left everything love in the womb of her mother. Now that’s a really cool phrasing that I’m inclined to use for myself if a need may pop out. In any case, Maomao is such a mood (just replace poison with rabbits for me), her facial descriptions about Jinshin’s cheese advances or the deadpan expressions of exhaust, resignation to annoyance when others have gossips are so quintessentially me as a teenager and her aloofness about just really knowing a whole lot about worldly flesh matters (but all theoretical) and then being stared at is similar to my adult self now. I was surprised how quickly that escalated with everyone getting headaches and Jinshi even resorting to wall punching. What I found too bad about v2 is that ultimate her poison hobby obsession got played as the expected trope after all and then Jinshi just has to be the Ugly Duck (or more like the swan among ducks?) that he is and I was kinda disappointed that Maomao wound up being blood related to her adoptive father after all. Like it was really interesting how things interconnected with the mystery cases, but then it says that coincidences piling up like this suggest something intentional and things in her surroundings and family are also all too coincidentally also very connected and who’s the mastermind there? (It looks a bit like the former empress?) Anyhow. Volume 1 and 2’s mood and tone does feel considerably different at places, I’m not sure which one I actually like better. (What I think is also kind of funny is how it’s like a sort of reverse Jeweler Richard? Both guys are described has heavenly beautiful defying gender and having everyone turn their heads and the narrator and even Maomao can’t stop making mention of this, but Maomao and Seigi are at complete opposite extremes of reacting to it, and yet Jinshi is already like a v6 Richard and Maomao is like a mix of dofus Seigi and early volumes Richard?)

Later I found out that the shousetsu ni narou version was still up and it looks like v1's content is largely the same to the WN. So looking up the phrasing of that v1 epilogue it says utsuru for her thought esclamation that it's catching on to her and then she gets those pink cheeks. Now utsuru is a word descibing catching diseases other things contagious. Which is to say, this is reminicent of that explanation Oda does in One Piece about Ruffy having a reaction at nude Nami, simply because he is in a group and the group mentality caught on. I still entirely don't like that bit of the epilogue, but I suppose this makes it look a bit less disappointingly baity.

That and that the author writes in a postscript to WN v1 that from then on it'd be all about raising flags and then destroying them. So maybe that was intentional. But then it was also one comment I'd have wanted to read right after the epilogue, because darn, was I annoyed/disappointed by that last minute titbit. ._.

The Eminence in Shadow v1 - Another one, read because not reading would be a waste of the subscription, but helluva what even is this. I don't know. 

Unnamed Memory LN v1.p1 I said I was gonna be quick to sub if for example UN showed up and then it actually did show up on JNC Nina. Okay, so sub done and started reading it. And I have ??? about the translations. Like I'd say my French sucks, so at some places I had the English version next to it as a crutch for double checking. Which inevitably makes me notice that it differs at some places from the English one and it's not just the name romanizations. And when I compared some of them with the JP preview and looks like the French one.... actually looks more accurate by those samples? That was interesting, but now I am in doubt about the English translation, which on its own actually had read itself just fine.

Black Butler v31 After Zombies, Titanic, Harry Potter Houses, Cricket, and Idol Group (WTH?) Now we have HAZARD SUITS. I don't even with this series.... It’s boldly thick skinned in doing whatever it wants, that much is for sure. Also, I somehow managed to buy volume 23 again instead of buying 32. How the hell did that happen...

Dance Dance Danseur v1-3 (JP v1-6) It’s a very good sports series. It’s been utterly exhausting however. If one had to sum up the first 4-5 volumes it’s like TEENAGERS. All the stupidity, all the worries, body changes, nervousness, and attraction and horniness and lots, lots, lots of it. That’s just everything I do not resonate with because I never really had that phase. In between it shows some really assy prejudices, but also goes to kick them in the ass. While the latter is rewarding the former still happens and just makes me go yuck right of the first pages. But it does a fair job of not just demonizing that side and even the characters with that assy attitude turn out to be really just human in their own way.

German ramblings from right after reading v3: Wandert auf die wird weitergelesen (wenn auch nicht mit Prio) Liste. Ist zwar immer noch so voll mit Elementen zum Weglaufen für mich, aber es ist mittlerweile nicht mehr ganz so übel TEENAGER und wie das alles zusammenkommt mit den Nebenfigurenelemente ist echt schickt zusammengefädelt.

Die Doppelbände bleiben aber ein Krampf zum in der Hand Halten q_q"

Es hat leider sind es immer noch weitgehend Zutaten, die bevorzuge ich eher in kleiner Dosis, selbst wenn es gut verpackt ist…. Beim Pantyshot und dem "mach doch was männliches" oder den Mobbinszenen hatte ich schon paar 🤢 Momente. Das ganze Pubertäts-Hormonmoster-blabla, ist teilweise auch sehr OTL, vermute mal einigermaßen realistisch getroffen? Hatte das halt nie und dann das ganze hin und her mit Miyako oder er ist nur bei der Schule gelandet, weil der Pantyshot im den Kopf verdreht hat. ufffffz. (Bei Bakemonogatari fängt effektiv auch alles mit einen Pantyshot an, aber da ist es durch die Eskalation der Ereignisskette so extra absurd, dass es was passend sureales hat.) Und das Thema um Passion/Talent wiederfinden/verfolgen/fördern ist halt auch bisschen weiter weg als jemand der gar weder das eine noch das andere hat. Und mit Tanzen kann man mich IRL eigentlich jagen gehen. 🩸

Aber ist schon gut eingebaut mit Nuancen und aufeinander abgestimmt, sieht man selten so, aber auch, Band 2 war echt bisschen zu viel TEENAGER HORMOOOONNEEEEEE. Die Richtung seit Band 3 war mir da echt willkommen. Grad auch dass das mit dem Mobbing wieder kommt. Das hatte sich zwischenzeitlich recht verwässert und unter den Tisch gekehrt angefühlt, aber dann war es doch nur die Ruhe vor dem Sturm.. Also erzählerisch macht es eine sehr gute Figur und bei so vielen Bänden sieht es nach Mehrgängemenü aus~

Diamond in the Rough - Finished It is a pretty solid Shonen read, with an interesting setting, but hell, what is this ending? Did it get axed? It totally just feels like an arc ending shortly before a post time skip part 2 and then it’s suddenly simply just the end.

Girl Crush ch62-63, ch81-82 I found out that it actually has a web serialization elsewhere than just Line Manga (which is geoblocked), so straight shoot at it even if it meant gap jumping. It's still rock solid and great, also it's clearly in the build up stages for the next fireworks. Tenka is just so gorgeous. 

Give Her Back to Me That was... creepy, in an intended way. It was interesting, but also just slightly brain frying. I suppose that was also intended.

Iki Dekinai no wa Kimi no Sei: Super Pink I also call this 'the horny porny that shouldn't exist'. It's a spin off doujin by the author from Iki Dekinai no wa Kimi no Sei/Breathless Momentum and it's, well, been quite honest about what its content was going to be about from the preview of the thing. Which is to say it has no plot only plot. All I had when I learned of this release was a jerk reaction of WHY. Didn't the author tweet before there were never gonna be ero scenes in her work? And isn't Breathless Momentum really great, because it's just so utterly unabashed horny, but manages to be that while also never being porny or smutty? (You don't usually get this.) Why now this. I'm all whiny. That being said, as for PLOT it was still one of the better ones I guess. You don't just get horny, it's not just about shanking another up till insanity, but it's also about foreplay and really just enjoying the whole thing with their minds still all sound (you also rarely get something like that) and it's just two who are really hot and horny about another, it's far from their first time, and there is just this sort of self-evident natural playfulness to it. And there's even funny little panels and humor in between. And visual cuteness (they get all hearts in their eyes as pupils over their delectable snacks.) So now, please can I have all the elements like these without the need of beams and holes and overly explicitness and also have it actually be integrated into a main plot please? At least it established the horniness in the main series already, unlike say What did you eat yesterday? - which is also to say, unlike some doujins there, where I wanna scream why it wasn't part of the main plot, because of very important emotional characterization, Super Pink is entirely neglectable to the main plot. But some of its seasonings would have peppered the main series nicely, too, if they were spread out more and not going deep into the horny pot like that....

Isekai de Ane ni Namae wo Ubawaremashita ch17.2-4 This series got licensed by Yen Press. Everyone go read it. It's good~

Lust auf ein Date? (How do we Relationship?) v9-10 Finally the How to we NOT relationship manual turns into a How DO we relationship advice box. But ho girl was the path to it exhausting. A very good series that does lots of things right and well written, but that are things I just don't manage to really like. But how the two mains are going for and knowing how people are gonna likely misunderstand it and one of their girlfriends being all like “you can’t have enough harbors outside of just your lover” just really really makes it looks like it’s going for some queerplatonic angle and I think I’m gonna whine a whole lot if those two wind up being a couple after all in the end.

Okaeri Aureole This is 50% cute-wholesome and 50% the guy deserves a bloody punch. Like how can you have things like this:

And then also have one go and assault the other one in some run in the mill-bad nonCon trope? 

Reincarnated as the Daughter of the Legendary Hero and the Queen of Spirits ch19.4-58 This was a surprise and probably not one I would have touched if I couldn’t have tried checking it out on Manga Up. the title is kinda really unfortunate as is its isekai reincarnation premise. It’s kind of pretty irrelevant to the plot and MC literally goes like “but that’s not relevant so story for another time” (which probably will never really happen?) Well, anyway. It has a nice mix of badass girls and mums, intrigues and politics, an interesting fantasy world with some lore, two parents who are just dumbly in love with each other (they remind me of Spice and Wolf, but just more stupid-funny-cute), who can be funny, idiots, dorks and then entirely mature and serious at the switch of a button. The art is cute, too and in general it just has this playful air about it, being very compf, while it’s still interspersed with darker bits of the world and it’s a really nice balance of savory and compf-cute-sweet.

Ride-On King v3 I am not sure what I read there. Probaby same stuff as v1-2, but it has been a while.

Sasaki and Miyano v7 I closed the gap from print and web-reading. Good heavens I’ve read this as it was chapter-serialized in JP, so I already knew what was coming, but darn it is this cheese death worthy collected in a book like this. How to despair as you gotta rereaed the last few pages every 5 pages because your brain just chimed out. 

Sonna Kazoku nara Sutechaeba? ch64-66 I’m entirely not sure where this is going to go. The premise conflicts are more resolved than not, so a new character comes in to retrace some of it and then it opens up new themes. Which is like…. gender/trans/nonbinary themes? One scheming girl who’s not below selling her own body?? I’m not entirely sure, as I dumbly missed out on reading some chapters in time before their free reading expired. The kuudere MC teenager's starting to go cheese, while her mother is finding all her sappyness back? Ok.. But it’s kind of interesting how Ichika went from “I’m just on their way, they can spend more cheese twosome time with each other” to But if she went back, she’d not have as much time to spend time with her cheese-subject. 

This was still cute tho and absolute nothing I'd ever have expected from this series:

The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten ch13.3-14.1 TINY BITS OF FLUFF FODDERRRRRR, where is the next chapterrrrrr q_q But anyhow! The release date of v1 in German is out and there’s a limited edition with extras and a variant cover, everyone go buy the fluff perfection (for as long as it lasts to be that)~

Ice Lamp: The Chronicles of Kira ch8-41 This has turned into a slight surprise hit so far. The art is solid and knows to be pretty when it needs to. The premise is very fantasy and gender bender driven, but frankly, if this wasn’t fantasy and Kira simply was a boy, it still would have a lot going for it simply by virtue of the art, character interactions and the politics and norms of the world spinning around. Unfortunately I'm now caught up on comikey and have no idea when there’s gonna be more chapters… (until finding out the month after they seem to come regularly now.)

The Villainess Behind the Mask - Finished This seemed like it started with Shinde Mirou to Iwareta Shinimashite x 7th Time Loop at first, it’s like the former in the MC having all that special magic, it is the later in terms of the MC’s character and personality, just not as rich and optimistic and more vengeful. It’s decent enough, but the ending was just a tat anticlimactic and in terms of romance it has a few moments, but they never really got enough room to build up enough chemistry and there’s a whole “buts…!” raised up only to be smashed down at an ending that does feel a little bit too much like axed. Too bad. 

To be Winner - Finished. From beginning to end this has positively cute to gorgeous art. The later has been fairly abundantly with the fantasy game settings, but ultimately, it’s just characters on a screen in the world of this story that is just like everyday contemporary RL life so it just felt a bit dissonant. In terms of its actual plot it’s a sports-plot with a romance side-plot with solid execution. E-Sports really is anything but my field of interest, but the rest kept it going regardless. The ending feels round enough, but also a bit like being on the fence about between stretching it on or just finishing on a side plot in the last arc and by the time it decided to be the last chapter it didn’t feel like one whatsoever…

——————————————————————————

MARCH

It is a whole scrumble to keep up with expiry dates on JNC Nina already.

Reading in French is slow business, as is Japanese compared to Englisch and German, and darn it. q_q

One little accidential anime slipped in. Actually I did feel like watching Apothecaries and maybe something else, too, but somehow in the end I just wound up putting all their soundtracks into the playlist to listen to instead...

Anime:

Winter Memories Honkai Impact 3rd Concept Animation

Light Novels:

7th Time Loop V1

Fushi no Kami V1

Hell Mode v2

How to Survive As a Villain Novel ch1-41

Spice & Wolf V21-22

The Case Files of Jeweler Richard v13p10-14

The Eminence in Shadow v2p1-6

The Executioner and Her Way of Life v1

Wolf and Parchment v4

Your Forma v4

Manga:

100-nengo ni Tenseishita Watashi, Zense no Juukishi ni Kyuukonsaremashita: Heika wa Watashi ga Moto Oujo da to Okizukidenai you desu final chapter.1

A Side Character's Love Story Ch49-50.1

Akuma to Keiyaku v1

Ano Natsu ga Houwa suru. ch16.2

Are You Okay with a Slightly Older Girlfriend? Ch1-2.3

Arte Ch84-85

At 30, I Realized I Had No Gender

Black Butler v32

Captain Ken Ch1-16

Cherish v1

Daijuukou to Unicornis no Otome ch14.2-15.1

Domestic na Kanojo v4

Frieren - Nach dem Ende der Reise v4

Girl Crush ch82

Goblin Slayer Year One v9ch61-70

Haikyu v40ch357

Harebare Biyori ch23.2

Hari to Hitsuji no Fune ch10.1

Hiso Hiso v2-3

Horimiya v14-16

I Cannot Reach You v6

I Got Reincarnated in a (BL) World of Big (Man) Boobs ch1

I'm cute enough to get away with it Ch20-23

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Chronicle Episode Freya Manga v1ch4

Josou Joushi no Nakasekata v1

Kakan no Oukoku no Hanagirai Hime ch11.3-12.2

Keine Cheats für die Liebe v9-11

Kemutai Hanashi ch13-16

Kijima-san & Yamada-san Ch4-17.2

Knitter's High ch26.3

Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata ch80-81

Kono Koi wo Hoshi ni wa Negawanai ch12.1-2

Koroshi Ai After File prologue, ch1

Küss den Kater v5ch20

Living With My Brother's Wife Ch1-11

Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuu Kimama na Hanayome Seikatsu wo Mankitsusuru ch30

Love and Fortune v6ch31

Lovers High - Meine beste Freundin, ihr Freund und ich v1-2

Marry my Enemy Ch59-60.5

Miryou no Otome to Katabutsu Hittou Majutsushi no Hatsukoi Kiroku bangaihen1-2

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid Elma's Office Lady Diary v4ch36

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid Kanna's Daily Life v8

Mr. Mallow Blue ch29

My Awkward Senpai Ch28-54

Okazari Ouhi ni Nattanode, Kossori Hataraki ni deru koto ni Shimashita ~Usagi ga Iru no de Hitorine mo Sabishiku Arimasen!~ ch23.4-25.2

Oshi no Ko ch140-144

Repeating Your End Together ch5

Sasaki and Miyano v7-9ch46

She is also cute today Ch60-125

Shin Henkei Shoujo Ch1-2

Shuumatsu Touring ch36.1-4

Sick v1

Solange wir zusammen sind v2-v7ch28

Sonna Kazoku nara Sutechaeba? ch67

Sooper Spooky Ch1-17

Spring, Love and You v3-5

Suicide Notes Laid on the Table Ch8-19

The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses Ch71-80

The Heroic Legend of Arslan v13-v15ch94

The Ice Guy and the Cool Girl Ch39-56

The Strongest Tank's Labyrinth Raids Ch1-2

Unnamed Memory ch34.2-35.2

Urban Prince and the Amazon Girl Ch1-4

Victoria's Electric Coffin v1ch4

Virgin Road v2ch13

Watashi wo Tabetai, Hitodenashi ch36.2-37.2

Wind Breaker v1ch5

Webtoons:

Breed my Dear Enemy Ch99-181

Flowers in the Secret Place Ch45-87

Ice Lamp: The Chronicles of Kira Ch42-44

Taberare Usa ch93-96

The Blind & The Homeless Ch1-7

The Giantess wants Love Ch164-218

The Goddess of Healing Ch54-66

The Mermaid Wears a Dress ch50-60

To be or not be Ch24-122, 1-23

You Are My Lovely Dragon King Ch1-16

Non-Fiction:

Some Greek mythology book (ISBN 9789463598965)

Notes:

How to Survive as a Villain AKA This Villain Emperor's Gotta Charm the Male Lead to Survive! AKA To Be or Not to Be AKA Please Decide on a Title Already The former is the closest translation to the Chinese title, while the second's length and summary-in-title does all the justice to it being an isekai and the last is a bit ??? in hindsight after reading it, but then it's apparantely the official English subtitle and also what made me pick it up on Comikey in the first place, so I should not complain. This is also a series I can dub as 'how to get interested only really at chapter 41 of 122 and then get hooked at chapter 88ish after having everything before read with pretty much just half attention' and it's another specimen to prove that me getting hooked tends always to happen rather late, which makes finding the next great thing really complicated beyond grinding though as much of everything as possible by sheer brute force and patience. (What do I envy people who can judge that right from the beginning.) Well, I'm gonna have some fun rereading it.

Anyway, this series by premise is a bit like My Next Life as a Villainess, but the isekai'd main doesn't have baka trait of Bakarina, then the world being reincarnated to isn't a tropey heavy otome-game thing, but a novel set in Ancient China (no cultivation and other fantasy elements there as a bonus) and the whole thing is also a BL and the narrative has slices of Romeo & Julia, but without that one's teen pathos (stupidity). The isekai'd main Xiao YuAn is a bit ridiculous and funnily goofy at times, but not dumb and stupid either. It's also been strangely weird, but convincing to me how it takes like 60ish chapters for him to notice he's fallen in love with his favorite novel male lead-turned real, and that it doesn't even occur to him until it's being spelled out in clear words and to boot, he is being transmigrated into the body of an emperor known to be gay and everyone's being thinking the thing for far longer and even his beloved male lead Yang HeQing caught onto his own feelings by what, chapter 12? And yet it felt strangely buyable to me at the same time. Very slow burn and organic progression. In the middle there is even a dish of melancholic facing your impossibilities in the world. (Maybe that’s some Weltschmerz and what the Hamlet quote title tries to reference? The vengeance part probably is less so.)

It sets up a lot and then develops it until it reaps its payoff. Which is to say, the series has 3 parts/seasons and the first two and beginning of the third are really rock solid, but the third is there to reap off all the payoffs from before and does it well, but in comparison feels weak because unlike the prior two parts it doesn't set up anyone or anything for itself much beyond the minimum and just reaps previous buildups. There's no new side character beyond the sister of a side character (Hong Xiu kicked ass really) that got killed off and really she is just a paler, meeker Hong Xiu 2.0, which is really too bad, because it could have integrated another new Kingdom into the spotlight, have some mentioned original novel side character show up or have some more side characters come back like they did from part one to two. The overarching plot is also not has interweaved with all the side tales going on and as a result it feels--- a bit simple I guess. That also makes the focus on the pair's lovey dovey shenanigans more heavy and Xiao YuAn is actually just about as silly and goofy as ever, just now knowing what he wants and entirely unhinged about it, and otherwise it's not so very different to the beginning, but due to the extra spotlight it has with not much more else going on it looks more lower dimensional than it needs to be.

Also somehow the last part seemed a bit visually weaker. And I've been really wondering why. Because it wasn't the art's lines or coloring itself. Was that because his second transmigration has made him get a more manly body than that slender, sickly more androgynous body and I maybe liked that style better? But then this never came across as one of those BLs that just shoves a female strereotype on one of the guys as often the case and if it did I'd likely hate it. Or was it the completely unhinged air? Or that he has a more sturdy body that far better can fend itself, but gets all those princess carries and doesn't even complain about them? Was it the thicker eyebrows? Eventually it turned out to be.... Eyelashes!!! The two mains of them, they both have fairly long eyelashes. And supposedly his second transmigration's body is pretty much like his original body, same face and everything, but!!! Every show up of that one at the beginning totally also has him have those longer eyelashes!! And yet in the third part the only times he mostly gets to have longer eyelashes is when he makes pretty eyes for his guy and it's... it's strangely weirdly irritating. Where is the consistency!!! Or well, I didn't know I found longer eyelashes aesthetically pleasing. What do I do with that titbit of knowledge now... Anyway, to my chagrin I had to find out that there was a Japanese print release for this series, but weirdly enough they only released one volume which has firm 1 cipher plastered on its cover and then no further volume afterwards. It's also licensed in English, but by Monogatari Novels who apparently still haven't released any of their releases in English and keep pushing the dates. :/

The art is also really nice, tho I have to moan about its key illustrations that really really look a bit misleading in terms of vibes and the third main key illustration is basically either misleading or a big fat spoiler. (And the fourth that also is being used on Anilist apparently is mostly used as a merch illustration?) Artwise it's really nice to look at, a really nice color palette that freely uses vibrant to darker parts of the spectrum, lots of wardrobes and because guys in Ancient China also all had long hair, lots of wavy fluttering bangs and ponytails in the wind or hairdos or decorations. And long sleeves and robes, too. It looks good (and just made the special chapters in contemporary times look immensely boring in comparison. Where's the wavy hair!! (and the eyelashes!!). (.... I'm getting ridiculous about this.)

That bit in the middle about the conflict of being yourself but also being that new entirely different identity after being isekai'd and the limited amount of people knowing that is also a quite nice mood I feel like that has gone lost from many of the genre from the modern wave. There's also a nice conversation about how the man's caught up in choices and how he's all doubting to being guilty about the choice being made and how ultimately it was never about doing the right thing, but making a choice and feeling bad, because all choices were important, but he had to pick. Also choices are the thing that defy fate literally. There is something soothingly comfy about it there.

How to Survive as a Villain Novel As it goes, the webtoon on Comikey has.............. parts of overtly dubios translation and editing quality and then also other parts with fairly interesting side notes (clearly these parts have to be from diffrent staff working on it??) and while the translation overall feels more clunky than not, it definitely made hints of making a fair number of literary or cultural references that all got lost in translation. And then I found out there's a novel and also there is a fantranslation and that it was taken down because an English release was licensed in Singapour by a somewhat new publisher and pre-orders closed on that on in January, like 2 darn month before I discovered this series. How cursed. Well, not like that the fantransation isn't to be found elsewhere, and it's worth already just for the footnotes on all the literary references and idioms and occasional contemporary slang. Really interesting. But aggregator rip off sites are still all cursed, because there's a good bunch of chapters that have annotation number markings but they haven't copied the footnotes over. Dang it, I'm interested in those!!!

Anyway. The webtoon definitely cut and changed a good few of things, which makes for a more smooth read and at places with additional flourish. Especially the beginning of the novel is equal parts of wtfh and lmao. And it then it dawned on me why it seemed strangely convincing to me that the main Xiao YuAn gets transmigrated into the body of that gay emperor and while he perfectly knows that fact, he doesn't even ever really think much about his attraction to his favorite male lead (that he has been fawning in a few ways over from the beginning). The way he is introduced in those beginning chapters of the novel pretty much introduces him as never having fallen for any woman, his family goes nuts, tries to ship him with some women, but then he's like bolting and running and family goes like wait, no, is he gay then?? and try to ship him into dubious BL ships and he is running and beating them up and like just. Nope. There's nobody. Probably. Anway, onto more important things!!! How about just focus on work and be a useful person to society. Which is such a mood. And add how it takes him a while to accept that Ancient-China-from-the-novel world as properly a real thing of its/his own now and his not even considering the idea despite being perfectly acquainted with the flags kinda feels like more than just the usual amount of density. Besides he really isn't dumb about it, he quickly gets it once it's been clearly spelled out and he gives it its due thinking over, so like just the whole air of him having all the pieces before his eyes all along but not even considering it at all in that way that's not even exactly dense or phobic of some sort is kind of really interesting.

The other part is how he had already killed himself in his original life to begin with. More or less because he was terminally ill and doomed anyway, but also because some brother asked him to. Which is a bit ??? It checks with how the big turning point in the third part plays out and the man may be whiny and a scaredy cat and all silly with his fear of death but actually doesn't even think twice about facing death in all the serious moments that count (which thinking about it is very reminicent of Haku from Utawarerumono Maskt of Deception/Truth), but him just jumping off the fifth floor in those beginning chapters also feels just random. The webtoon definitely did a good job kicking that brother character out of the plot. Apparently the sheer ludicrousness of attempted shipping offs by his family still made it to the webtoon in post-chapter extra scenes; at least I saw some on chinese raws, but the comikey version has them all cut. (And he's got long eyelashes in his original body there!!) Anyway, less than 1/4 read so far and I'll probably space it out for it to last longer. Also, darn it, somebody license the book already. With lots of translation notes and everything please!

Breed my Dear Enemy Ch99-181 So, apparently that’s actually two completely separate series under the same title belt and the first one finishes here. (with a completely nuts numbering order at the end of it on Comikey.) Isekai-transmigration into the body of a child, spanning over a decade, that has a short reverse-isekai adventure, court intrigues, knowing the novel contents already-cheats and there is a deal of courting and romance and a slice of cultivation and some really pretty art at places (especiallyfemale MC Ye Mu’s wardrobe). Ye Mu is also pretty cool in being just absolutely badass in wits and kicking ass herself. The isekai cheat is a bit excessively convenient though - She hasn't even read the book on her own accord, but while she accidentially trips into the book Fushigi Yuugi-style while doing a military raid and gets sucked into that world she literally gets the book contents downloaded into her brain. It does more with the isekai that you'd expect at the end, but somehow that plot device for plotline cheat skills was still extremely deus ex machina. What I also thought was a bit surprising between this and To be and Not to Be both having it was how their last thirds are both quite so very unhinged at being horny and explicitly things happening but without them being graphically explicit. Also both are from China. I did not expect this level of unhinged horniness from that country at all. What happened.

This panel background otherwise was almost phone wallpaper worthy:

It also had some nice ones ones with bamboo trees.

Domestic na Kanojo v4 I am not sure I know what I am even reading.

Frieren - Nach dem Ende der Reise v4 Fern deserves some sla… stern talking tos about her treatment to Stark and no Sein, I very much disagree, they should totally not be together already like that at all. 

Fushi no Kami V1 The isekai premise is so old now it is annoying the MC himself already and lots of cheats, but the world’s cultural mystery hook is not too uninteresting, but everything Maika side it a whole slog and I feel like wanting to drop it out of the window every time a PoV change comes to this cheese stricken girl.

Girl Crush ch82 It’s good, it’s still good!

Hell Mode v2 This is strangely keeping me interested enough to stick to it despite it not really having anything outstanding. My best guess is really just that it’s my surrogate to By the Grace of Gods after all. 

Horimiya v14-16 - Finished That took some years to get to these last few vols. But I was taken off guard. First I don’t remember any of the side characters anymore. Second. Was Hori always this bad of an obnoxious violent tsundere despite the guy clearly suffering from it? And you can’t even slap her for it, because she’d enjoy it!!

I Got Reincarnated in a (BL) World of Big (Man) Boobs ch1 I’m crying. In “What a whole darn waste!!” So I am still following Adekan. And when it’s good it’s gorgeous in its art and just all that morbid twistedness of human nature and desires so when it’s good it’s usually really good and when it’s bad it's also atrociously bad to my tastes. This one from the same author ditches any chance of a setting to flaunt or otherwise exhibit her talent for all that gorgeous dreamlike, fantastical artwork. And it’s so dumb and it’s kinda bad and it knows it, which I suppose makes it more bearable than the worst parts of Adekan due to the self-aware 4th wall element. But also it’s just such a waste!!! and yet you can clearly feel, this is what the author has fun with and plenty of fun Nao Tsukiji has with this particularness and who am I to criticize a person doing what they like, but still. I cannot help but cry out: What a waste!!!!

Kemutai Hanashi ch13-16 It's been a great series already and now it addresses yet another thing that is hard to put in words, but was captured brilliantly in its mood design by sheer power of character expressiveness. It will be very interesting if it does go on to capture it in words, too, like that brilliant conversation I raved about last time.

Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata ch80-81 Wow. So we had this Aishiteru Game-ish arc, but it quickly moved on to the theatre play arc and frankly that was sweet and solid, but lacked any sense of a wow effect and probably that was the whole point, because wow did that twist (caused through one of the most old trodden tropes boring tropes at that!) hit at the end. It’s like… of course that was always in the cards. But somehow it managed to catch a surprise anyway and wow does it well circling back to one of its main messages it had been delivering so very well across all the series before.

Sasaki and Miyano v7-9ch46 I died a few cheese deaths and I had even read the web version before. I am regressing in my cheese resistance. Help!

Spice & Wolf V21-22 It was easy enough to get back into that after all those years it took me to pick it up again and the Holo-Lawrence bantering just really doesn’t get old. And everytime at the end of the books, where there are stories about Myuri and Col it just strikes how much less engaging that duo is as main characters. Also, seriously, at the end of all the church reforms it’s just gonna be like marriage is allowed for priests and those get together, is it? Hurry up and please get it over already. sigh.

Wolf and Parchment v4 Actually in their own series, it’s less of a slog to read, as there is still a mystery plot to be had around politics and the setting and everything. But I retain, those two are a bit exhausting…

Spring, Love and You v3-5 I had read v1 and actually thought it was surprisingly pretty aroace and also describing how the friction of being that way and the world not being that way can be hurtful and then I read v2 and OF COURSE this was a shoujo and she was gonna fall in love and then I dropped it for years. But now with having read the rest of it… Not like it ever addressed it as such, but the two mains impress a bit as demi or otherwise still a good deal as still on the aroace spectrum and cluenessness about ok, so they are dating and now? and then there is a side character who really looks like very aroace to the end and there is this girl having a crush at him and confessing in a really respectful way of not making him feel guilty or indebted and there’s a really wholesome part to her being kinda in pain, but also just placing good wishes and hopes for him to have somebody special to him, if it comes to that. And the guy goes like instead of feeling happy about any such a confession he feels like he lost something important and ultimately it ends on him hurrying after her, because he doesn’t want to lose her, a really close, trusted friend so far. And then they are dating and the series ends and the girl is happily blushing in the midst of her crush and he is entertaining her crush with a romantically coded gesture (that he does with a completely straight face), but if you ask me, this looks so much like an act of despair of not wanting to lose something precious and not because it winds up he fell for her like that. It would have been really interesting if that could have been explored, because this setup is bound to have all sorts of challenges, but then this series never was gonna be about something like this, was it? Which is a bit sad, because to me it unfortunately will be the only thing I will actually remember about this series. The characters aren’t exactly bad, they are buyably realistically portrayed, but they are also a bit (very) unmemorable and there isn’t much of an actual plot in this school setting to hook you in either. 

She is also Cute Today - Finished (??) This was supposed to be some GL, but then it was more like deep friendship and finding your crowd, with a bunch of opposites attract comedy but after some dozens of chapters it's having more clear hints about being more romantic than not, but before it really ever went to get into that more deeply it says end of part 1 and somehow no more other chapters. (According to Anime Planet it's finished??) Well, in terms im GL that's now kinda like what you get from most GL. Something that just barely has a little bit more than a regular deep intimate friendship. But it does introduce a gender NC theme across the series that has a clear queer message said out loud, so just when I starting to think it could go beyond the usual fare but.... Where is Part 2? :<

Taberare Usa ch93-96 Just what the hell am I even reading there now…

The Case Files of Jeweler Richard v13p10-14 I ACTUALLY STARTED. Meanwhile even v7 in English has arrived and I haven’t even touched v6 after that disappointing peek into it. 

The Giantess wants Love - Finished It turned out to be a nicely decent read. There’s some solid art throughout and once the romance is official it actually is mature and makes no big deal out of it. The fashion industry setting is nicely used for a number of pretty outfits. One of the last chapters also just barely turned the scales around over at humanizing a gay side character who went to be all like this predatory asshole criminal. There’s quite a gap between the villains and the good guys, with a few having feets on both sides, but like some of these villains just are a bit taxing on patience to sit though. 

The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses Ch71-80 Seriously, this series and all its cheese is above my wits.

The Goddess of Healing Ch54-66 picked it up where I originally went on a binging frenzy to the end. It’s still good and the MCs bantering is cute, dorky, wholesome and fun, but the villains are getting a whole deal more annoying now. There is also less ambivalence in character being virtuous or not. While motivations are being shown how the villains became that way, there is still a clear divide between the good guys and the bad ones. Looks like I like the ambivalence more that How to Survive as a Villain offers in that same Ancient Chinese setting.

Your Forma v4 Solid. But one plotline was unfortunately super obvious already right at the beginning of the book. It still managed to play with it and put another twist over it, but the first one was unfortunately a bit too obvious to not guess. But then, actually that was already the case in the previous volume, so maybe it’s a bit of a pattern?

[natsspammityspamspamham]

Top Anime of 2022

Considering that I didn't watch anime for at least 30% of the year, there is a significant amount of anime that I missed. As such, ONAs were counted as series (because they practically are). Certain sequels were also counted because I said so. It's my list, and I can do what I want! I will be putting some honourable mentions (but only the ones I plan on watching... eventually).

Honourable Mentions (PTW):

Sasaki to Miyano

Heike Monogatari

Summertime Render

Paripi Koumei

Lycoris Recoil

Kumichou Musume to Sewagakari

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

TOP 11:

There wasn't enough to make an "honourable mention" list for the ones I had completed. For one, some of the shows that I completed were not good. Vampire in the Garden was incredibly rushed with an ending that made less and less sense the more I thought about it (but A for effort as it felt like watching Vanitas but with more likable girlbosses). AkuLas (not gonna bother typing out the full name) just wasn't good, so I'm not even going to give it any more time besides saying it wasted mine, the pacing was wack, and the voice acting tried to carry a story that wasn't there. This ranking was very hard to make. It was incredibly difficult for me to weigh if I should put things higher based on my enjoyment or something else being objectively and critically better. Because of that, a lot of this ordering isn't set in stone, especially for the top places.

11. Koi wa Sekai Seifuku no Ato de

The first three slots are incredibly heavy on fanservice. Despite my aversion towards it (and the fact that it was distracting), I found myself still enjoying this show. It's very lighthearted, cute, and does exactly what it sets out to do and nothing more than that. Also, some things in this are better to just not think about. What the heck are those talking animals? Just don't think about it. It's all good.

10. Isekai Ojisan

Maybe it's because I caught up on this recently, but as it stands right now (with many of the episodes locked up by Netflix for whatever reason), this is going to take the #10 spot. This show was refreshing, funny, but a little bit too heavy on the fanservice (seriously, it turned into a h*ntai at some points). Regardless, I still found it very funny at the very least. It subverts many of the tired isekai tropes to make a very unique parody.

9. Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru

I personally don't like fanservice, but this show was still cute as heck. I really like both of the main characters even if Marin is a bit (very) pushy (accidentally). I'm not as attached to the other characters, but that doesn't really matter because I like the main two a lot. Of course, the art is good. I personally didn't like the OP or ED that much even if they were incredibly catchy. Overall, a solid romance that I would rewatch like chicken noodle soup for the soul, and I'm very much looking forward to the sequel.

8. Chainsaw Man

This was a good show, but I found the cast of characters to be the weakest part of the show. It's not that I hate nor dislike them. I just didn't grow attached to them. As refreshing as it is to have a protagonist who's very clear in his intentions and goals not being about the good of society and/or friendship, I was not entirely sold on liking him as the character. On the other hand, everything else about this anime and the production value was absolutely amazing. The voice acting? Perfect (I do like that casting). The animation? Spectacular. The music? Immaculate. This could easily critically knock out further entries on this list.

7. Kotaro Lives Alone

This is the anime that probably caught me the most off-guard. This anime's character design looks awful. I was going to skip it based off that, but after watching it, I can say that I came away shaken (in a good way). The way this show portrays child abuse, emotional abuse, domestic abuse, and other heavy topics is absolutely masterful. It left me kinda emotional. I think they made Kotaro the perfect balance of mature and childish at the same time (because watching a realistic child in his circumstances would be unwatchable).

6. Bocchi the Rock!

"She's just like me fr fr!" This show got the inner dialogue of my brain, and as someone who dropped out in high school and never got that "seishun youthful blue spring" time, I felt a lot of the sentiment that Bocchi feels. I even tried joining a band (but jazz). This show is incredibly funny and uses visual humour skillfully. The voice acting is some of the best I've seen from relatively newer voice actors. That scream lives in my mind rent-free. This is basically K-On mixed with my existential dread and sense of humour. Fantastic.

5. Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen

Bro, this felt better to watch than it was reading the manga, and that's saying something! The manga was still good, but this really solidified Demon Slayer as an absolute powerhouse! I know people are saying that it lacks the depth of Chainsaw Man or Jujutsu Kaisen, but I don't think things need to be complex to be good. Maybe I just want to see someone slashing some demons.

4. Spy x Family

This is peak Shonen Jump slice-of-life. Honestly, the only episodes and arcs that were a bit of a bore were still necessary and just lacked Anya. Besides that, this show was magnificent (running out of good synonyms). Anya is one of my favourite characters of the year. She's stupid but extremely caring even if she's a bit off the walls.

3. Romantic Killer

Anyone with Netflix or a pulse should go watch this show. I wrote a whole thing about it.

2. Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ultra Romantic

I'm not sure what I can say about this show that hasn't been said already. It's a masterclass in romantic comedies, and it doesn't need fanservice (ignore the OVA) to succeed at making a ton of witty parody and comedy that transcends language in itself with an endearing romance that you can't help but root for. The openings are also iconic. Masayuki Suzuki is the king of love songs.

1. Mob Psycho 100 III

Just like Kotaro Lives Alone, this anime has a uniquely simplistic art style, but don't let that fool you, both of these anime are incredibly good at storytelling. Studio Bones cares about this series a lot, and you can see it through this anime. This is one of the best coming-of-age stories I've seen, and this season was a perfect finale to a story that we've been watching since the beginning. Everything about and from this anime range from great to exceptional.

[anime-of-the-day]

Anime of the day: 2022 Year in Review

Action: Chainsaw Man

Adventure: Golden Kamuy 4th Season

Comedy: Spy x Family Part 2

Drama: Dance Dance Danseur

Ecchi: Kinsou no Vermeil: Gakeppuchi Majutsushi wa Saikyou no Yakusai to Mahou Sekai wo Tsukisusumu

Fantasy: Made in Abyss: Retsujitsu no Ougonkyou

Game: Overlord IV

Horror: Berserk: Ougon Jidai-hen - Memorial Edition

Historical: Kingdom 4th Season

Harem: 5-toubun no Hanayome Movie

Josei: Koroshi Ai

Mecha: Kidou Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo

Music: Paripi Koumei

Mystery: Koukyuu no Karasu

Psychological: Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e 2nd Season

School: Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru

Sci-fi: Urusei Yatsura 

Seinen: Kotarou wa Hitorigurashi

Shoujo: Akuyaku Reijou nano de Last Boss wo Kattemimashita

Shoujo Ai: Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei

Shounen: Bleach: Sennen Kessen-hen

Shounen Ai: Sasaki to Miyano

Slice of Life: Do It Yourself!!

Supernatural: Mob Psycho 100 III

Sports: Blue Lock

Romance: Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san

Vampire: Yofukashi no Uta

Crime/Police: Kumichou Musume to Sewagakari

Isekai: Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen 3rd Season

[supergenial]

[translation+lyrics] やみのものがたり by 葉月ゆら

(Actually moved to tears) Can you believe she includes a .txt file with the jp lyrics along with her digital releases? Anyway, these are all pretty catchy, especially the vampire one, lyrics down below and see you all next time.

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

やみのものがたり (Yami no monogatari, Dark Tales)

Composer for all tracks: Drop

Vocals for all tracks: 葉月ゆら

EVERBLUE

Aoku kurai umi no soko Miageta awai hikari (fukai he) Utsuro oboro na karada wa omosugite Mou oyogenai no

At the bottom of the deep blue sea Looking up at the faint light (that reaches the depths) This hollow, gloomy body feels so heavy It's like I can't swim anymore

(Moshimo negai ga kanau no nara hitotsu) Anata he to nikushimi wo todokete (Moeru sora to umi ga tokeau) Kirei na sekai never let you go

(If my wish ever came true) I'd go to you, and deliver all my hatred (if the sky and sea melted together) I'd never let you go in this beautiful world

everblue itami himei yume (Mienai hate wo egaki tsutsukete) everblue awa to kieru mae ni (Kogare motomeru shinjitsu no ai)

An everblue dream of pain and weeping (Painting my yet unseen finale) Until I vanish in the everblue (I'll be yearning for true love)

Na wo yonde (sore ga michishirube) Te nobashite (sotto gyutto) Michibiite (kizu mo itami mo daite) Kono mi kuzure ochite mo Never ever let you go

Calling your name (leading your way) Reaching to you (to softly hold you) Guiding you (embracing both scars and pain) Even if this body crumbled apart I'd never ever let you go

Yoru no yami wa ogosoka ni Watashi wo otoshiirete (sasayaki) Nanimo kamo wo dame ni suru Shouki sae tamotenai you ni

The darkness of the night is so majestic as it dawns on me (whispering) Bringing ruin along with it I’ll keep at it till I lose my sanity

(Moshimo negai ga kanawanai no nara) Anata ni wa kirei na omoide ga (Kiyoi owari mukaeta ga gotoku) Nokoru no deshou Cast a spell on you

(Perhaps if my wish can’t be granted) You’ll still be a beautiful memory (Leading you to a clean ending) But if you remain I’ll cast a spell on you

Deep inside kokoro wo kowashite (Tooku de kikoeru azakeri no koe) Deep inside kuro ni somaritai (Kanojo no koe ga kikoenu you ni)

My heart is broken deep inside (I can hear the mocking in the distance) I’m tainted in black deep inside (It’s like I can’t hear that girl’s voice)

Na wo sutete (anata dake ga shiru) Ma ni somare (motto motto) Arashi yobe (shiroi oshiro kowashite) Warui majo ni nareru no Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

I’ll let go of my name (all I know is you) Shrouded in magic (more, more) Calling forth a storm (to destroy that white castle) I’ll become an evil witch Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

Hagare ochita uroko Namima tadayou kami (Koi wa nanto minikui no deshou) Shizumu umi no soko he Mabuta no ura ni ukabu no wa Hohoemu oujisama

These scales are coming off As hair floats in between the waves (Isn’t love just horrendous) Sinking to the bottom of the ocean And the one thing I see when I close my eyes Is the smile of my prince

everblue itami himei yume (Mienai mirai egaki tsutsukete) everblue awa to kieru mae ni (Kogare motomeru shinjitsu no ai)

An everblue dream of pain and weeping (Painting the yet unseen future) Until I vanish in the everblue (I’ll be yearning for true love)

Na wo yonde (sore ga michishirube) Te nobashite (sotto gyutto) Michibiite (kizu mo itami mo daite) Batsu ni kuzure ochite mo never ever let you go

Calling your name (leading your way) Reaching to you (to softly hold you) Guiding you (embracing both scars and pain) Even if punished to crumble apart I'd never ever let you go

たそがれのどうけし (Tasogare no doukeshi, Twilit Clown)

Naze hitoribocchi tame ikitsuki Namida wo nagasu no Aa doushite darou yoku nai koto Attan dane (oide)

Why am I all alone while tears stream down Oh, why is it I'm not well Ah, that's right

Machikado, yureru kage hajimari no mateki Maitobu chou no mure Miiserarete (oikake) mori no naka

A sneaking shadow in the corner, the magic flute of beginnings A fluttering swarm of butterflies Charmingly chase throughout the woods

Odoridase utaidase akai kutsu Chi ni somu ashi nante ki ni mo sezu ni Yuuhi tokeru kigi sarau kaze Boku to isshoni asobou Soba ni iru kara

Dance and sing in your red shoes don't mind it if your feet are stained in blood once dawn breaks through the woods and the wind blows play together with me I'll be right by your side

Mada kirei na mama junsui na mama garasu no kokoro de Nee sore ga hoshii sore dake hoshii Shinzou ai (hoshii)

A glass heart, still beautiful, still pure hey, that's what I want, all that I want your pure love is what I want

Te to te wo kasanetara hitomi wo mitsumete Fuwari haneru doresu Tsukamaeta (toraeta) boku no mono

Hand in hand, looking at each other in that fluttering dress I've caught you, you're mine

Waratteyo okotte yo kimi no mama Nandemo kanaeru yo sasagetakute Doushite dousureba tsutawaru no Kuroi akuma wa sasayaku saguru kizuato

It's still you whether you're laughing or mad I'll do anything you want what is it, what do you have to give me The black devil whispers picking at my wounds

Dareyori kimiyori boku hashitteru Shitataru tamashii amaku noumitsu na aji

I'll run more than anyone, more than you This dripping soul, with a thick sweet flavor

Motomete yo ubatteyo akui goto Madoromu sono sugata itooshikute Sukoshi dake de ii sono kakera Boku ni tabesasete yo

What I want, what I'll rob, with I'll intention That sleeping figure that I want so bad don't mind if I do so in this fragment I'll devour you

Waratte yo okotte yo kimi no mama Nandemo kanaeru yo sasagetakute Doushite dousureba tsutawaru no Kuroi akuma wa hohoemu eguru kizuato

It's still you whether you're laughing or mad I'll do anything you want what is it, what do you have to give me The black devil smiles, prodding at my wounds

きゅうけつき、とりかご、やみ (Kyuuketsuki, torikago, yami. Vampire, Cage, Darkness)

Akai ribon fuwari Yozora matou anata kirei Shiroi kiba wo tatete Kowaku, inochi, koi wo meshimase

A fluttering red ribbon You're so beautiful shrouded by the night sky showing off those white fangs Fascinated as never before in my life, devour me with love

Tomadoi wa sukoshi no biyaku Hitotsubu de toraeteshimau Taguri yoseta shisen kara Isshun de kawaru kaori

Hesitation is like a drug And with a single drop of it I've caught you As I draw closer to that stare the scent changes immediately

Muku na ginshi shoujo no mayu Kegareru mae ni Saa kirisaite Kizu oshiete somaru no

The girl's chrysalis is weaved in pure silver Yet to know any impurities So let's tear it apart Teach me pain, and taint me

Chou no reesu hirari Tsuki to hikari bijuu kazaru Kubisuji wo hau yubi Kurai mori ni kakure hisoyaka

The butterfly lace flutters The moonlight gracing her adornments Fingers run through her neck Hidden away in the deep dark forest

kin no hitomi hosomete Tsukamaeta da nante Torawareta no wa dare? Tozasareta torikago de Kuroi tsubasa hiroge Watashi no tame ni utatte

Those golden eyes narrow They've been captivated Who has truly trapped who? Trapped in this birdcage Spread those black wings And sing for me

Usotsuki nezumi ga kataru Shiawase wa hikari no naka Yami wo miryousuru mono wa Ju ni somari nukedasenai

Treacherous rats tell a tale that happiness lies within the light But those enchanted by the dark Have been dyed by it's spell, they can no longer escape

Hito wa karechiri sei wa hitotoki Kare wa towa ni Tomo ni yorisoeta nara Setsuna no yume

Men wither away, life is momentary but He is eternal so come close to me in this momentary dream

Yogoto ni miru kodoku Yubisaki kuchitsukeru anata Kanashii me to toiki Nanimo mayowanaide

Every night looking in solitude now kissing led by these fingers such sorrowful eyes and breath won't let anything get in it's way

Mune no ribon hodoki Kokoro sarau oku he furete Shiroi kiba wo tatete Kowaku ochiteitai

Untying the ribbon on this chest Touch inside, this heart, attack it brandish those white fangs and fall to the fascination

chou no reesu hirari tsuki no hikari watashi kazaru kubisuji wo hau shita kurai yami ni magire hisoyaka

The butterfly's lace flutters as I'm adorned by the moonlight his mouth running through my neck shrouded in the deep dark, silently

kin no hitomi hosomete ho-o wo tsutau namida anata ga ireba ii tozasareta torikago de kuroi tsubasa hiroge watashi no tame ni chikatta

those golden eyes narrowed as tears ran down my face Your place is here trapped in my cage spread those black wings and swear yourself to me

Yeah I'm presenting this with no comment, what are you gonna do about it? Relate to it on a personal level due to your own interpretation? Oh damn, you will? My bad go ahead.

[shy-nee-universe]

恋する・ヴァンパイア - Vampire in Love romance

A cute movie to watch if you have nothing to do.

I was surprised to see Choi Jin Hyuk ^^

[fallenreed]

Camouflage (カモフラ) - UraShimaSakataSen (浦島坂田船) [Romaji/Eng Translation]

UraShimaSakataSen (浦島坂田船), or USSS for short, is a group of 4 utaite singers; Uratanuki, Shima, Aho no Sakata and Senra. I am absolutely in love with basically all their covers and original songs. Sadly they don’t have a lot of translations available that I could find. I prefer to have things in a clear overview, which is why I decided to do my best to translate their songs the best I can.

One thing of the things I love about this group, other than their amazing voices and the balance their songs have, is the fact that it is very easy to differentiate the members! They all have their own designated colour, just in case you cannot keep them separated by their other characteristics.

Uratanuki = Green (also, the Tanuki is always a dead giveaway as well) Shima = Purple Sakata = Red Senra = Yellow

Quick disclaimer; I am in no way fluent in Japanese, not even close. BUT I wanted to have a written translation of this song and the romaji in one place, so I did research and translated it in a way that I like (if that even makes sense). I used the translation from the original MV and lots of dictionaries to find out the meaning I personally thought made the most sense.

Please don’t take my word for it and assume this is actually a 100% accurate translation. I would love to hear any improvement points to be honest, if anyone is better at Japanese than me (which is very easy) I welcome any comments!

I hope you enjoy this and maybe find it useful.

Please note that a frequently appearing word in this song will not be translated in the English Translation:

Gao (ガオ) is a Japanese onomatopoeic word; it is the SFX for beasts crying, like lions. It can be translated to growl or roar in English. In the translation I prefer to keep it as the original sound, as I think it suits it better.

There are more notes at the bottom with translation facts or things that I found out while translating, please have a look if you’re interested!

Romaji

「 Hai, chenji 」

Gaogao¹ garururu gaogao

Chenji jibun janai kemono ni Chenji tsugō yoku nareru pātī Chenji risō e chikadzukitai Ketten kakushi min'na onaji-gao ni natteru 

Zonbi ga 1 man-ri Okami ga 10 man-ri Vanpaia ga 100 man-ri no Dancing Oh Yeah Ukare-ppanashi² no 1 oku-ri Okotte bakka no 10 oku-ri Tatta hitori nayamu-kun

「 A wa wa… 」

Akesuke ni sugao sarashite mo Koyoi wa dare mo motomecha inaishi Kibatsuna ishō de ki o hiite mo Karappona koi ja mitasa renaishi

Kamofura (Gao) Kamofura (Gao) Yari suginaide medatsu yō ni Kamofura (Gao) Kamofura (Gao) Chōdo yoku baketai monsutā 

Hai hai min'na yottoide Kairai no ōji-sama ōjo-sama Haikai suru 2 P karā Nigedasu inochikaragara Honshin wa zutto todokanai Todoi chatte mo komaru janai? Medatsu dake medatte itta kotoba ga igaina  ❝ hottoite ❞

Porisu ga 1 man-ri Jeison ga 10 man-ri Gōsuto ga 100 man-ri no Dancing oh yeah Airabuyūna 1 oku-ri Aiheichūna 10 oku-ri Sumikko de obie teru kimi

「 A wa wa… 」

Dorodoro³ no hon'ne o haite mo Dareka shira o teki ni mawashi chaushi Kirakira no uso o furimaite mo Kashikoi kimi ni misukasa re chaushi 

Kamofura (Gao) Kamofura (Gao) Gattsuki⁴ sugizu semeru yō ni Kamofura (Gao) Kamofura (Gao) Chōdo yoku baketai monsutā

Musekinin ga kimochīi to manabi In to yō no hazama de yureugoki Fudōtoku-yue ni uma reta mirai Genjitsu o s seoui iwau bāsudei 

「 Omedetō 」            「 Arigatō 」

Pappakapappapān! ⁵

Kamofura (Gao) Kamofura (Gao) Yari suginaide medatsu yō ni Kamofura (Gao) Kamofura (Gao) Shiyou yo ranranranranran Kamofura (Gao) Kamofura (Gao) Gattsuki sugizu semeru yō ni Kamofura (Gao) Kamofura (Gao) Chōdo yoku baketai monsutā

Kakkoyoku ikitai mon sa Sugao de aisaretai monsutā

Gaogao garururu gaogao

English

「 Yes,  Change 」

Gao¹  Gao Grrr Gao Gao

Change A  beast that is not me Change A  party that can be convenient Change I want  to get closer to my ideal Flaws hidden –  Everyone has the same face 

10,000  zombies 100,000  wolves 1 million  vampires, all dancing Oh Yeah! 100 million merry² people 1 billion always  angry people You alone who  is worried 

「 Ahaha…. 」

Even if you frankly  expose your true face Nobody wants  that tonight Even if your quirky  outfit draws attention You won’t be  filled with empty love 

Camouflage  (Gao) Camouflage  (Gao) Don’t overdo  it and stand out Camouflage  (Gao) Camouflage  (Gao) A monster  that disguises just right 

Yes, Yes, Everyone,  come gather ‘round Prince and  Princess of puppets The roaming 2P  colours Running away  for dear life Can’t attain  the true feelings Isn’t it a  problem if it reaches you? Only ever standing  out, the most prominent words said are surprisingly ❝ Leave me alone ❞

10,000 police 100,000 Jasons 1 million  ghosts, all dancing Oh Yeah 100 million ‘I  love you’ 1 billion ‘I hate  you’ You who is frightened  in the corner 

「 Ahaha…. 」  

Even if the  murky³ true intentions are spit out I wonder who  will turn into an enemy Even if  glittering lies are scattered around You are smart  enough to see through it

Camouflage  (Gao) Camouflage  (Gao) Don’t be too  greedy⁴ and attack Camouflage  (Gao) Camouflage  (Gao) A monster  that disguises just right 

Learn the  being irresponsible feels great Wavering in  the space between yin and yang A future born  due to immorality A birthday  celebrating the weight of reality 

「 Congratulations 」            「 Thank you 」

Pappakapappapaan! ⁵

Camouflage  (Gao) Camouflage  (Gao) Don’t overdo  it and stand out Camouflage  (Gao) Camouflage  (Gao) Let’s run, run run run run Camouflage  (Gao) Camouflage  (Gao) Don’t be too  greedy and attack Camouflage  (Gao) Camouflage  (Gao) A monster  that disguises just right 

Wanting to  live a cool life A monster  that wants to be loved for their true face

Gao Gao Grrr  Gao Gao

Notes:

¹As previously explained Gao (ガオ) is a Japanese onomatopoeic word; it is the SFX for beasts crying, like lions. It can be translated to growl or roar in English. In the translation I prefer to keep it as the original sound, as I think it suits it better – It frequently appears in the song after all.

²浮かれっぱなし (ukare-ppanashi): 浮く means "to float," and 浮かれる draws on that metaphor of "floating" to mean to be happy, to be in high spirits, or to be elated. We have the same metaphor in English — think of being "on cloud nine."

³ドロドロ (Dorodoro): Yet another onomatopoeic word. 泥々 means muddy or dirty. Can also refer to  being in an ugly state (of emotions, relations, etc.), being murky, being sordid.

⁴がっつき (gattsuki): being too greedy

⁵パッパカパッパパーン (Pappakapappapaan): another row of onomatopoeic words. SFX meaning poof, bang or pop. Kind of like fireworks basically, I guess, not sure if that is what they mean.

[eyfey]

MANGA REC LIST

I’ve been meaning to update this for a while, and I finally got around to it!

if you’re looking for some new manga to read, here’s my rec list below:

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These are all varying levels of good- some are AMAZING and some are just a fun read.

For the most part I tried not to include REALLY popular series (like yeah: One Punch Man and Detective Conan and One Piece and whatever are good! but also you’ve probably already read them!)

Also, the categories are just for the sake of organization- take them with a grain of salt. Most of the series are comedy, even those not in the comedy section.

Bonus: here’s a post with more detailed descriptions for 10 of these series, including an example page from each.

and you can also check my manga recs tag I guess

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~2/20/21 UPDATE~

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Hey! Comedy! -Hatarakanai Futari -Rojiura Kyoudai -Komi-san wa Komyushou Desu -Nazeda Naitou -Mechanical Marie Fun Times with Monsters and Demons -Yuko Sae Tatakaeba -Mairimashita! Iruma-kun -Maou-jou de Oyasumi -Nicola's Leisurely Demon World Travelogue -Heterogeneous Linguistics It's Romcom! -Futari Ashita mo Sorenari ni -Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu -Koudaike no Hitobito -Soushi Souai -The Story of an Engaged Couple That Doesn't Get Along Chill Slice o' Life -Yugami-kun ni wa Tomodachi ga Inai -Skip to Loafer -Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia -Koi wa Hikari -Boku to Kimi no Taisetsu na Hanashi Watercolor Vibes -Blue Period -Machida-kun no Sekai -Tokyo Alien Bros -Otoyomegatari -Witch Hat Atelier LGBT -Uchi no Musuko wa Tabun Gay (My Son is Probably Gay) -Shimanami Tasogare (Our Dreams At Dusk) -Sorairo Flutter (That Blue Sky Feeling) -Ao no Flag (Blue Flag) -Kimi ni wa Todokanai (I Will Not Reach You) Gender Bender Time -Pumpkin Time (MTF) -Queen Cecia's Shorts (FTM) -About a Lazy Guy Who Woke Up as a Girl One Morning (MTF) -The Villain Discovered My Identity (FTM) -Irregular Empress (FTMTF) The DRAMA of it All -Oshi no Ko -Three Days of Happiness -Inso's Law -Cheese in the Trap -I Will Die Soon ngl These are Kinda Fucked Up  (but like... still really good) -Sachiiro no One Room -I Shaved. Then I Brought a High School Girl Home -Bastard (Hwang Youngchan) -Yuki ni Tsubasa -Hibiki - Shousetsuka ni Naru Houhou Sounds Weird at First but Actually They’re p Good -Ano Hito no I ni wa Boku ga Tarinai -Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru -Otome Kaijuu Caramelize -Mieruko-chan -Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Webtoons that are Good to Read -Homeless (or some sites have it as “No Home”) -Dam of the Forest -End and Save -Please Take Care of Me in This Life as Well -Her Summon Violence! (but like- also comedy) -The Violence Action -Nanba MG5 -Saihate no Paladin -Raise wa Tanin ga Ii -Spy x Family Isekai ~Boyz Night~ -Kamitachi ni Hirowareta Otoko -Maou ni Natta node, Dungeon Tsukutte Jingai Musume to Honobono suru -Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute -Isekai Yakkyoku -Isekai Ojisan Isekai ~Girlz Night~ -Honzuki no Gekokujou -Sengoku Komachi Kuroutan: Noukou Giga (technically this one is time travel not isekai but close enough) -Crimson Karma -Beast with Flowers -The Lady’s Spaceship Isekai but with Food -Dungeon Meshi -Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi -Gensou Gourmet -Isekai Izakaya "Nobu" -Isekai Ryouridou Reincarnated as a Villainess -When the Villainess Loves -Beware of the Villainess! -Villainess Level 99 ~I May Be the Hidden Boss but I'm Not the Demon Lord~ -Jishou Akuyaku Reijou na Konyakusha no Kansatsu Kiroku -Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shite shimatta... Lady Knight! (when the lady is also a knight!) -Emperor and the Female Knight -Blinded by the Setting Sun -Bring the Love -Truthfully They Only Remembered Her -This Girl Is a Little Wild Reborn as a lil Babby -Who Made Me a Princess -Am I the Daughter? -Lady Baby -The Twin Siblings -The Youngest Princess More Children, but These Ones Weren’t Reincarnated (Probably) -Chichi to Hige-Gorilla to Watashi -Baby, Kokoro no Mama ni! -Yotsubato! -Dungeon Nursery -The Monster Duchess and Contract Princess Look: It's about FAMILY -Yuzuki-san Chi no Yon Kyoudai -Ohayou Toka Oyasumi Toka -Ikoku Nikki -Mizu wa Umi ni Mukatte Nagareru -A Boy's Scar

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~ORIGINAL LIST: Made sometime in like 2017 or 2018~

-

COMEDY my dude -Saiki Kusuo no PSI nan -Pyu to Fuku! Jaguar -Sket Dance -My Name is Zushio -Samon the Summoner Supernatural pt1 (Youkai) -Demi-chan wa Kataritai -Natsume Yuujinchou -Satou-kun no Juunan Seikatsu -Fukigen na Mononokean -Takeo-chan Bukkairoku Supernatural pt 2 (Not-Youkai) -Hinamatsuri -Lookism -Mob Psycho 100 -Spirit Circle -Flying Witch Kinda Old n’ Obscure -Kyuukyoku Choujin R -Kyou Kara Ore Wa -Lucu Lucu -Ocha Nigosu -Yamada Tarou Monogatari Gender Benders/Crossdressing/Body Swaps -Shishunki Bitter Change -Usotsuki Lilly -AKB49 -Prunus Girl -Samurai High School Shounen/Seinen Series with Fighting -Birdmen -Saike mata Shitemo -Vinland Saga -Ajin -To You the Immortal (Fumetsu no Anata e) Shounen/Seinen Series without Fighting -Piano no Mori -3-gatsu no Lion -Hammer Session -Kings’ Viking -Oyasumi Punpun Romance pt1 (a mixed bag) -Love is Hard for an Otaku -High Score Girl -Horimiya -Ojojojo -Hoshino, Me wo Tsubutte Romance pt2 (It’s about the comedy) -Kaguya wants to be Confessed to -Ouji ga Watashi o Akiramenaide -Boku wa Ohimesama ni narenai -Yandere Kanojo -Tsurezure Children Romance pt2 (Very Shoujo) -Warau Kanoko-sama (and the sequel: Koi dano Ai dano) -Ore Monogatari -Last Game -Nekota no Koto ga Kininatte Shikatanai -Akagami no Shirayuki Hime Romance pt3 (Less about the romance, more about other stuff) -Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun -Karakuri Odette -ReLIFE -Pochi Kuro -Akatsuki no Yona Look. Just trust me on these. -Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer -Sumire 16-sai -Fujimi Lovers -Angel Densetsu -Nickelodeon You said it’s about… what? (weird plot but good) -Donyatsu -Shiori Experience -Uchi no Maou Kamimasen yo -Makai no Ossan -Katana (Kamata Kimiko) Warning: Ecchi (but still p good actually) -Mousou Telepathy -Hatsukoi Zombie -Sankarea -Rosario to Vampire -Boku Girl Mostly just Cute -Bird Cafe -Gokicha!! -Odette -Nukoduke -Ryuushika Ryuushika Taking Care Of Children (Extra Adorable) -Chichikogusa -Gakuen Babysitters -Flat -Hisohiso - silent voice -Love So Life Girl + Supernatural Creature = Great -Mahoutsukai no Yome -Somali no Mori no Kamisama -Kuro -Totsukuni no Shoujo -Suijin no Hanayome (by Touma Rei) New Start In Another World (isekais) -Ore to Kawazu-san no Isekai Hourouki -Kumo desu ga, nani ka? -+A Taichi -Moon-led Journey Across Another World -The New Gate RPG World (technincally not isekais? but very isekai-ish) -Tsuyokute New Saga -Good Night World -Sekai Maou -Toaru Ossan no VRMMO Katsudouki -Senyuu 4koma pt1 (Focus on Girl(s)) -Dekoboko Girlish -Love Lab -Tomo-chan wa Onna no ko! -Waratte! Sotomura-san -T-Rex na Kanojo 4koma pt2 (Focus on Guy(s)) -Kuzumi-kun Kuuki Yometemasuka? -Handa-kun -Kao ni Dasenai Yoshizawa-kun -Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge -Tonari no Seki-kun Technically a Harem??? (whatever- don’t worry about it) -Rokudo no Onnatachi -Jitsu-wa Watashi wa -Chikyuu no Houkago -Yamada and the 7 witches -Fujimura-kun Mates

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Also keep an eye out for if these ever get picked up (very few chapters translated or Japan only)

-Moukin-chan -Kawaii Hito (Saitou Ken) -Time Slip Ota Girl

[someawesomeamvs]

Warning: Potential spoilers, violence

Title: La Fleur Du Destin

Editors: KG Fantasy (aka Galia & Kitty)

Song:  Fuoco e cenere

Artist: Micaela

Anime: Rose of Versailles (TV, pachinko, manga, arts, fanarts), Original Animation, Princess Tutu, Uragiri wa Boku no Namae o Shitteiru, Crono Crusade, Itsudatte my Santa, Wedding Peach, Purusateiah (manga), Romeo x Juliet, Uta Kata, Le Chevalier D'Eon, Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru, Air (movie), Sakamichi no Apollon, Holy Knight, Gin'yuu Mokushiroku Meine Liebe, Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Adolescence Mokushiroku, Kigeki, Victorian Romance Emma, Spice and Wolf, Kuroshitsuji, Fate/Zero, Glass Mask, Elfen Lied, Suki-tte Ii na yo, Shoujo Kakumei Utena, Dance in the Vampire Bund, Paradise Kiss, Ayashi no Ceres, Gosick, Loveless, Steins;Gate, Bakemonogatari, Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo, Air, Sora no Otoshimono, Clannad After Story, Nana, High School of the Dead

Category: Drama/Romance

[supergenial]

[translation+lyrics] Forbidden～獣を愛した少女～ by Vampire Rose

Ah yes, we’re going full cringe today. It’s a song from over 8 years ago BUT it was composed by リゼ  from Ariabl’eyeS, so of course I’d check it out. This Vampire Rose person is, well, is quite the avid youtuber and just scrolling through their thumbnails I can only imagine their life must be pretty fun dressing up like that Every Single Day, this is true, real commitment to the vampire bit. Also runs a vampire café down in Ginza with pretty decent reviews online and just, damn, MOM IT’S REALLY NOT A PHASE, this person is an actual vampire, good for them, good. Anyway, lyrics down below and see you next time.

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

Forbidden～獣を愛した少女～

(Forbidden ~Kemono Wo Aishita Shoujo~ Forbidden ~The girl who loves a monster~)

tsuki ga miteita futari no ayamachi kubi wo musaboru kiba

the full moon bore witness to our mistake as these fangs craved for a neck

mou wakatteru koori no te, chi no nioi ga suru sou, kinjirareta koi tsuresatte to negau

I already know that cold hand with a scent of blood I know this love is forbidden please take it from me

saa kamitsuite uzuku kizu, subete sasageru wa nee, watashi no chi wa donna aji ga suru no?

now, bite me I offer you these bleeding wounds Tell me, what does my blood taste like?

sono kanashii hitomi ni utsutteitai towa no yami mo osorenai hikari kobamu watashi ni nattemo kamawanai yo (dakara)

I want to be the reflected in those grieving eyes To also be unafraid of the eternal darkness I don't mind becoming a being who rejects the light

tsuki ga miteita futari no ayamachi ai ni oborete akaku somaru 「anata ni totte watashi wa nani?」 sono kotae ga kowakatta kiete shimai sou de...

the full moon bore witness to our mistake as we drowned in a red-stained love 「What am I to you?」 The fear I had for that answer started to fade away...

awai kitai motte mo ii no? iki mo dekinai kurai hontou wa ne? motto ue wo mite... kuchizukete yo (onegai)

is it ok if I hold onto a faint hope? I can't even breathe at this point Really? Look further up and kiss me (please)

tsuki ga miteita futari no ayamachi ai ni oborete akaku somaru 「anata ni totte watashi wa nani?」 sono kotae ga kowakatta

the full moon bore witness to our mistake as we drowned in a red-stained love 「What am I to you?」 I feared for that answer

bara ni inotta 「aishite kudasai」 asahaka na negai da toshitemo 「anata no soba ni isasete hoshii」 utsumuku anata... 「baka dane, watashi wa esa nano ni」

I prayed upon this flower 「Please love me back」 but if my prayer went unanswered 「At least let me be by your side」 As you hung your head... 「Nonsense, I'm merely your prey」

[eb-byestelle]

Ship game

Tagged by @fuzzykiddreamer (Thank you 💖 !!)

Shipping and Fandom Ask

Embrace your inner shipper!  Answer questions about your favorite ships or fandoms. Reblog to participate and let your ship flag fly!

1.What are your top 10 manga/anime ships of all time?

Top 10 anime/manga:

Yuuki x Kaname - Vampire Knight

Victor x Yuri – Yuri !!! on ice

Mirai x Akihito - Kyoukai no Kanata

Izumi x Ryouma - Love Stage!!

Shiomi x Orina - Psychic Academy (very unpopular but really sweet ship ;3) 

Emeraude x Zagato - Magic Knight Rayearth

Okabe x Kurisu - Steins;Gate

Edgar x Lydia - Hakushaku to Yousei

Yori x Iku - Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru

Valentino x Ranmaru - Ikoku Irokoi Romantan

I’m not very “shipper type”, but from anime/manga I guess these ten ships are sth I will always remember 💕 💖 💕 💖

2.What gif or screenshot most sums up your ship?

Yume

https://www.deviantart.com/jams-yy/art/Kaname-X-Yuuki-295424796

http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/vampire-knight/images/34332617/title/vampire-knight-fanart

(I add the links because for some reasons these gifs make that post is not able to be saved)

3. Describe your favorite ship in seven words or less. 

Yume - Passionate, complicated, eternal love, above everything.

Victuuri - Harmonious, colorful, eros, agape, perfect duo,

Mirai x Akihito - Sacrifice, understanding, monsters in love.

Izumi x Ryouma - I love each part of you.

Shiomi x Orina - Innocent, lust, slow exploration.

Emeraude x Zagato - Protect your freedom - everything else can die.

Okabe x Makise - Time and space don’t matter.

Edgar x Lydia - Secrets, courtship, caramel hair.

Yori x Iku - Pure love, dirty love, love forever.

Valentino x Ranmaru - Opposites attract.

When I think which details connect all these ships, I’m gonna say: Romantic, unconventional, imperishable, full of mutual love and acceptation.

4.What’s your go-to episode or scene when you need ship feels?

Generally In this kind of situation I want to watch some moments when the love between couple is the most visible, usually when between the couple there is some intensive moment full of love.

Yume:

From manga VK: the whole vol 19 (including the cover 💖) - My heart melts when I look at each chapter T_T 💖

From anime VK: VKG - ep 2, 8 (I’ve always been in love with my own brother ;3) and 13 (this last scene T_T 💖 ..........)

Victuuri: the whole ep 10 - I.LOVE.WHOLE.THIS.EP !

Mirai x Akihito ; Shiomi x Orina ; Okabe x Kurisu: first kiss scenes (there is sth really moving in first kiss scenes ;3)

Izumi x Ryouma ; Yori x Iku: first time (both are just amazing...)

Lydia x Edgar: 

Ep 1 and some peculiary scene in ep 9 (bishounen + whiskey Jack Daniels + loved one = have fun! 💀🔥)

Emeraude x Zagato:

Two last eps of season 1 (romantic and horribly tragic at the same time...)

5.What song or songs remind you of your favorite fandom, character or ship?

Seal - Kiss from the rose 💕

It was a song when, while listening to it I read VK for the first time in 2010. In that moment I read first volume and I said: “Wow - This is great!” Later, after many years, after deeper listening, It turned out that the words of this song perfectly suit to the yume ship. From then on, I associate this song with both the first time when I was charmed by this series and with yume pair.

6. If the creators of your favorite fandom asked you to write the ship canon-confirmation episode, what will you write/how will it happen?

VK / Yume: A lot of things have already been said and done. However, I would doubtless make Yuuki and Kaname be together again (in the normal sense, not like now xp) and that Yuuki would say straight what we see while the whole series, but what hasn't been said directly - that Kaname is the love of her life and that she have never loved anyone so much as she loves Kaname. Such an expressions of feelings and the connection of these two after all these things they have survived (like in the case of Okabe x Kurisu or Mirai x Akihito) would be just a wonderful last chapter. In the case of anime series, I admit that I like the ending. And as for the continuation, we both know well how I would do it ^^

7.Do you prefer to indulge in (consume or create) fanart or fanfic of your favorite ship? 

I prefer to indulge in create fanarts and fanfic but usually not related to my favorite ships.

8.Smut or fluff? (VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION xD) 

I like both eqally ;3 Or remix 👀!!

9.What ship are you embarrassed to admit you like?

I guess none.

10.What task are you most likely to procrastinate so you can indulge in your ship or fandom?

Sometimes I’m able to not sleep all night because to the morning I’m talking with fans of sth I love, I’m watching my favorite serieses or watching/reading sth depends on it, don’t mentioning about when I’m writing sth by my own. Then the time doesn’t matter 💀 then anything doesn’t matter. It remind sth like a state of trance. - I recommend! 🔥🔥🔥

11.How many hours of the day do you spend reading fanfic or looking at fanart or other media? 

In case of fanfics and fanarts, none. I choose to look for some nice edits or news about real series. I can spend from few minutes to few hours, but not everyday, only sometimes.

12.How many memorabilia’s do you own of your favorite fandom or ship (clothes, plushies, etc.)? 

VK: The uniform of night class which I was sewing every day for two weeks so it’s really important to me 💖 I also have all 19 volumes, all DVDs, postcards, posters and badges. I will have soon also a fanbook ^^

Death Note: postcards, posters, badges and ofc. death note ;33

I have also a lot of some little details from various another serieses like all volumes of Love Stage. But mostly I focus on VK.

13.If you could own one authentic item from your favorite fandom world, what would it be?

All dragon balls xD or at least Goku’s four-star ball 💖

And the Kaname’s bed - with Kaname in the set! 🥂💕🔥

14.What fandom have you found to be too toxic to deal with?  

Since I have been on Tumblr, I got involved in only one fandom, so tbh, I can't answer it, because I have no comparison with another fandoms. I also don't have an intend to get too involved in other fandoms, at most superficially.

Nevertheless, withouth doubt the continuous ships-war is tiring and ridiculous. I've always wondered, why among zekis the some of them are still such stubborn, that they can't just get over it and admit that Yuuki's first choice was always Kaname, and Zero on the end turned out to be only the "consolation prize". This is a sad truth, but these are the facts. I think that the only way to real, honest coexistence is to accept this truth on the both sides. Just like when yume accepted that zeki is also a canon and Zero to a degree was also loved by Yuuki in a romantic way, though by not as strong love as Kaname.

It's all simple and transparent, it's enough to notice it. 

The answer: "She loves both equally." is no solution ... "She loves one the most." - this is the only acceptable solution in every LT. Even in Arabic harems there is a division on the "first wife" and "next wives". So it's a natural state of things - one the biggest choise. I think that this is the point of attachment and the right, healthy way to resolve this conflict.

It's interesting that when the VK manga was still published, among my native fandom there was also a clear division between yume and zeki. There was no hatred in this. It was just something like a gulf. Then I saw the same for MAL and here. It inspired me to create a theory that this division is not only a division into ships, but also a division based on a systems of views. And in such a situation it's quite difficult to blur the boundaries... That's why I think that determining ONE plot is the most reasonable way. Later we can at most see, how much my theory works in practice, and in how many cases it's jusr an ordinary, superficial choice of a "more cool ship in someone's taste".

15.Do you have or would you consider getting a tattoo depicting your favorite ship or fandom?

I don't think so I would ever have a tattoo, but I for sure wouldn't walk past indifferently next to earrings or necklace with the symbol of Cross Academy ;3 - I love this symbol, it's so beautiful !!

16.What is the strangest thing you’ve done to honor your favorite fandom, ship or character?

It’s hard tbh... One time I created with my friend some dumb “event” which looked like “A night with Kaname” xD She prefered Kain, but she also liked Kaname so it was no problem to do it with her. All night we created a funny or pervert memes, edits, posts, games, and we came up with that we would print the posters of our fave. As a result we didn’t do it but... when I think about it right now, this wish is still “alive” xD ...

It was also one night, when I wrote some poem about sth like “how it would be, if I would kiss someone like Kaname”. I mean, although I know he’s not real, it can’t be denied that It’s sth really pleasant to imagine that in our world there might exist someone such amazing like Kaname. This poem was sth like a vision of kiss with the potential, “real” Kaname. It’s a bit embarrasing, when I think about it because this erotic was incredibly personal and intimate, showing not just a kiss but some feelings accompanying to kiss the real love. So yeah, it was very personal and some kind of mix my deep symphaty and love to Kaname character + the description of my feelings while a real passionate kiss with someone, when my knees are bending, face is burning etc + the showing an experience of romantic moment with someone I love. So it was about Kaname and not about Kaname, sth between in other words xD

I also love to say about VK and Kaname in some serious discussion on studies. I think it’s nothing weird or embarassing to mentioned about some aspects from mangas on such an discussions. I think this manga are not just vampire and dumb LT thread but there is sth really deep and interesting, forcing as to think and reflect about what is love, sin, desire, death, will of life, etc... I love this in VK.

I’m tagging @eternalyumelove, @astharoshebarvon, @aphrodytevalentine

I know you guys love ships so have fun ! ;3 (If u want ;3)

[zerolover66]

Hi. I was the anon who sent you that worried ask months ago about Ren and Ai going down the incest path and well, here we are with the new raws. I'm honestly speechless. I don't understand Hino's need for this incest thing to keep on going on. Disappointed doesn't even come close to describing it since once again in this chapter Ai is being coded to hold back her desire for Ren's blood and Ren grows up to seem to desire Ai back. I'm. I just can't with this manga anymore.

Then don’t. 

I am not of the same mindset as you anon. So I have no idea why you keep coming to my inbox when I am not going to validate your concerns. You have your mind made up already and I doubt anything that I could or would say would help you change it. So if the manga is that stressing to you just stop reading it. If it doesn’t make you happy then why are you still reading it?

Purebloods’ have their blood desired by every other vampire in the vampire pyramid. It has been said numerous times throughout the manga. 

Also you can desire your loved ones’ blood to fill the void of loneliness that you have that absolutely has nothing to do with incest. Look at Shiki’s mother who used Shiki and his blood to satisfy her loneliness and despair.

Ren and Ai and their journey together whatever that may be is up to Hino. You don’t have to read something that upsets you. It does not upset me and therefore I really can’t agree with you on your claims. Also please keep in mind that this never was a regular innocent sugar sweet shoujo. I have read way worse. One that quickly comes to my mind is Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru. They are 16 year old human twins. A boy and a girl. They really do fall in love and even have sex in a shoujo manga. It is not unusual for mangakas to write such things tbh. At least Hino’s manga is about beasts in human form. They are NOT human. So Hino doesn’t have to hold them to human standards if she chooses not to. 

That is really all I have to say on this subject. I don’t mean to sound abrupt but I am really confused as to why you are not waiting for translations at least before you get yourself in a frenzy. I am not worried about it at all. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.

[recentanimenews]

Manga the Week of 2/2/22

SEAN: Traditionally, February is the most depressing month of the year. Let’s find some manga to cheer you up.

ASH: Sounds good to me!

SEAN: Yen Press has Interspecies Reviewers 6.

Viz has a stack of Jump and Beat for you. We get Black Clover 28, Chainsaw Man 9, Dr. STONE 20, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 5–Golden Wind 3, Jujutsu Kaisen 14, Seraph of the End 23, The King’s Beast 5, We Never Learn 20 and Yona of the Dawn 34. (Psst. Read Yona.)

MICHELLE: I need to get caught back up on Yona!

ASH: It’s such a great series! I’m happy to get my hands on more of JoJo’s, too.

ANNA: Always love to see Yona on the release list. ‘ SEAN: Tokyopop gives us the 6th and final volume of Laughing Under the Clouds, though there are prequels and sequels as yet unlicensed.

MICHELLE: Hey, they finished something!

MELINDA: lol

SEAN: Two debuts from Seven Seas. 5 Seconds Before a Witch Falls in Love (Majo ga Koi suru 5 Byou Mae) is a one-shot from Comic Yuri Hime. Witch vs. Witch-Hunter. Will sparks fly?

Also in a yuri vein is Hello, Melancholic!, also from Ichijinsha. Tall but shy trombone players. It’s already won me over just with that.

MICHELLE: The cover for this is super cute!

ASH: I am so here for this one.

MELINDA: Oh my god, yes.

SEAN: And we get Dance in the Vampire Bund: Age of Scarlet Order 5, I’m in Love with the Villainess 2, Muscles are Better Than Magic! 4 (a final volume), Reborn as a Barrier Master 2, and THIGH HIGH: Reiwa Hanamaru Academy 3 (also a final volume).

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give Thigh High a try.

SEAN: One Peace has the 7th The Reprise of the Spear Hero manga.

Kodansha has the, um, 9th volume of Knight of the Ice a week after the 8th. Huh. It also debuts The Seven Deadly Sins in omnibus format, with Vol. 1-3. And we get Orient 7, Peach Boy Riverside 5, and Vampire Dormitory 3.

ASH: Supply chain issues do funny things to release dates.

ANNA: Looking forward to binging on Knight of the Ice.

SEAN: Digitally we get a huge re-release of an old favorite, especially with Kodansha’s Japanese arm, which keep hoping it will get popular again. GTO, aka Great Teacher Onizuka, is back. All 25 volumes of the original series, and the 9 volumes of semi-sequel 14 Days in Shonan are available digitally. Yes, only digitally, come on, I know Attack on Titan sells well, but not well enough to justify so much print. I loved Onizuka back in the day, though I suspect he may be a bit less fun these days. Also, looking at the preview, this looks to just be a straight-up scan of the old Tokyopop version.

ASH: I largely enjoyed it back in the day, too. Glad to see it available again in some fashion!

ANNA: Yes, always great to see older series have better availability.

MELINDA: Oh, this is great!

SEAN: The new digital debut is Lightning and Romance (Inazuma to Romance), a Betsufure series from the creator of Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight. Girl wants a high school romance, but her new seatmate is… 20 years old?

Also debuting digitally is Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister (Amagami-san Chi no Enmusubi). It is a Weekly Shonen Magazine title from one of the assistants of The Quintessential Quintuplets… and sounding a lot like it. A guy trying to get into medical school is allowed to stay at a shrine… provided he marries one of the beautiful daughters that live there.

Also out digitally: the 4th and final volume of Ashidaka: The Iron Hero, Chihayafuru 30, A Condition Called Love 9, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 20, My Darling, the Company President 3, My Idol Sits the Next Desk Over! 2, and My Master Has No Tail 3.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to a nice Chihayafuru binge.

ANNA: I’m so far behind on Chihayafuru, but vow that one day I will catch up.

SEAN: In print, J-Novel Club has My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In For Me! 2, Tearmoon Empire 3, and The White Cat’s Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap 2.

A rare manga-only week for J-Novel Club’s digital side. Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill 6, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 8, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: The Reckless Journey 5, and Villainess: Reloaded! Blowing Away Bad Ends with Modern Weapons 3.

Airship has print releases for Disciple of the Lich: Or How I Was Cursed by the Gods and Dropped Into the Abyss! 2, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 17, and The NPCs in this Village Sim Game Must Be Real! 2.

Digitally, Airship has early digital for I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! 2 and Reincarnated as a Sword 10.

That’s actually pretty thin? Well, that’s February for you…

By: Sean Gaffney

[vampdreamz]

thank you @masokink for tagging me! im so happy

nicknames: hal, hailbot, suru

gender: nonbinary gal

zodiac: scorpio! 🦂🦂

height: 5 foot 3 ... a shorty

age: 17

time: 9:06 PM

favorite bands & whatnot: I like a mix of things... i like tyler the creator and a$ap rocky, im also a big fan of gorillaz and mother mother! i like hot sugar a lot too. but i like most things except country..

song stuck in my head: nothing at the moment >:)

last movie i watched: shrek the musical on netflix which is fucking wild ok

last thing i googled: anime recommendations lolol

other blogs: none of that! i can barely maintain this one lmao

do i get asks: hell no but i wish!!

why the username?: I luv vampires and i like dreams and also replacing the letter s with a z

following: tons of mutuals and whatnot

average amount of sleep: My sleep schedule doesnt exist but maybe like... 4 hours

lucky number: 6!

what im wearing: a real cute pair of shorts and a blue shirt with a koi fish on it!

dream job: an artist.............. of any kind really but idk :/

dream trip: anywhere really... i’d like to go to like california to some nice beaches or something but maybe like japan or somewhere pretty like that.. I dont have a lot of money to travel tho so ive not thought about it a lot!!

favorite food: i really like food so theres a lot... but pickles, and also baked potatoes, and also steak and meat in general and banana cream pie

instruments: im terrible at music!!

fav song: cant even answer it my guy

sports: i played softball till last year but thAts mostly it! i bowled for a long time too and was pretty good at it

Hair color: blonde (for now but yellow again soon :) )

eye color: blue!

language: english! i wanna learn another but i dont have a lot of motivation.. i know some spanish and some german though

random fact: i have a widdle heart tattoo on my hip!

describe yourself as an aesthetic: walking through the streets of your childhood town late late at night, when there are no cars and the only light comes from the streetlights and youre experiencing euphoria

i wont tag anyone but please do it if youd like!