Monthly Log - June 2025

Still hasn't finished the memoir as I had been busy with work and has been having another project I'd like to finish soon.

For now, here are some of the stuff I watched or read in the month of June.

Watched

• Finished Aishite Knight. After a series of new hurdles to their relationship, the story kind of comes full circle by having Yakko's dad to be the 'final boss' to overcome in Yakko and Gō's path to marriage. In the end, I really enjoyed Hashizō and Yakko's friendship, end the 80s atmosphere is pretty neat too.
• Watched Aquarion Myth of Emotions. I think it's pretty decent. Episode four has an interesting development with Momohime being unsure about her feelings for Rimiya, taking the time to figure it out, and ends with a conclusion that does not treat other kinds of feelings as less than "ren'ai".
• Started watching Shinzō Ningen Casshern. It's the usual Tatsunoko hero goodness, with quite some future big names involved (Tomino, Nunokawa...). I still like Gatchaman's song more than Casshern's, though.
• Finished Once Upon a Witch's Death. Overall, the show gives me the most satisfaction this season. The main character is fun, and the personality comes through well through her conversations with others. And it feels satisfying to see the relationships she made throughout the series accumulate and allow for more benevolence for others that turn into even more relationships. Definitely gonna put it in my favorites of the year.

• Finished I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 2. Wow, they got Tamura Yukari to sing in character in this show. Not expecting that.

• Finished GQuuuuuuX. The debates over the show have gotten to scary levels. I'll leave it at that.
• Watched Kimipre episodes 17-21. Cure Zukyoon and Cure Kiss' debut is very intriguing, plot-wise. Pretty cool special attacks concepts too. I'm curious how the story gonna take Meroron's character over time.
• Watched Princess-Session Orchestra episodes 9-11. Not expecting these seiyū reference jokes lol. Also loving Minamo's attempt to get her own cooking show going. I hope they could include more cooking scenes in the future.
• Watched the first part of Princess Principal: Crown Handler. This chapter doesn't have much action, and that's cool. A spy fiction making covert, patient activities and psychological drama exciting is making good work.
• Watched the 1934 Cleopatra film. Thinking about Western popular culture's fascination with Cleopatra, through this film it feels like there's clearly orientalism at play? That is, Egypt and Cleopatra functions together as oriental and feminine Other, decadently opulent, threatening to seduce rugged dominating warrior men of Rome into ruin if they were not tamed. Probably there have been many who have written on this subject, though. I should try look them up.

Readings

• Read the first issue of W.I.T.C.H. I've only read one issue of a later story arc that I got from a giveaway many years ago, so this is the first time reading this from the beginning. It really feels a fitting work to be presented for the post-Sailor Moon generation. It gets the excitement of the fantasy of ordinary kids discovering secret powers and responsibilities, and the intricacies of balancing those with their everyday lives and relationships.
• Reread Touhou Ibarakasen volumes 3-6. It's always amusing to see how ZUN makes use of stuff from Japanese folklore in his works. Also fun to make connections with other works covering similar subjects (I immediately thought the fluff ball in one of the chapters is a kesaran-pasaran since Mokke also has a chapter about it).
• Reread Yokohama Shopping Blog volumes 1-4. Reading this more carefully, there are plenty of materials that can be used to discuss how iyashikei fiction works.
• Read Yume no Yume. It's a fascinating shōjo take on the Epic of Gilgamesh.
• Read Zig✩Zag volumes 1-3. This is a fun shōjo school comedy with enchanting chemistry between the characters. Takaaki and Saho are such a cute pair~❤️.
• Read the first volume of Aim for the Ace. Somehow I've never heard that the manga makes a lot of funny faces. That kind of funny deformed style is cute too. Anyway, the school club drama of this manga is really engrossing. It works 'cos the characters actually have interesting stakes in the conflict. And while she starts out weak, the heroine is sympathetic enough to root for her growth. Gunbuster fans should definitely read Aim for the Ace. Euphonium fans maybe should try to read it too?
• Read Houkago Ponytail. "The popular shoujo manga artist turned out to be a guy" is actually a curious trope in this age. As more and more women became manga artists since the 70s, people who work in the shoujo manga industry, as Jennifer Prough recorded in her field research, have come to adopt a 'truism' that young women are the most suited to make shoujo manga since they are close to the intended girl readers and are assumed to understand what girls want. I can't really recall off the top of my head any present day male shoujo manga artist. There are instead, some female artists who use pen names that look like masculine names despite making shoujo manga. But well, since it's manga, I guess it's just useful as a source of comedy.
• Reread Terry Pratchett's Reaper Man. If Mort is a story about what happens when someone doesn't when they are killed, Reaper Man is a story about what happens when things don't die when they die. Anyway, Pratchett's ways of using words and figurative expressions are really fun.

To end this post, since the new season is starting, here are what I'm watching in July: