Japanese Reading Report: 06 April 2025
AX アックス
This week I read through chapter 3, Crayon, and started
the fourth chapter, EXIT.
Crayon was really good. Kabuto makes a friend at a bouldering
gym. It was sort of like an extension of the short scene at the
end of chapter 1 where Kabuto connected with the man at
the convenience store buying a fish sausage. For the first time
Kabuto feels seen. His new friend, Matsuda, reflects a lot of
his own anxieties about family life, down to both of them
having children in the same year level of the same school. At
one point Kabuto even fantasises about his son and Matsuda's
daughter getting together. And then, of course, Kabuto is
given a job... I won't spoil how it plays out,
but it was a very strong chapter; My favourite so far.
I still feel like I'm early on in EXIT and I'm not really
getting it so far, but it has established another friendship
for Kabuto to pursue.
キューティーハニー
I finished this series as I expected. I think 25
episodes was the perfect length as the episodic
nature only barely started to feel a bit worn out
towards the end.
My favourite episodes were 14 and 24. In episode
14 the bad guys assault the girls' academy. Honey
loses her sanctuary and more, and I got the sense
that things were really picking up from then on.
My only criticism of episode 24 is that it's another
villain of the week episode despite being so close to
the end, however the villain archetype was my
favourite of this era of tv. Drill Panther is a
formidable opponent, but she's prideful and she
actively helps Honey at the expense of her own
easy victory when she finds out Honey is fighting
her under duress. Despite basically being humans
(well, androids), the Panther Claw women were
fairly generic and evil, similar to the
Dinosaur or Oni villains of Getter Robo,
so it was nice that they were able to find a few
moments in the series to give the bosses some
personality.
On that note I also liked the mermaid episode,
though I can't remember the episode number.
ゲッターロボ（漫画版）
Still slowly working through this.
This week I read the chapter where Ryoma finds
and recruits Hayato. Just like last week I could tell
that this version of Hayato was familiar, though nothing
like the original Getter Robo series. It's kind
of funny how different the original animated series is
compared to the manga.
I also read the chapter where the getter crew meet
Gore and learn about how dinosaurs ruled the earth until
the Getter Rays came to earth and drove dinosaurs
underground while encouraging primate evolution.
So far the two big getter fights have been pretty cool.
マジンガーZ
Finished Cutie Honey, now it's time to start Mazinger.
This series is alright so far. I'm surprised at how
fast it has established the cast, especially considering
the entire series is 92 episodes. Kouji is a pretty
cool guy, and I like that he's kind of useless at
piloting the Mazinger right now. Sayaka piloting
Diana A being his senior is a pretty fun angle,
and I like their chemistry right off the bat.
I also think Ashura is an interesting villain.
Being voiced by a male and female voice actor, sometimes
at the same time, creates a really unique effect.
Finding out early on that Ashura is not totally
in control of their own fate is also interesting.
I don't expect a lot of cool moments in anime of
this era, but I'm open to the possibilities that
have been established so far. I can sort of see
echoes in Rasetsu from Getter Robo Go, who lives
in servitude for most of the series but who has
some great moments towards the end.