may 2026 wrap up
a fast short month
i am Tired and dreading the onset of summer as i do every year and so will jump right into the content consumed (which isn’t much idk why much of may i felt so listless but also i was doing some significant edits to a project currently on sub so there’s that)
anime;
tamon’s b-side
this was a very cute and very wild shoujo about a girl who ends up working as a housekeeper an idol she’s obsessed with, who turns out to have a very different personality than the one he shows to the world. i liked that the main guy was a little pathetic, and i liked that the main girl wasn’t afraid to be a completely insane fangirl; it’s a refreshing dynamic. i also enjoyed meeting the other band members and seeing how different they were from the faces they showed to the world. an interesting commentary on idol life and culture.
it’s very charming, but it didn’t really grip me in the way i wanted it to, mostly because it felt too short and incomplete; nothing really happened, there was no significant character or relationship development. it felt like just getting a glimpse into the story, and this is one of those times when i really feel the affects of only getting a 1 season short anime adaptation of an ongoing manga, because you won’t get a complete story unless you read it. i wanted way more from all the character dynamics, but i only got something that felt kind of superficial. was still a fun time though.
also: while the animation was usually cute and retro, during the music performances, it was bizarre and probably really bad cgi.
dnf:
sakamoto days: i think i had a very different understanding of what sakamoto days was, which is stupid of me given its very bizarre premise, but tonally it ended up being way sillier than i wanted. i expected fantastical banana fish, instead i got something closer to one punch man. i ended up skimming a few episodes because i was really interested in the character of slur, and his scenes were good, but nowhere near enough for me to want to watch the whole show. it’s just a little too ridiculous for me overall, especially the whole thing with the main guy’s weight.
tougen anki: i only watched 1.5 episodes of this and could already tell it was extremely generic shounen. i read a little bit more about it and discovered my instincts were correct. also, the female characters are…not great.
ongoing:
marriagetoxin (i wanted a BL and instead i think i’m getting a harem anime but i’m having a good time)
witch hat atelier (sublime, best anime of the year)
moriarty the patriot (meh but i can’t bring myself to quit yet)
bleach (skimming a lot of scenes but vibing)
books;
disorientation by elaine hsieh chou
small rain by garth greenwell
a marvellous light by freya marske
the tapestry of fate by shannon chakraborty
tokyo ghoul by sui ishida (volumes 1-14)
i read more than i thought i had this month, though technically i’ve been reading a marvellous light for like four months…not because i didn’t like it, i loved it very much, such a gorgeously written romance with two very well-drawn main characters.
my other big project of the month was to finish the tokyo ghoul manga, which i borrowed from a friend! i started the anime like a year ago but just couldn’t get into it, and everyone says the anime makes a mess of the manga, so i decided to read the source material. it was certainly better than the anime, and decently compelling, but i’m not sure i loved it as much as i wanted to.
i do think ken kaneki is a fantastic character and i am obsessed with his arc and i really appreciate ishida willing to fully show the effects of torture on someone; the depiction of specific trauma was really well done. unfortunately, when i finished, i realized there is a sequel manga with 16 more volumes lol. i really hate reading manga online so i’m going to try and see if i can get these from the library.
other bits & bobs;
the devils child: the rise and fall of the only female yakuza — fascinating story that gives insight into the japanese yakuza, a dying group
the linux of social media: how livejournal pioneered then lost blogging — a very detailed profile of livejournal’s rise and fall
naruto shippuden rewritten — my favorite naruto critic posted a rewrite of shippuden and i’m obsessed with all her decisions
discovered 7 fates: chakho and immediately recognized gojo satoru’s voice actor but thought i was hallucinating because i was like why?? is he here?? also spent a long time very confused about what 7 fates was, and honestly, i think i’m still confused because apparently it’s a webtoon where the characters are played by bts members but i still don’t get it because i don’t think the characters in the video are the same? please, someone explain this to me like i’m five.
cheers,
hadeer