Hey guys,
With school ramping up for midterms, I haven’t had much time or energy to blog. Even my anime watching has diminished, and I can’t remember when I last picked up a volume of manga that wasn’t for the Manga Love Readathon on Valentine’s Day weekend. (You don’t know how badly I just want to drop all my school work and crack into some Yona of the Dawn >.<)
So, this monthly update will be pretty sparse, but I hope you enjoy reading about what I’ve been up to. First, let’s discuss goals.
Goal Reflection
Write Five Posts Each Month | I fell two posts short of this goal. School is tough!!
Review More Anime | I published two anime reviews this month, one for Gunbuster: The Movie and another for its sequel, Gunbuster 2 or Diebuster. We’ll see if I write another post about Diebuster: The Movie. An “Anime Revisted” post for Emma: A Victorian Romance is in the works!
Continue Writing Manga Reflections | As previously mentioned, I was able to book off the entire Valentine’s weekend to read for the Manga Love Readathon. During the readathon, I read from five different titles, yet I never got around to writing about them! I’ll see if I can give some of them proper reviews, but until then, I hope my recap vlog will suffice. ^ . ^
Write Posts for Video Content | All four of my February videos were uploaded here as blog posts. I’m one short of my YouTube goal there of five videos a month, but please check those out if you’re interested!
Achieve 750 Followers | Current count is 714. Thank you so much for reading and following along~!
What I’ve Watched
Gunbuster: The Movie — A mere 1200-word post cannot describe the magical experience that is the classic Gunbuster. This year’s V-Day Special was dedicated to the popular GAINAX franchise, and I couldn’t be more pleased with what I watched. In case you missed it, I wrote an entire review that you can read here!
Gunbuster 2 — Most of the same glowing compliments could be said about Gunbuster‘s sequel, Diebuster. While I enjoyed Gunbuster more, I found the zany nature of Gunbuster 2 (review here!) to scratch that itch that the Evangelion Rebuild films left for me. (Who’s excited for the final Evangelion film to come out March 8!?! DEFINITELY ME!!!)
Diebuster: The Movie — I just finished my journey through this franchise with the Diebuster recap film last night. It takes on the daunting task of cramming six 30-minute episodes into a single hour-and-a-half-long film (like its predecessor). Despite the cuts, I really enjoyed it! I’ll try to write a post over this film, but should this be the end for now, check out my two reviews. 🙂
Attack on Titan Final Season — SASHA NOOOO. I’m about ready to YEET a dumb little kid off the face of the planet if we continue this frustrating BS. My anger aside, however, I LOVE where this series is going. The War Hammer Titan rises to the top as my favorite of the Nine Titans (so cool!), and I continue to soak in the wondrous sounds of Hiroyuki Sawano’s OST. Still a little scared about how this is all going to wrap up in the coming months!
The Promised Neverland Season 2 — I’m a little disappointed, not gonna lie. If y’all are following this one, you’ll know that the latest episodes deviate from the manga significantly (or rather, jump ahead seeeveral chapters). A certain character makes a comeback, and I couldn’t help but feel it wasn’t milked for all its worth. Like, we knew, we knew, but it’s still weird to know that hey, this is it. We’ll see if things get better.
Wonder Egg Priority — I’m behind the latest couple episodes, but where I last left off, the four girls have gathered together! Looking forward to catching up on egg time ~~
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation — Rudy leaves home and we meet Eris. She’s a brat, but I’m sure Rudy can handle her. I’m also behind on this one, but I’ll catch up!
Skate-Leading Stars — While I don’t “love” this series, I do find it entertaining enough to be worth finishing. That said, I’m behind on the latest couple episodes, but I hope to finish it soon.
Horimiya — Annnd I’m also terribly behind on the season’s most popular romantic drama! (See a reoccuring theme here? Yeah, school bites.) I’m loving the screencaps that I see of this series on Twitter, though. 😛
What I’ve Read
5 Centimeters Per Second: One More Side — This is the only novel I’ve been able to follow since February started. It was a spontaneous decision to pick up, but then I remember telling myself I would reward my reading efforts by picking up Shinkai’s hardcover published novels from Yen Press–IF and only if I read what I already had. So here we are reading this alternate perspective story of Shinkai’s popular 5 Centimeters film, and I’m surprisingly enjoying it a lot. If the film is a favorite of yours, consider picking up this novel which explores the other side of the story!
This begins the titles I read for the Manga Love Readathon, so check out the vlog for more information!
Love in Focus — This is my first Yoko Nigiri manga and OMG, I love her style so much! Love in Focus is a quaint little three-volume series which follows a high school love triangle between two members of the photography club and an ex-child model (who is now an introverted high school boy living at their dorm). It’s cute, quick, and I like the childhood friend (AKA the other boy, Kei). Love in Focus is the perfect Valentine’s read!
A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow — I read the first three volumes of this sweet yuri series and I love the main couple so much! Anything aquatic will generally catch my eye, so the days spent doing activities with the aquarium club are pleasant. This is kind of one of those healing manga, but it does have a romance plot. Looking forward to picking up the rest of the series!
Let’s Dance a Waltz — After YEARS of sitting on my shelf, I finally gave this short three-volume shoujo drama manga a read. The good news—it’s earned the spot on my shelf for a long time to come! The series follows a girl who picks up ballroom dancing because she fell in love with a boy. At the boy’s family studio, she meets two other professional youth dancers, and the four grow to enjoy each other’s company (some wishing to push the boundary of friends). The characters are so kind to one another, and if you’re wanting a fast-paced manga that showcases the beauty of ballroom dance, definitely give it a shot.
The Young Master’s Revenge — I finally got around to reading volume one of this series and omg, no regrets! Rich boy Leo wants to get revenge on rich girl Tenma for making him look like a fool during their childhood. However, upon reuniting as teenagers, Leo finds out that the Tenma’s family business has gone under, leaving her out to dry. She wishes to serve Leo as a personal maid to make some money, but Leo’s not sure how this change of events will affect his plans for revenge! Such a fun premise. I’ll pick up the other three volumes sometime.
Komi Can’t Communicate — Last but not least, I started Komi! This is the highly beloved shounen comedy manga about an antisocial girl who just wants to make 100 friends. Komi leans far more on the gag comedy side, so I’m not sure if I’ll keep up with this digitally or find copies at my library. It’s a fun series, but IDK how long I’ll keep up with it. Glad I read this first volume, though!
If you couldn’t tell, the whole of my February was occupied by two projects: the Manga Love Readathon and my Gunbuster marathon. Not much else got done, but I still enjoyed myself immensely. February is one of my favorite months, perhaps because I always use the Valentine’s holiday as a time for self-love. We also slowly emerge from the slow cold of winter (hope all my midwestern pals withstood the sudden freeze!), and the onset of spring begins. I hope the warmer weather will boost my productivity, and I also hope to work harder on the blog and my channel in March.
School continues to be tough, but we never asked for the easy way out, did we? Hahaha, oh how I can taste the end! Only three months of my undergraduate career remain, and as I gear up for graduation, I hope you’ll continue to come back and read my posts. But what am I saying, we still have all of March and April—and this update has gone on too long! Please let me know what you all enjoyed this past month, and remember to take care of yourselves! Thanks for reading, and ’til next time!
– Takuto
Takuto's Anime Cafe 