Monthly Log - May 2025

The memoir is getting delayed again, but it's coming along.

For now, here are some of the stuff I watched or read in the month of May. Starting from the middle of this month, I've actually implemented a new system to rotate my reading materials.

Watched

• Watched Aishite Knight episodes 22-39. Sometimes I feel the episode count may be too much (the manga has seven volumes). It's not that I'm against filler, but sometimes the plot device used by the episodes in the middle part feels kinda too similar? Getting closer to the ending, though, after the main love triangle resolves itself, new obstacles and challenges (the manager disapproving Gou and Yakko's relationship, Hashizo's biological mom suddenly showing up) come and go in pretty quick succession. Something I found quite amusing, though, is that since in the 80s mobile phones weren't a widespread thing yet, the limitations of being able to do long distance communication only through fixed landline phones still made for a convenient source of obstacles for the characters.
• Watched GQuuuuuuX episodes 4-8. I feel like getting mixed signals about this work. The staff have made statements about making it enjoyable to newcomers too aside from pleasing older fans and more focusing on the new characters, but my main reaction after seeing an episode tends to be like, "whew, these guys are such big Gundam nerds."
• Watched I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 2 episodes 5-8. Still a cozy funny way to spend weekend nights.
• Watched Kimipre episodes 13-16. I wonder if the sub translating Meroron addressing Purirun as "neetama" with "sissy" is really the wisest choice. It's kind of awkward to see Meroron calls Uta "sissy thief" for being too close to Purirun.
• Watched Princess-Session Orchestra episodes 5-8. The show is not even one cour yet and the arms race escalates quite fast with a new kind of deployed every week, leading to the girls developing a song for use together in anticipation. The dialogues are still the most amusing part, but I wonder how the battle part will keep up with the way the opponents develop.
• Watched Once Upon a Witch's Death episodes 6-9. Meg has really been pushing herself through some highly risky situations in some of these stories. What I like the most is how Meg's encounters from past stories so far remain relevant, making sure they're not just one-off encounters, but really significant connections that help make Meg who she is now.
• Watched the 1993 Doraemon movie Nobita and the Tin Labyrinth. I've read the manga version that Elex publishes in Indonesia a lot, but seeing the film version gives me mixed feelings. There are some cool sequences like how the avant title constructs the lightly eerie atmosphere of the scene well, or the imposing launch of the Blikin Island. But in other cases, the layout isn't as dynamic as what the manga has. I understand that an animated sequence has a different logic from manga panels, but without being an exact copy of the manga panels, certainly there are other layout compositions that could make those scenes feel more dynamic than what the film actually uses. Also, the climax feels like it goes in a flash. Admittedly, the plot for this Doraemon film/long story doesn't push the characters to desperate points like the climaxes of, say, Steel Troops or Kingdom of Clouds (in this story, once the main characters' plan has been put in place, they just execute it without a hitch), I still think they could have done something about it so it doesn't just finish in less than four minutes? The manga's page count is about comparable to a chapter of weekly manga. Perhaps they could have given the film some liberties to pad the climax longer. Instead, the liberty was taken to make the climax takes place in daylight rather than at night.... On another hand, I noticed that there are Balinese artists credited for background arts for the film. They've been involved in anime production for quite a while, eh.
• Watched classic silent film Safety Last!. This comedy film sets up various series of comedic situations well. But unfortunately for me, the climax is around 18 minutes of moments that trigger my fear of heights 🙈.

Readings

• Reread the first volume of the second Birdy the Mighty Manga. I've read some of the first version of the manga this time, so it's interesting to see how the versions differ. The second version have less page count per chapter, but takes a slower approach to develop its story, which is neat as it gives space for the plot and the characterizations to breath. Yūki Masami's art had also developed in around two decades or so.
• Read Mizuki Shigeru's one-shot Planet. The celestial object in the title actually wouldn't count as a "planet" with the current astronomical definition 🙈, but anyway, Mizuki-sensei didn't play subtle with his social criticism in this this story.
• Reread Red-Haired Snow White volume 2. Ryu first appears in this volume, so I'm happy. The gap between his aloof exterior and his real awkwardness when he's around Shirayuki is so cute.

• Reread the Indonesian edition of Silent Sinner in Blue volume 3. This volume probably has the most translation notes in the series, mostly for Shinto mythology, but also for some astronomy. The main text and the translation notes can't seem to agree on whether to translate kegare as 'ketidakmurnian (impurity)' or 'kekotoran (filth)', though.
• Read the Indonesian edition of Bungo Stray Dogs volumes 3-4 and noticing something about Elex's approach to translating the ability names:

Having just read volume 3, it seems Elex's approach is to use English to translate names of abilities that refers to a literary work in English and use Indonesian to translate everything else (Japanese, Russian—except for stuff like Rashomon, of course) pic.twitter.com/cQfjM5sLMl

— Hal | Gundam Tourist (@HalimunM91) June 2, 2025

• Reread Kekkaishi volume 5. It's always fun to see in hindsight stuff in earlier volumes that setup the conclusion of the Karasumori mystery much later.
• Read Cultures of Comics Work. Pretty interesting insights into what goes into making comics in various parts of the world from a variety of perspectives.
• Reading Mimizuku to Yoru no Ou. For a Dengeki Bunko-published work, it's presented differently from the usual light novels (no illustration except on the cover) and its subject matter also feels uncommon for light novels, though you still can think of it as belonging to the genre of 'girl and jingai (non-human being)' like the manga The Girl from the Other Side or The Ancient Magus' Bride. Actually, I think it's pretty telling that a manga adaptation for it is serialized in the shoujo magazine LaLa.

Heading to the end of spring season these are what I'm watching in June: