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Myanimelist Manga Wrap Up 2025 (Part 1)

Bit skewed because I only update in intervals, but ...

Check out shina_luna's anime watching stats for 2025. See their most watched genres, seasonal highlights, and top anime.

Solo Leveling next to Kemurai Hanashi of all things, is quite the thing to behold.

I, apparently, did not have too much luck grinding through things to find the gems in general that year ...

#reading log #statistics

Myanimelist Manga Wrap Up 2025 (Part 2)

Part 2, split because of image number limitations

Check out shina_luna's anime watching stats for 2025. See their most watched genres, seasonal highlights, and top anime.

#reading log #statistics

Myanimelist Anime Wrap Up 2025

Check out shina_luna's anime watching stats for 2025. See their most watched genres, seasonal highlights, and top anime.

That one's actually up to date, but ...

#watching log #statistics

Reading(+Watching)+Listening Log 2025.11 - November

Previous Reading(+Watching)+Listening Log 2025.10 - October

Anyone who’s not caught it yet: Jenseits der Worte a.k.a. Kemutai Hanashi's second German volume is up for preorder!

You can get this German edition from the publisher’s shop here.

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Reading languages: German, English, French, Japanese, not listing which was which. (There’s also been some meagerly continued music listening attempts at Chinese.)

Titles are, as I’ve read them, either the first or most read under, and thus I remember them for that title mostly.

Not going to bother putting in the original titles of translated reads unless there is something worthy of note to it.

Cursive titles mean the series got completed, or it was a one-shot. It may not be the last installment of the series, as I also read out of order sometimes.

Bold titles mean the ones that entertained or impressed me most.

If it says a volume number, it may mean it has been finished or is still in progress.

Some notes’ content may be subject to repetition here and there, as I also copy some older notes from casual conversations over into these logs and don’t go through any rounds of cutting things down.

I will freely use some very lunatastic terms like “cheese” and “fluff”; you can find an explanation here: Luna-Lingo.

The notes are mostly hacked down rapidly and in a stream-of-consciousness style, without exactly a lot of proofreading.

——————————————————————————

November

Really short month again ...

But I actually watched some anime again! First time in who knows how long!

Anime:

Bâan Honkai: Star Rail - Rondo Across Countless Kalpas

Light Novels/Web Novels/Asian Novels:

ATLAS: Her, the Combatant, and Him, the Hero v1p1-3 An Unruly Summon v1p1-14 Cogs of Time v1p8-12 Dahlia in Bloom v11p8-12 Durarara SH LN v1 Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Minor Myths and Legends v2 Lucia and the Loom: Weaving Her Way to Happiness v3 Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai v4p6-11 The Death of the Skeleton Swordsman: Dominating as a Cursed Saint v1p1-12 The Executioner and Her Way of Life v2-5 The Fearsome Witch Teaches in Another World (Light Novel) v1p1-11 The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind! (Light Novel) v2p1-4 The Young Lady is the Substitute Harvest Goddess V1p1-12

Manga:

A School Frozen in Time v1-4 A Side Character's Love Story ch63.2-66 An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride (Manga) v13 Boruto: Two Blue Vortex ch6-14 Coyote v3ch14 Falsche Engel, wahre Liebe? v1-4ch16 Fired? But I Maintain All the Software! (Manga) v1-2ch2 How a Single Gold Coin Can Change an Adventurer’s Life ch24.3-28.1 Living With My Brother's Wife ch104-113 Madokas Geheimnis My Death-Defying Dog: Man’s Best Friend, World’s Best Savior v1ch11 My Not-So-Fair Lady is Doomed! (But Not If I Can Help It) ch9.3-14 The Valiant Must Fall v4-5ch48 Tokio to Nanami ch1 Zero Damage Sword Saint (Manga) v2

Webtoons:

Closer Heartbeat ch39-49 Oh, My Darling Princess ch1-15

AMV/Dance Videos:

Courtesy - 「AMV」Fairytale - [2nd Place @Indigo Inside IC 3]

Music:

Bâan OST

Notes:

Bâan: If Henyoku no Drops/Dem Himmel zu fern from the month before has set a precedent of a short with a world that just looks interesting and has a round plot that manages to wrap up nicely, but you're not ever getting more of that world, then this one is just the same in feeling like it's a shame.

But actually I found the whole documentary of how it came to be even more interesting than the short itself. Tho the shorts themes themselves are pretty nice, too, as in being universal and that Thai-touch definitely is not something you see too often.

An Unruly Summon v1p1-14: I already thought from the contest samples that I liked this one most and as the complete thing I still do I think. It definitely has all the LN-ish JP tropes, but at the same time it feels while maybe nerd, not exactly otaku/weeb, as it throws some shades on JP/otaku culture which you don't find in that way from works from Japan like that. The author still perfectly knows their tropes though, so that makes for a refreshing spin and mix of the old trodden premises. There isn't new per see about the plot points, but it's just solidly done from beginning to end and surprisedly also quite fast paced – even the cat/mouse game of being found out that is the entire hook of the beginning surprisingly quickly ceases to be and thus also avoids the trap hole of becoming a one trick pony.

There is something funny about the contest entires I like, they all look like they are v1s and with a set up for a continuation. (I guess no wonder the second contest had two type of novels outlined) Which is nice, because it means there can be more of it ... but will it?

At least in this case this volume does a really good job of making you want to read on. So where is the elusive v2?

Cogs of Time v1p8-12: Yep, everything is set up for a continuation. Again, when is the elusive v2 to be announced?

Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai v4p6-11: Gildo is a perfect-grade, stubborn to a fault, but not violent tsundere. I was looking forward to him finally showing up. Though managing deadlines was hard this month. Just hard ...

The Death of the Skeleton Swordsman: Dominating as a Cursed Saint v1: Well, another power fantasy one, and some cheese on top, but something about this one was... how to put it? It has its heart in the right place? It's definitely nice enough for a light read in-between and compared to other recent pieces of work falling into that bracket it least a bit of a better impression.

The Executioner and Her Way of Life v2-5: Volume 1 definitely had been a whole drag and more, but after finally it picks up the pace, and the whole world of this is pretty intriguing. Also funnily enough, this series might be the closest thing, despite being something entirely else, to Fire Punch of all things. You have a post once about a really highly civilized, retrograded world, people with some special powers; a word wonky about if it was gonna survive (tho again, wholly different, no natural catastrophes there) and then in the midst of it there is a somewhat insane little movie nerd with movie knowledge from the current era in there who can't die even if she wanted to.

Unfortunately the beginning remains a hard entry imo. Miss Time is annoying, and Miss pink-haired-supporter is even more so ...

The Fearsome Witch Teaches in Another World (Light Novel) v1p1-11: Impressions from shortly after reading:

It's having:

a badass fmc who can do everything. Like. everything (almost).

but it's kicking ass one after another, and there is a sense of glee to it because they deserve it.

would count as a Mary Sue but then she has a weakness for beast in heads and ears, so she's kinda like Sebastian from Black Butler but without his really annoying arrogance

in that vein she's more like Mikoto from Railgun, as in, she knows what she can do, she knows what she can't, and will put both to use, but she comes without the Teenager antics

it's pretty much cheese-free in V1, but I smell some flags for future ship developments

there is a male adult tsundere sorts of character

it has a good amount of thought put into about the magic and sorcery mechanics, but on occasion it turns a bit fantasy technobabble

The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind! (Light Novel) v2p1-4: This one, meanwhile, has a bit too much thought put into the magic systems and tends to overexplain. Other than that, the MC really just comes across as a bit too elitist and obnoxious. But it's getting slightly better with finally not being continuously pissed off over being isekai'd against his will.

The Young Lady is the Substitute Harvest Goddess V1p1-12: This one I had read the sample, and aside from that, the sample was taken not from the beginning but somewhere in-between. I remembered zero about it when I started the whole volume again.

Well. It does not have, uh, the most interesting plotline, I guess. Too much system-trop gaming for me there, and unlike The Top Dungeon Farmer it lacks the buns. But Demi's liking of books, like her fixation on book that is just pretty omnipresent, sounds, uh, very familiar. And I wasn't even thinking of myself, but like, she is even just one letter short of having the same name as a certain other bookworm I know; so that just felt like a very bizarre accidential homerun mood?

So far it stayed pretty cheese-free and focused on world building and characterization; let's see how good or bad it fares for me after the obligatory male lead shows up.

A School Frozen in Time v1-4: For whatever reason I bought these thinking they were LNs rather than Manga. The premise is not too uninteresting, but overall I found it not engaging at all. The subject theme is a heavy one, and while it had interesting themes and a twist, it felt only like melodrama most of the time. Another part of it is probably is the art with switched between kinda reminding me of a weak Obata's style imatation while at some places (like the first cover) looking like Your Lie in April for obvious reasons, but surprisingly those cases were relatively pretty rare. I just didn't manage to really like any part of this.

Music/AMV:

Pretty much the only music I listened to on the occasion was the Bâan soundtrack (it is definitely a good one to let run in the background.) Other than that, the month was spent in silence again and mostly working and trying to get through the day somehow.

#reading log #watching log #listening log #Bâan #An Unruly Summon #Cogs of Time #dahlia in bloom #The Death of the Skeleton Swordsman #The Executioner and Her Way of Life #The Fearsome Witch Teaches in Another World #The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind #The Young Lady is the Substitute Harvest Goddess #A School Frozen in Time #kemutai hanashi

Reading(+Watching)+Listening Log 2025.10 - October

Previous: Reading(+Watching)+Listening Log 2025.09 - September

Anyone who's not caught it yet: Seijo ni Uso wa Tsujinai's light novel by Hyuganatsu, the author of The Apothecary Diaries, is getting a German release by Dokico! (In English its manga adaptation is known as You Can't Bluff the Sharp-Eyed Sister. The Novel hasn't made it over there yet.)

Oh, and the limited edition comes with a variety of short stories that were shop exclusives in Japan.

You can get this German edition from the publisher's shop here.

——————————————————————————

Reading languages: German, English, French, Japanese, not listing which was which. (There’s also been some meagerly continued music listening attempts at Chinese.)

Titles are, as I’ve read them, either the first or most read of, and thus I remember them for that title mostly.

Not going to bother putting in the original titles of translated reads unless there is something worthy of note to it.

Cursive titles mean the series got completed, or it was a one-shot. It may not be the last installment of the series, as I also read out of order sometimes.

Bold titles mean the ones that entertained or impressed me most.

If it says a volume number, it may mean it has been finished or is still in progress.

I will freely use some very lunatastic terms like "cheese" and "fluff"; you can find an explanation here: Luna-Lingo.

The notes are mostly hacked down rapidly and in a stream-of-consciousness style, without exactly a lot of proofreading.

——————————————————————————

October

Light Novels/Web Novels/Asian Novels:

Cogs of Time v1p1-7 Dahlia in Bloom v10p1-V11p14 Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Chronicle Episode Freya LN Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Chronicle: Episode Lyu v1-2 Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Minor Myths and Legends v1 Lucia and the Loom: Weaving Her Way to Happiness v2-3 Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai v4p4-6 Natsu e no Tunnel, Sayonara no Deguchi edits The Apothecary Diaries v3 You Like Me, Not My Daughter?! V7

Manga:

Alkali Rettousei ch12 Dem Himmel zu fern Eigentlich lieb ich Dich v1-2 Given v8-9 Graineliers v1-3ch30 Helden der Östlichen Zhou Zeit v1ch8 Im Schatten der Fabriken Jenseits der Worte v2 Kara no Kioku ch43 Lauter gesagt als getan Lies mich noch bevor du stirbst Shanti ch3 Telecaster B-Boy ch6 The Conqueror from a Dying Kingdom (Manga) v6 The Fearsome Witch Teaches in Another World (Manga): Ms. Aoi’s Lesson Plans v1ch5 The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses ch109-110 The Mercenary and the Novelist ch10-19 Though I am an Inept Villainess Manga v5ch24 Weathering With You v1-3 White Light Ceremony v1-V2ch12, v4ch20-25, v6ch33-38, v1Booklet, v2Booklet, v4Booklet

Webtoons:

Bloody Sweet v1ch5, v3-4ch19 Estelle - Der Morgenstern von Ersha v2ch17-29 King's Maker v2ch13-25 Solo Leveling: Ragnarok ch55-60 Soulmate v3 Sweet Bite Marks v1ch23, v3ch49-70, v5ch91-110

AMV/Dance Videos:

学姐圆 - 「伤」

Arrow - PIXELATED KISSES - Anime Mix

Azexous - [AMV] Hallucyne (Collab w⁄ lokkiclu)

JAKEH - scrap

BxP - [Oshi no Ko AMV] IGNITE MY HEART⁄⁄ Ethereal IC #5

Alyzia - Da Capo - AMV

Notes:

Cogs of Time v1p1-7: They shortened the title compared to the JNC contest entry sample. It was the first of the samples I had read and one of the three I liked and one of the four that I still remember at all, so I was looking forward to it. It's as nice of a read as it was in the sample and the buildup up of crime suspense and cheese tensions is well interwoven. The cheese is just a bit very foreseeable, but the whole setting gives it a bit of a Victorian Era touch, so that's fine I guess.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Chronicle Episode Freya LN: I accidentially got the manga v1 before when I planned to order this one years ago. I think I really disliked Freya in the main series before that, but over here, for the first time, she actually showed some more positive sides. And some other, less revealing outfit. The plot itself is fine, I guess, but it has that same syndrom as a shonen manga movie that has to stand on its own disconnected to the main series. And coming to it after catching up with the main series there wasn't anything really novel about Freya at all either.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Chronicle: Episode Lyu v1-2: This one, however, has v1 be just like the Freya spin-off, but v2 totally should have been part of the main story?! Well, it was conceived as such but cut because of length, as per the afterword, but still. On the other hand, I guess, the cut made Lyu's comeback as level 6 that much more impactfully badass.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Minor Myths and Legends v1: I hadn't known that this was basically just a collection of all the store-exclusive extras upon release back in the day. Thus, nothing of importance really happens in there. Except maybe those stories that were added exclusively for that volume, as they follow that Hermes familia member that Bell saves on his dating lesson adventures in the main series where it was teased that her story was to be told somewhere later. I had kinda expected she'd come back there, instead this is where it went?

Dahlia in Bloom v10p1-V11p14: I, uh, quite liked them as I read them, but bizarrely now (that would be about 3-4 months later) I have trouble remembering what even happened ... Well, aside from everyone conspiring in their have them date/marry already-plans.

Dahlia in Bloom v10p1-V11p14: I, uh, quite liked them as I read them, but bizarrely now (that would be about 3-4 months later) I have trouble remembering what even happened … Well, aside from everyone conspiring in their have them date/marry already-plans.

Lucia and the Loom: Weaving Her Way to Happiness v2-3: Everyone's complaining about Dahlia and Wolf not coming together, but if I daresay, Lucia is way, way worse than Dahlia? Let's compare this: Dahlia has Wolf on the palm of his hands and the man is happy with that, she silently broke Randolf's heart, but he knew what he was getting in there from the beginning. (And there was this random couturier guy in school who just up and thought he'd have no chances, because she used a noble ettiquette without knowing what it menat.) Then there goes Lucia: She actively broke a mans's heart knowingly; she caught the fancy of many, including two active recurring characters that definitely are just going to get their hearts broken Randolf-style and then one who is clever enough to keep his hands off of her. Dahlia hasn't broken anyone's heart with intent yet! How is she worse than Lucia?!

But in any case, the Golden Rule of Cheese surely will strike, but somehow at the end of v2, I kinda feared it would only happen over the funeral of Forto's present wife. Which kinda feels of for this series' kindness-vibes. Well, let's see if this one goes a queer route for a main character (side characters in Dahlia have done that long since.) On the other hand, there was this passing remark of two bridal dresses of a lesbian couple, so while the main series keeps asserting that it was a legal thing in that country, even if rare, that was the first time it actually showed up in the franchise.

You Like Me, Not My Daughter?! V7: This a whole load of a cheese fever dream; that just sounds way too good, too comfy (too dumb?) to be true, but on the other hand, there's just really nothing wrong with it and all the messages imbued to it about patchwork family, not-so-normal-looking relationships, gender conformity, gender role expectations, househusbandry etc.. I do think the world could use more works like these if nothing else than to have a few more positive examples of living out an ideal that seems to be impossible to even picture in reality.

Dem Himmel zu fern a.k.a Henyoku no Drops: In a word thousand years in the future, where cities have sunk into the sea, humans have learned to fly to escape the sea (and in the progress of which apparantely stopped being able to swim.) In a world where everyone (except one) can fly … … and while they do so all the time to the point they basically never run with their feet on the ground … … female students still wear skirts. Me: what But the art is pretty, and this world premise is definitely intriguing. And this is just one of these short volumes, where the plot is somewhat neatly round and wrapped up with a sufficiently uplifting mood and that your-are-not-alone-in-this-comfort cheese and at the time just having this setting of it sounds super interesting and it makes for pretty imagery, can there not be a whole series set in such a setting??

Given v8-9: I dunno, the ending ... did not stir anything at all for me. Not even sure why. I did get impressions from it at some point, but those all seem to have vaporized by now.

Graineliers v1-3ch30: I didn't know that v3 wasn't the last volume because of it being complete, rather than it went to maybe-forever-hiatus. The positive of that was the buildup is really interesting and builds the groundwork for a very intriguing world. The bad side if obviously that it just stops in the middle of nowhere after an arc.

Well, darn.

Im Schatten der Fabriken a.k.a. Koujou Yakei: One of those things you think, "It's good", it says something of importance that should be said more often, but at the same time, it's something I don't feel like I'd ever want to touch again. Like Perfect World it also feels kind of feels less visceral from a more personal point of view rather than somebody who took accounts of others and spinned a story from it because they thought it was important to give those voices more volume. In that vein it reminds me of Daisy in Fukushima, but it does feel a bit more ambivalent and less preachy. And compared to Perfect World it also kinda of fees more ... mature? overall in its approach. It does make me wonder if these heavy subjects are going to be the author's main pick now. (Shelterin Eaves sounds just as heavy.) One early afterword of Perfect World does picture out that that one's subject only happaned because one thought it may make for a premise, and then went researching and the way the matter is handled in there does display an open emphathical ear for the lives of those concerned.

Jenseits der Worte/Kemutai Hanashi v2: Well, it's still as good as ever even when TL-ing it. Though some signs remain the death of me. v2 is somewhat special because the last chapter of it was what landed like a bomb back in the days to have my jaw drop that heavily and that chapter is still one of those things which makes this series something I want everyone in the world to read just once. All the more painful it is that the sales of the German edition aren't particularly good. Which basically means the series isn't reaching a lot of eyes out there. Which is just, well, Sadness. (But are we truly surprised about that? Which might be even more of a sad thing.)

The Fearsome Witch Teaches in Another World (Manga): Ms. Aoi’s Lesson Plans v1ch5: Here goes the power fantasy super OP MC to mow down all the irrational morons of the world by brute force! Nothing new there, except that the MC is a she, which I guess makes it a tad more rare. Otherwise nothing really of note, it's mostly just one badassery showcase after another and I guess that is all it needs. (Admittedly there is some thought put into the mechanics, but ... do they really matter in face of this badass lady kicks some moronic asses?)

The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses ch109-110 (end): I can finally give up. No really, I just don't get it and likely I never will. The series doesn't exactly do anything wrong, It's simply just beyond me.

The Mercenary and the Novelist ch10-19: I did not quite expect this to turn Hard Science Fiction. And there is a whole deal of technobabble exposition dump there at the ending. But it did have be intruegued as to how it would continue. Not sure if it would be interesting enough to check out in Japanese, but if that ever got an English release I'd check it out.

Weathering With You v1-3: The only thing that I had in mind right after reading about it was ... pretty much anything in there is irresponsible. I dunno. I just don't like it. At all. It's not a terrible series, but just about anything about it just feels unpleasant.

Music/AMV: A few nice ones, but nothing that was on an earworm level as some the previous month. Also pretty much no music again. The noise simply just hurts most of the time.

#reading log #cogs of time #dahlia in bloom #seijo ni uso wa tsuujinai #is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon minor myth and legends #is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon episode freya #is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon episode lyu #is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon #lucia and the loom #the fearsome witch teaches in another world #the girl I like forgot her glasses #the mercenary and the novelist #weathering with you

#bluray #region code b #merchandise #kaze france #french release #french subbed #digipack #anime #unboxing #fate zero

Luna’s Anime/Manga/Drama/etc. List Stats Snapshot 2025

Previous: Luna’s Anime/Manga/Drama/etc. List Stats Snapshot 2024

From MAL:

From Anime-Planet:

MyDramaList:

Unchanged from last year.

#anime #manga #watching #reading #statistics

Reading(+Watching)+Listening Log 2025.09 - September

Previous: Reading(+Watching)+Listening Log 2025.08 - August

And there I was thinking I was finally done with Tunnel to Summer, but apparently not quite ...

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Reading languages: German, English, French, Japanese, not listing which was what. (There’s also been some meagerly continued music listening attempts at Chinese.)

Titles are as I’ve read them either first or most and thus remember it for that title mostly.

Not going to bother putting in the original titles of translated reads unless there is something worthy of note to it.

Cursive titles mean the series got completed, or it was a one-shot. It may not be the last installment of the series, as I also read out of order sometimes.

Bold titles mean the ones that entertained or impressed me most,

If it says a volume number, it may mean it has been finished or is still in progress.

I will freely use some very lunatastic terms like cheese and fluff, you can find an explanation here: Luna-Lingo.

The notes are mostly hacked down rapidly and in a stream-of-consciousness style, without exactly a lot of proofreading.

——————————————————————————

September

I dragged on with the August post because there was work to get finished. Then after that I got a rather painful tooth inflammation, and if I had felt a bit of a wear-down, that became a bit of a tear-down.

The worst bit probably befell the music section. Tooth pain may wander off to the ears and any noise became just a massive no-no.

But anyhow, before that episode I got a few things finished off (which is also largely what makes this list), which includes the first anime watching session in forever. An AMV popped out, which I thought was prettily made, and got me curious about how it seemed to step out and do its complete own thing

Anime:

The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes (Anime)

Steins;Gate Animated Drama - Pandemia of Artificial Machinery 【Full】

Manga Audio Drama:

Tsubasa Nirai Kanai v3 audio drama

Doujin:

Lilitopia Vol.1 Shade in Gray

Light Novels/Web Novels/Asian Novels:

Apparently It's My Fault That My Husband Has the Head of a Beast v2p8 Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Minor Myths and Legends v1 Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria v11-13 Lucia and the Loom: Weaving Her Way to Happiness v1-2 Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai v4p1-3 Natsu e no Tunnel, Sayonara no Deguchi edits Solo Leveling: Ragnarok (Novel) ch295-375 The Troubles of Miss Nicola the Exorcist v1p1-3

Manga:

A Suffocatingly Lonely Death v1ch5 After School Dates An jenem sonnigen Tag v1-2 And Until I Touch You v3ch9-12.5 Barefoot Angel v1-2ch10 Black Marriage v4ch23 Die Schwingen der Kavallaris Dogs of Tosca Endlich Familie Ermafrodito - Harlows Begehren Even Exiled, She's Still the Beloved Saint! St. Evelyn's Weird and Wonderful Friends (Manga) v1ch5 Horimiya: A piece of memories Jenseits der Worte v2 Summary Kachin☆Ko v1-2 Kono Koi wo Hoshi ni wa Negawanai ch23.1-2 Lieb mich noch bevor du stirbst v4-5, v19Booklet, v5Booklet Looks like a Job for a Maid! The Tales of a Dismissed Supermaid (Manga) v1ch5 Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai (First Manga) v1-2 Maid-san wa Taberu dake ch55-56 Mein Isekai Leben v19ch55-57, v21ch61-63 Mericlone no Namida v1-2 My Eureka Moment v3-4 My Perfect Lover Old Knight, New Post: From Retiree to Her Majesty’s Blade (Manga) v1 Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter (Manga) v1-4ch31 Queen's Quality v23ch101 Ripper v1ch5 Rose Meets Rose Scooped Up by an S-Rank Adventurer! This White Mage Is One Heck of a Healer (Manga) v1ch5 Takopi und die Sache mit dem Glück v1-2 The Case Study of Vanitas v5-9ch51 The Crown of Rutile Quartz (Manga) v1ch5 The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses ch107.2-108 The Killer Inside v10-11 Thunder 3 v4ch16 Tokyo Aliens v8 Special Booklet, v8ch38 Tsuite Konaide Konami-kun! Violence Action v5 Wakusei Drops v1-2 Watch Dogs Tokyo v1ch6 Wizrain Oukoku Monogatari: Ryuu ga Hanayome ch7-8

Webtoons:

Solo Leveling: Ragnarok ch52-54 Under the Oak Tree v1

AMV/Dance Videos:

[Expedition 0] - Bankai - Re.Rain

送咸鱼 - 你没有想象中那样脆弱

[MDL]LaFamille - Year 13

Glave - Consume

Anthy AMV - Romantizade / Hikaru die

Soul 剣士 - 「AMV」Escaping Gravity | Anime Mix

祖娅纳惜【Official】 - 【祖娅纳惜】敦煌《一梦》原唱：黄龄

Music

(Insert Reruns of the August Playlist)

Dreamcatcher - [VillainS] - 04 - Shatter

Teflon Saga - Rain

BeMax, Phonk King - Heavenly

Chase Atlantic – Consume

Notes:

The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes (Anime): I heard lackluster things about this one, so I never really was too interested to watch it. Even after the novel, I wasn't particularly in a hurry, but then that Re.Rain AMV by Bankai showed up, and it looked pretty. But more than that, I was rather very surprised to see that umbrella and sunflower imagery being so prominent when there was zero trace of that in the novel. The torii gates and torches somehow turned into strange, otherworldly red trees, too.

Well, the TL;DR is: This adaptation is simply a wholly different story than the book. Everything that looks pretty in the anime does not exist in the novel, and vice versa: everything I thought was neat in the novel also didn't make it over.

It's a good thing I watched the anime after reading the novel, because I think I woefully would have missed the imagery of the umbrella. Instead, I am woefully missing the sea and sand beach from inside the tunnel. (You'd think it's important, given it's literally the scenery of the novel cover ...?)

Leaving even aside that Kawasaki's entire existence was reduced to basically as good as Girl A in the first few minutes and a very short montage in the middle, Kaoru's whole trauma of his sister's death, his own guilt over being careless and not paying attention, along with his family trauma as a whole, is not just underexplored; he wasn't even at the scene when she died. Sister just wandered off and died on her own, and some scenes with the father were kept 1:1 but without the background, he just looks like an ass and nothing more. The mother shows up very shortly in the illusions of the Tunnel, but it seems like a reference going to nowhere. Everything that happens in the finale in the tunnel is a complete ??? because the entire point of the novel was that Kaoru came out with attaining the ability to let his sister go and love himself and, by extension, being able to love Anzu, too. In the Anime it's just a she reminds him that ... he has Anzu? And no more needed? Whyever did he even go into the tunnel in the first place so adamantly when his return was prompted so... easily?

The movie does feel a lot like it took the novel's base idea and spun its own thing with it, and every scene of its own is genuinely quite good, but every single part where it does try to keep the original parts makes so little sense. Another example: he got his dead bird actually back out of the tunnel only to let it fly away? It was a pet canary; is that not ... kind of really irresponsible? (Besides being pretty cold, that was a beloved pet in the past?) The phone part at the finale is also bizarre. The Tunnel only gives back from the past; the anime even echoes that as well, so ... why is Anzu suddenly getting his texts? What exactly is being returned there? To whom? In a practical sense, Kaoru gets his phone back, okay, but that whole part seems emotionally kind of flimsy because it's purely tied to Anzu. It doesn't have anything to do with his trauma (that really just remains unresolved.)

But regardless, what it does right instead:

It definitely has many scenes that are neat, show-don't-tell-mood pieces. His depression is best presented when it's never outright addressed or talked about.

Even if ...

... this decidedly looks very Neon Genesis Evangelion-referential.

Their first meeting is also completely anime-only, pretty stilted, dialogues jumbled up from all over the place from the book mixed with new ones, but all of that works quite in their favor of showcasing them as two really awkward personalities. – Which they even aren't as much in the book. Kaoru is a pretty normal guy aside from his very (very) huge mental issues that prompt him to even have active hallucinations and frequent nightmares of the past. Anzu turned from this rebellious teenager to this cool, cold, not very outspoken quiet person, who, however, does have a good understanding of the arguments placed against her. (Though the way her background in the anime is explained definitely sounds very Bakuman). There isn't any of this self-righteous passion that is further fueled with the existential fear of your existence being too normal and getting simply forgotten; instead, it's a passion of simply liking drawing, over which a lid is put , but the joy still steams out regardless. That makes her ending also roll a bit more differently nuanced. In the novel it's mostly simply burnout and getting to learn reality and just being so tired to question everything and her obsession about Kaoru being a crutch against her existential fears. In the anime, the entire foundation of her career is having Kaoru as the cornerstone of why she does that, even when she knew perfectly well what she was getting herself into. That and the showcasing of her still being rather awkward and bad at talking as an adult makes her sobbing hard and missing the man also more understandable. Unfortunately, it feels woefully undeserved for anime-Kaoru, because he just seems so much like an empty character being thrown around by inertia.

Ironically, anime-Kaoru is nearly exactly that which novel-Kaoru in the middle of his trauma suffering claims he wants to actually become, but ultimately throughout the story clearly never is or can even become.

It's a good thing he didn't. Because anime-Kaoru isn't just boring, he is irresponsible, and by anime-plot setting, he has infinitely fewer circumstances to excuse his behavior.

Anzu also is less of a stubborn teenage brat hiding insecurities behind a bold face, and both are still teenagers at the mercy of attraction between the two, but the chemistry between them is far more mature and picturesque than the novel ever even tries to be, or, which is to say, the anime has zero of the absolute teenage cringe the novel has at places.

Very striking imagery between the two.

It's just too bad it feels a bit disjointed, as, ultimately, that sunflower is irrelevant to the plot at large.

Whyever is the Tunnel now suddenly triangular?

The maple leaves are really striking, and the CG-sorts of water's uncanny effect just works quite well with the tunnels otherworldliness.

That time-leap montage was also really nice to look at.

The aquarium is entirely a new scene, and it looks really very pretty. It also gives Anzu a neat background—she is struck with fear of being left behind. That ultimately works really well for her progression later on. His part is a few lines of dialogue explaining his family stuff, and then that's that. It added some hints that she was suffering from their parents not being a particularly harmonious couple, which is another thing it seemed to try taking from the novel, but while everything until here looks like it still works as a tease to delve deeper, that's as far as it ever goes. Which does feel pretty superficial...

This scene is basically almost the same as in the novel, but it's weird as hell, because there's nearly no reaction from her about the papers to even realize what it is, so her adamant reaction to refuse going out again feels pretty bizarre.

Her change to that she really is mostly hung up about those papers because they are a connection to her grandfather rather than past passionate works lost also neatly aligns with her fear of losing a connection to Kaoru. Also, really nice framing.

The Novels bit about "you have to have outstanding talent to leave a mark in the world" might be the only thing that still works in the new setting, as in here it ties over to the grandpa being a not-selling mangaka, so badly selling even to the point of debt that even his son's family wouldn't mourn him. Despite the phrasing even being the same, the source seems to be different, like anime-Anzu's fear is acquired as a result of unfortunate circumstances, a consequence, while novel-Anzu's feels more ubiquitous and existential over something very natural that is no fault of anyone and that being the source of everything. That's an interesting dichotomy.

This really had some electricity while being pretty.

This is also a pretty interesting shot. Kaoru generally comes off as kinda dissociating (novel-Kaoru definitely uses it as a coping mechanism); the anime has a good hand for little things like these. Also, there was also a fall in the novel, but it was more accidental and cringey tsundere-violent-Anzu, while here, there is a sort of conscious agency in there of her knowingly doing this, but not violent embaressment, rather than in an attempt to connect to him.

This. Is. so. much. nicer. than the darn cheese from the novel.

Also, there is this really nice-looking scene, which just makes the climax of him meeting Karen even more disappointing later, because ultimately, none of it matters.

The whole thing about mobile phones is also entirely new in the anime and I think it's quite nice as a symbol of communication and literal connection and practically as a test about the time difference (the novel used a rope) and also using what they learned for that goodbye letter (the novel simply used paper and a glass bottle at the entrance). If it wasn't just this random message arriving at Anzu's phone when Kaoru really shouldn't have a phone provider contract anymore and the tunnel really not having much of a reason to magically send one to her.

I really think this scene kinda destroys it all. It also is in direct conflict with Kii (the bird) actually making it out of the tunnel alive, while here everything just looks like a fever dream. (The novel even played around with the is this real or just wishful thinking?) In the anime, the bird actually established you can take living things out of the tunnel. So ... why does he just leave and not grab her with him?! All his conclusion here is that, oh great, there is someone he fell for, and suddenly it overshadows everything. Including that he just (in his perception) threw her out of his life just a few hours ago. Graaah.

That bit between them is nearly the same as in the novel and imo it only just barely works with Anzu spontaneously running into the tunnel thoughtlessly and desperately, but it also just ... that kissing scene has no tension or any of the attraction-electricity of the previous scenes and thus feels pretty lackluster. The whole scene also entirely ignores any thought put into the technicalities. Like she'd be gone for who knows where despite having an actual life outside, and she just throws it all off on the spur of the moment, and the movie never even addresses this and its consequences whatsoever. (In the novel, even with the far less mature Anzu, she only went in after proper preparation. Though I guess it also followed the Kawasaki-arc went full circle, and anything about her was cut out completely.)

Anyhow. The movie offers quite some visual spectacle and a pretty neat thought-fodder premise, but ultimately not so much substance for half of its parts, where it tried too much to follow the novel only to not manage those parts well whatsoever. I do wonder how it would have looked like if it were even bolder to depart away from the source material than it already had to do its own thing. Because all its own things are being quite nice.

Some original thoughts from right after watching:

This adaptation is simply a completely different story than the book. With only a handful of details and lines lifted 1:1 from the book that ironically even have swapped speaking characters on a few instances, which is to say it picked up details that simply don't really matter. The movie addresses a few things the book never did or never went back to, which is pretty neat. It did everything, as in everything, either wrong or didn't even try to even touch upon what the book did right. Which unfortunately destroys the climax and finale more than not. Because that really doesn't make any sense. How did he even get those messages? Even if it was the tunnel magically returning them to him, why would it? How is that a return? Those messages are new, not something from a past he lost. Besides, where did he even suddenly get the insight that the tunnel only gives you things back? And the way he just leaves Karen behind, just because of a few messages, is ???? It also destroys the guy's whole character. He is, like, really, really bland. (Interestingly, this is what Book-MC tries to be, but fails at being.) Anzu also is simply a whole different character, but at least she has some character. Also interesting, the movie vibes feel more similar to the sequel books

Apparently It's My Fault That My Husband Has the Head of a Beast v2p8: Some light cheese to read in breaks, that also feels a bit like it was axed after v2?

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, up to 13: So the month before and this, after the main series, I went marathoning this one and, euh. Aiz most definitely does not make for an interesting protagonist. Which the series seems to even pick up on it itself, because it quickly shifts to having a different familia character as the MC of the volume, and after that, rather than Aiz, it's Lefiya who becomes the MC to steal the show. Definitely for the better, too. What I do find rather surprising is this girl definitely is also quite the yuri-protagonist, but nowhere in the series or outside is there anyone really shipping her with anyone? I mean, her infatuation with Aiz is extremely sus and her thing for Filvus is, ahem, she even says she loved her herself, but at the same time it's just her really good friend. Uhu. But probably it's going to stay like that, given the Golden Rule of Cheese did not like that yuri-ship as it ends rather not cheese-friendly, and the later volumes make some indication that she may also join Bell's harem as the absolute tsundere character or some such. (Please, please, no.) In terms of characters overall, they do a pretty good complementary job to what Bell et al. are, and by the later volumes they also manage to narratively stand on their own feet rather than feel like an offshoot series that expects you to know the other series. Actually, v12's arc is so much its own thing. but very much involves Bell. It's rather weird; it just kind of got skipped in the main series completely. (There it's like he came back from his involuntary trip to the lower levels with Lyu, we get some calmer days with the short stories, and then it's the school arc.) The school arc here is also pretty nice, actually, like the one in the main series. Also, Lefiya's new outfit definitely beats her old one. She be quite badass and cool. Speaking of outfits, the art unfortunately is bound to look lackluster after going through the really eye-catching compositions of the main series. They aren't bad by any means, but they really don't have a lot of memory staying power in my brain. (Except maybe v13 having Lefiya's new outfit.)

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Minor Myths and Legends v1: I hadn't known that this literally is just a collection of store bonus extras short stories, so like they are really short. And inconsequential. So pure fanservice, which I guess does its job just fine. The covers, though, don't really look that great; something just feels ... off. Solo Leveling: Ragnarok (Novel) ch295-375: Well. It was a fun ride. The bakery arc in the middle of the apocalypse was absolutely hilarious. What I do think, however, is too bad is that ending coming in really abruptly. I don't even think that stopping at when he reaches Jin-Woo is too much of a surprise, given how it always made sure to keep him and his complete OP-ness out of the plot and thus never set up a stage where he actually was fully in action. But the lead-up to it is like one escalation to the next with all sorts of characters included and even more nameless on board as well, but then it's an abrupt stop, and it's like nearly none of these characters now seem to matter at all. Especially when they actually were nicely characterized as they were introduced and weaved into the plot. There kinda is none of that charm of, yes, they are out of the active plot stage, but they still live their lifes somewhere else in the world that the first series had (in the webtoon at least anyway). Which is a shame, because the author clearly isn't bad at creating characters, giving them quirks, and having them have their own little stories, only for it to be kinda left behind after their plot relevance within the arc is done for. (Like what happened with the little S-rank-cake-liking-villain girl in the end?) It's a little too bad that the webtoon, meanwhile, is doing the absolute opposite of just ditching those little character stories completely instead. (Kang Taeshik's turning to Kira is extremely anticlimactic, to say the least.)

Kono Koi wo Hoshi ni wa Negawanai ch23.1-2: I have way too many gaps in this now; it's just been a whole bunch of random chapters in between, will read from the beginning, but going by that finale, we actually have a very aroace-looking MC in that triangle? In any case, their final talking things out is pretty nice. Other than that, it's dramatically full of cheese-anguish and it does look pretty painful...

Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai (First Manga) v1-2: I had a 4th print run in my hands for this first adaptation of the novel, and it does not feel particularly deserved to be that successful (which, in my opinion, clearly hails from the source material rather than the manga's merits). Obviously I am biased, having read the new adaptation already, but starting from the art that bizarrely made Wolf look more handsome with his glasses than without and the unacceptable failure of making the food and booze not appetising at all, it also simply follows the novel's narrative progression (the manga took large liberties with that one that definitely works better to introduce the titular main character) with some scissor-set shortcuts and overall feels like your usual lacklustre not-so-great-production-values-anime adaption. There is a little LN short story attached to the end, which is basically Wolf and Dahlia's first meeting from Wolf's point of view. While it is nice, it ultimately also doesn't really add anything new, so I'd say the manga is pretty skippable.

The Case Study of Vanitas v5-9ch51: It's interesting. The whole plot is interesting, but the characters are a bundles of chaos in, unfortunately, many obnoxious flavors of near or actual insanity. I hope it'll settle down a bit. The cheese too, which is, errrmmmmm. Speaking of the cheese I do like how it seems to elaborate on different sorts of love/attraction more directly than Pandora Hearts (which also had it, with characters going very far for another, but not out of your usual romantic love, but the only place where things were differentiated was in one of the author's comments). Unfortunately, Noe is really a bit too airheaded for my tastes, and Vanitas a bit too much fooling around to hide his deeper waters.

The Killer Inside a.k.a. My Dearest Self With Malice Aforethought v10-11: I actually had finished this in February 2024 already, but I did not like it as much then. This was what I wrote at the time, before I realized that the collected volumes have an expanded ending:

So first and foremost, it's a mystery, as in a crime fiction thriller, and I think as a thriller, its cases were decently well constructed. It was multiple threads, multiple parties and characters involved, and it interweaves enough to be multi-layered. Just fell short of actually being an orthodox mystery you could have properly guessed yourself over the one major clue is something revealed in a flashback? Or I really just can't remember those events from actually reading it? But to the characters, it was the major clue for figuring out the end boss. Anyway, the mystery box does work for reading it once. What is too bad is that while the event and timeline construction is quite solid, the motives are a bit, uhm? I think it would have done better for the thriller itself if it had left it there at the killer did bad things for reasons, and you don't exactly need to understand it, but instead it tries to wrap an emotional plot around it, which essentially boils down to hate/malice/revenge begetting hate/malice/revenge and breaking the cycle and that you needed to break it somehow. This isn't essentially bad, and there's probably some genuine thinking behind it, but the execution of it is 1. sappy cheese that sure tried hard to cheese, but still has failed within the plot, 2. tries hard at a cheese-be-salvation trope, and 3. It's really like the DID theme twisted about plot conveniently. Frankly, I don't think it needed the DID bit whatsoever, if it wasn't for the more wholly emotionally based secondary plot on which it ends.

On that DID part, it uses the old, trodden tropes but at least improves a little bit. Like the mentioned, play with, uh, the other personality, may be a ruthless psychopath/criminal/killer?? And then that being subverted. It also uses the present-day medical name and research (so, like, it even using Dissociation Identity Disorder as a term rather than Multiple Personalities), although colloquially it's still about split personalities that are in a state of either/or switching. But it also goes about how that started to happen out of a child's mind trying to escape the agony of reality, and it even talks a bit about fusing personalities back together. Also, the way that happens is icky, but then the character who sets out to do that is even being called out for just taking a doctor's simplified summarizing statement and twisting it to their conveniently favorable interpretation. The thing is just, while that callout happens, it does so by having the plot do an equally convenient twisting of the condition to get to that emotional point it tries to do (that whole drama at the end around, Hey, that other personality, he was killed by you!!!!) and how does that feel forced to me. (Plus, from what I've read about the actual condition is allegedly simply just wrong.) Oh, but hey, THEY ACTUALLY WENT TO A HOSPITAL AND TALKED TO A DOCTOR ABOUT IT. The doctor turned out to be kinda as good as completely useless ultimately (even admits he has never even had such a case before, and everything about the guy just screams lots of talk but USELESS), but hey, the profession actually exists. How often do you see that? There's a subplot in the middle that I thought really wasn't so bad. Unlike the other subplots' or main plot's motivations, that was very grounded and buyable and just based on some people genuinely caring about one another, and that leading to bad and hasty decisions. That titbit of queerness added to it was admittedly actually a genuine surprise, and it has a nice normalizing effect, like establishing that it exists and is a vulnerability that can be abused without throwing any further big drama onto it. It just sadly falls flat, because after it's over, it's not really relevant anymore, and the series main focus at the end ultimately is almost a little bit abstractly grandiose compared to it. Other than that, the first third's way of presenting itself is sadly a bit more edgy than it needs to be. So, like, there are boobs, sex, torture on display, and disfigured corpses that look more for the shock value than not. It levels down on that after the first third/arc where stakes are actually established, and it can wholly focus on the cat-mouse-riddle solving nature of the mystery. It also helps that the MC more or less technically basically switches there. There is also a character who could have done a good job as the detective if this was set up more in the style of a detective mystery. Ultimately that character remained more like a half-spectator that had an overview of everything, who contributed but didn't actually solve anything. The epilogue years later implies they made solving cases their job, so an actual detective mystery with them at the center could be actually interesting. But that would be a whole different subgenre.

Now, a year later, having read that expanded ending: It added that his Urashima personality didn't actually die as his other self claimed but has fused into him, as exemplified by that getting-frightened quirk from the beginning. That makes the whole thing more accurate for what is being said DID is really like, and I actually think I like how he used a widespread false conception to his ends to teach the antagonist a proper lesson. Her standing before the wall, caged in like she was as a child, but this time it's her own undoing, does make for a strong scene, too. And it would still be interesting to see another plot with the detective lady at work with the occasional help of this MC.

Music/AMV:

Bankai - Re.Rain is a really nice collection of some of the prettiest scenes from the Tunnel to Summer movie and makes for a nice mood piece. (Now could someone make one with the aquarium scenes?) Glave - Consume is a really nice vibes video, and in terms of style, it definitely looks like a spiritual sibling to [Amanystya] - Moonlight . It's also pretty impressive with some of its effects that weave a lot of series together that were originally vastly different in style and color palette into one overall consistent tonal piece (maybe minus two of the A Silent Voice shots).

Music-wise it's basically been last month plus the songs from the AMVs, and then after my tooth incident, it was simply just silence.

#reading log #watching log #tunnel to summer #apparantely its my fault that my husband has the head of a beast #is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon sword oratoria #is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon minor myth and legends #solo leveling ragnarok #kono koi wo hoshi ni wa negawanai #dahlia in bloom #the case study of vanitas #the killer inside #my dearest self with malice aforethought

Reading(+Watching)+Listening Log 2025.08 - August

Previous: Reading(+Watching)+Listening Log 2025.07 - July

In case you know German and haven't caught the news yet: Dokico has licensed The Tunnel to Summer, The Exit of Goodbyes for Germansphere. It can be preordered on all the usual places or the publisher webshop.