Reading Report: 06 February 2023
from Telebi Tower
I am back from my vacation. I ended up reading a little bit more than I expected, including a bunch of things I don't think I'd have been able to access without physically being in Japan. I just landed back in Australia a few hours ago and I'm still dealing with fatigue so it's just the books for now. Perhaps I'll make a vacation follow-up blog post to share nice moments.
よつばとしろとくろのどうぶつ
The epic side story in the yotsuba franchise. Each of the 30 lovingly crafted pages depicts a different animal spending time with the titular Yotsuba. I learned that one name for killer whales is シャチ. I was able to read this one thanks for a fellow Japanese learner graciously lending me his copy.
グッド・バイ・バッド・マガジンズ
I watched this one at the Satsugeki theatre in Sapporo. Very cosy place, definitely consider watching something there if you have a chance. The film follows a junior editor for an adult magazine publication. As she grows and becomes more familiar with and comfortable with sexual topics, the adult magazine industry experiences tighter and tighter margins due to the changes in policy around adult material in conbini as the Tokyo Olympics approached. I think the strength of the film was mostly the arc that the main character goes through, starting as a totally pure girl who doesn't really understand what men find appealing in adult material to eventually becoming a pretty capable and confident writer.
藤本タツキ編集17-21
One of the weaker fujimoto tatsuki things. Understandable since this (and its "sequel") is just a compilation of early and disconnected works. Some highlight stories for me were the guy who absolutely had to confess, even when it meant being mugged or facing alien invasion, and the master hitman and vampire story.
古見さんコミュ症です。15
A pretty standard komisan volume. Introduces the girl who is a clean freak, continues some of the romance stuff between katai ai and komi's brother, and had a sweet chapter at the end where komi's mum ages from 永遠17歳 to 永遠18歳 which culminates in a moment where tadano compliments komi's cooking.
チェンソーマン 13
A really great volume (but it didn't even get up to the aquarium stuff I kept getting spoiled). Unsurprisingly it was filled with a good balance of humour, action, and pathos. I really liked the Yuuko stuff.
ダンダダン 8
The final read of the week (barring whatever I read on my last flight). They manage to (sort of, temporarily) manage the Jashi problem in a pretty fun way and he and Jiji continue to be a great character for the story. There was a new character introduced (maybe not long lasting) who thinks that Ayase and Okarun's kinship is because of all the 下ネタ (searching for the 金玉) and his attempts to make his own constantly fall flat. It's very good.