Manga
Link: Mangaplaza
This story is making me insane, actually. In some way I love this story. The protagonist, Nami Amihama, is quite essentially a truly awful person. Is she a bad protagonist though? No, not at all!
She's so inherently interesting; her actions are never dwelled on by the comic and she has no real motive other than her own selfishness. It seems like the story's author wants to drill into your head that Amihama is beyond redemption, that she's constantly getting what she deserves since she does not fit the role of a typical good character.
It makes me insane, because it feels like the story is gearing us to watch either:
1 . Amihama's Inevitable Downfall via Her Own Actions
2 . Justified Cosmicly-Served Comeuppance
3 . Amihama's Road to Change (Personally Manifesting)
And, c'mon! Chubby characters are hard enough to find in josei! Give this to me! Give me an actual character arc for a 'terrible woman'! Please! We can watch her get better! We can fix her! She deserves so much more! She has so much potential author, pleaseeee.
I'm only on Chapter 15, and there's like 30-some chapters out on the site. I might give into the premium once the story concludes so I can see how this story ends.
Manga
Link: Mangaplaza
I've been a fan of Nemu Youko's manga ever since my sister gave me a Japanese copy of 3AM Dangerous Zone. Youko's art is clean, realistic yet has a touch of dream-like whimsy that makes you feel like you're reading a fairy tale instead of a slice-of-like josei manga. Generally, the panels flow very well and the pacing for her stories feel like they're never rushing the plot or slowing to a crawl.
Turn to Me, Mukai is Nemu Youko's latest work. The manga is a realistic look into relationship hunting as a full-time working adult. The story's protagonist is the unreliable narrator, Mukai, who's expectations of seemingly romantically-interested woman never aligns with reality.
Personally, I love introspective fiction like this. Turn to Me, Mukai prods at you. It makes you question why Mukai, this really normal guy, who has a job, is a functional member of society and is able-bodied and conventionally good-looking, has so much difficulty finding a girlfriend. Is there something wrong with him? Is there something wrong with how dating works in the modern era? Or is there a deeper aspect at play here? Something our unreliable narrator isn't revealing to us readers?
It's a really refreshing dive into the protagonist's thoughts and feelings without being explicitaly told what exactly they're feeling. Like reality, we just don't know what we're feeling until it's too late, until we have the time to comb over ever detail in the critical eye of retrospection and find the flaws within ourselves and our actions. What could we have done to change? How could we have remedied this lost connection? Frankly, I'm insane about this manga. Feral, in the vernacular of those much younger than me would say.
Currently, the official english translation on mangaplaza only has 10 chapters. I'm vaguely aware of the live-action drama that follows the manga's plot, but I'm a die-hard Nemu Youko fan, so I'm going to wait it out for volume 3's official translation to see how the story concludes.
Manga
Link: Comikey
A 'yandere' romance story about a terminally ill female lead and a deranged 'he-will-kill-you-because-he's-bored' male lead.
Somehow, this story manages to tip-toe around the worst tropes that come with the yandere genre and delivers an intricate, tragic and beautiful storyline. There's a lot of angst, abuse & violence but I assure you the main couple is very wholesome.
Did I mention that it takes place during the meiji era?
Manwha
Link: Tapas
Firstly, I love silly little isekai fantasy josei's unironically. They are fun and can be a little outlandish when you see how long their titles are or their summary, but trust me when I say that when you start reading web manwhas, you're in for a good time.
I tend to really like these stories because it's a form of escapism. Yes, I would totally also be down to escape reality and just live my life out as a mean vile woman. However, unlike most of the heroines of these manwhas, I very much like being on Earth, and I always look both ways before crossing the road : ) Anyway!
The Perks of Being a Villainess is about a meek Korean woman who transmigrates into the body of a fictional novel's villainess. The story is reliant on a few common tropes used in the romance-fantasy genre, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I enjoy the female leads antics. She's likeable, funny, and clever. Her main gimmick is using her knowledge of late-stage capitalism to empower her side hustles.
The male lead is basically The Perfect Man (TM) but the our heroine finds him very suspicious. It's a very hilarious dynamic, I swear.
There is a lot of other isekai romantic fantasy manwhas out there. Some of them are even free to read on webtoon's or tapas's daily pass! I think people should give the genre a shot. I don't think the Perks of Being a Villainess is the greatest thing I'll ever read, but it's fun, light-hearted and easy to pick up.
Also, I just think romantic fantasy manwha are neat.
Manwha
Link: Tappytoons
I don't want to be too spoilery about this manwha since I feel like it hits especially well when read blind.
So, in short: Black Chains is a very angsty toxic romance story. I normally don't read angst but for some reason I really like this one.
The male lead, Akelans, is a dragon, which is very relevant to my interests, but he's preeeetty toxic. I really like the female lead Hasolan! Honestly, 90% of the time I'm reading the story for her, despite the story's plot leaning into the more 'kingdom politics' side.
Status: Playing
Play Time: 5 Hours
I played through Let's Go Eevee back in 2019 when my cousin lent his switch. (He's such a cool guy for doing that.) I rushed through Let's Go Eevee just to experience the game before I had to return the console.
This time around I've been casually playing through Let's Go Pikachu! (Still, the game card is a lend-out from my brother, but in my defense, the game is almost 7 years old and I'm not paying 60 whole dollars just to finish my Pokedex)
I've just beat Brock and I'm currently in Mt.Moon! My Pokemon are: Chewy (Pikachu ♀), Bugzzy (Butterfree ♀), Bulby (Bulbasaur ♂), Zardy (Charmander ♂), Cleffy (Clefairy ♀)
Status: On Hold
Play Time: 5 Hours
I'm having a really good time with the game but I get major headaches if I play 3D platformers for too long. (Yes, I know Infinity Nikki has very light platform elements but those take a toll on me.) Also! My SD card on my Steam Deck mysteriously killed itself, so I've been waiting for the replacement since January.
Status: Playing
Play Time: 20 Hours
A dress up game made with TinierMe/PocketLand/@games Selfy avatar assets. The items are gourgeous 2d vector graphics and I have so much art style envy for it. The translation is extremely bad, with some lines of dialogue untranslated.
The game is also very sluggish. I tried installing the game on my switch's hard drive instead of an sd card and it still takes about 10-30 seconds to load the dress-up screen I still really like the game though, it's fun! I've been making my OCs in the game. Maybe when I have time I'll post them somewhere.
Status: Dropped
Play Time: ??
Gaiaonline Pokemon clone. It has some really neat Kin designs though! Like oh my god, the pixel art is stellar.
The game gets pretty tedious and grindy, and there's no reason to play unless you want to pull on the RIGS (Random Item Generator that gives you items to dress up your avatar) or you're grinding for platinum (gaia's currency)
I played a lot of it when I came back to gaia but dropped Lake Kindred after a dozen or so hours. I still log onto gaia though.
Status: Dropped
Play Time: 15-20-ish Hours
(The game launcher I use says I have 185 hours in the game but uhhh, that definitely did not happen)
I usually watch my 11-year-old niece play and she hit a really cool plot point! I picked up the game so I can play through the main story and get some context for the cutscene we saw together, but the game is way too long for a casual fan like me!
I think the story is interesting and I like the character designs, so I'll probably pick up a video that has a hyper-cut of all the story-relevant plot cutscenes.
Live Action
Left Off: Season 2
Status: Still Watching
Okay, so I've seen bits and pieces of Columbo posts on tumblr before I left the site, but I didn't anticipate the show to be this cozy? Unlike most detective shows, the antagonist-of-the-week is revealed at the start of each episode and how they committed their crime. The fun of the show is watching Columbo go around and poking his nose into the baddie's business.
I do like that Columbo is so casual with some antagonists. Columbo (the show) feels very human. It does not glorify people who commit crime as brilliant masterminds, or an overarching villain. It depicts them as fallable individuals who are trying their hardest to get away with it.
IDK, it's fun watching a man say, "How Dare You, I am NOT a Liar," while he evidently lies. It's like, wow, he's trying so hard, the madman. Anyway... Get 'em Columbo >:0
Anime
Left Off: Season 1
Status: Still Watching
Technically a rewatch but this time with my siblings! We're watching the english dub, (I only watch english dubs welp) and it holds up pretty well! I do think some of the more explicit scenes are a little cringey, espeically watching it with other people, but it's mostly good fun.
Competitive Pokemon Youtuber
Link to Wolfe's Youtube Channel
I wasn't much of a Pokemon VGC fan. The only aspect of VGC I was aware of was that one Sejun Park Pacharisu World's Win. I did dabble in making IV bred and EV trained Pokemon teams, but those were mostly for playing against the NPC battle tournaments with my siblings.
Anyway, somehow I stumbled onto one of Wolfe's VGC Worlds video and I was really impressed! He seriously has the best content for people looking into the Pokemon Competitive Scene. His videos are detailed, and he explains why he makes his choices.
Video Essays
Link to Pop Culture Detective Channel
A youtube channel that breaks down popular tropes in movies and shows. He coined the term "Born-Sexy Yesterday" which is a youtube video I highly recommend.
Gaming Youtuber
A youtube channel that explores games with dead or nearly dead servers. Rye focuses on the niche communities and individuals that help keep these old games alive. The series is a fun watch and the interactions the youtuber has is pretty wholesome.
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