Reading Report: 23 June 2024
This week was spent largely reading more オーデュボンの祈り and watching ∀Gundam. There will be spoilers for both within.
オーデュボンの祈り
A bit of a slow week but I'm making steady progress. Not quite a full chapter. A number of new developments include the deaths and disappearances of a number of previously-introduced characters. 伊藤 is suspicious of a number of island residents and most recently was following a lead about a serial trouble-maker, 安田, whose acquaintance was killed by 桜, the gun-wielding force-of-nature whose kills are treated as natural parts of the karmic system of the island. 伊藤 has also confirmed for himself that a dull beating sound can be heard when he puts his head on the ground near 轟's house, which he and 日比野 plan to investigate.
Some of the book feels a bit out of left field, like 日比野's not-a-date date which 伊藤 attended as a makeshift spot lighter.
Likewise there was a fair bit of development about a shopkeeper woman who is overweight to the point that she can't leave the place she's sitting (her husband takes care of her and she doesn't seem to mind too much). Sometimes the details feel so unbelievable I'm unsure I'm reading them correctly, and even if I am I'm not sure the details will come together in a way that really satisfies a "big mystery" itch, but at the very least I hope they will resolve the major tensions in the final 100ish pages.
∀ガンダム
Making good progress with this. As I mentioned last week I think the setting is really interesting, and now that things have moved to space somewhat I like what the sense of unfamiliarity does to provide character moments for the Earth faction.
The combat basically just isn't good or engaging unfortunately. I understand there's meant to be a sense that everyone is running on limited supplies and therefore losing a MS would be massive, but the show has shied away from any meaningful conflicts outside of two character deaths. The absolute clown pilots from the Moon don't do much to help there either, but each character who could be described that way has found some reason to be interesting at least temporarily so... idk.
Overall I feel a little bit like I'm struggling to engage with the show on its level at times. I really enjoy the main cast and the two factions are interesting to me, but the battles are not on the level (technically, emotionally, militarily) that I expect. I think I wouldn't mind it so much if it leaned into a lighthearted post-wartimes story with very little combat and less organised military bodies.