Reading Report: 14 May 2023
This week was sort of average reading, although I fell behind quite a lot with One Piece.
I started a new series, なるたる, which I'm enjoying a lot.
🐉 なるたる 4冊
I had one volume in my library and noticed that two more volumes were free to read so I decided it was a good time to give this series a try. The mangaka is the same person who wrote ぼくらの (an anime/manga that I liked quite a lot) and the shared DNA is pretty clear. The storytelling expresses the world from a child's perspective, starting out with the MC, シイナ, visiting family on a small island for the summer holidays. While there she finds a strange, star-shaped creature she names ホシ丸. After returning home she finds out that a number of other children also have new friends (竜の子), and some are more sinister than others.
The story also blends in a bit (maybe too much) of military jargon. In particular it has a big airforce theme going on as シイナ's dad is a pilot and her mum is evil a higher-up in the JSDF or something. Lastly there is a bit of ancient mythology and existentialism. A number of the children seem to be total nihilists, and a little bit psychopathic at times. They don't seem to care (or understand the ramifications) when they kill hundreds of people.
In any case, the シイナ side of the story is really nice, and I like to discover the details of the world and the true nature of the 竜の子. It's just a lot more enjoyable when that's in the form of children talking about things rather than JSDF jargon.
🏴☠️ One Piece: Up to episode 78. A very slow week with this, but I just crawled over the audio goal with youtube and other audio.
I also started playing Tears of the Kingdom. It's good.
Life Stuff
School is trucking on. I had another test this week, and I did a bit better than last time so that's good.
Projects are making steady progress. I had a bit of a fight with a teammate about one element and it's frustrating that I feel like I can't convince someone to take my position but my ultimate result will be affected by their performance... It's such a simple thing as well, I'm at a loss for how to resolve it beyond just taking an L on that part of the assignment...
There are just two more weeks to go, and I feel like things are coming right up to the wire.