Japanese Reading Report: 20 April 2025
AX アックス
Finished the book! Kabuto's plan pans out. I really enjoyed the last
half of the final chapter. The way it folded past and present to
generate and satisfy mysteries while also moving towards the greater
point of Katsumi better understanding Kabuto as a fellow man, husband,
and father.
Since this part of the story is set after the established death of
Kabuto, a lot of his part of the story goes into explaining how it
happened and what meaning could be drawn from it. Of course it's very
amusing that Kabuto demonstrates that he's more afraid of his wife than
death, but the moment where he tells Katsumi that he'd do things the same
way if he had a do-over was very sweet. The final moment being a flashback
showing how Kabuto and his wife met further cemented that it wasn't really
fear, it was his own special form of love, that motivated him to the end.
マジンガーZ
An extremely light week of watching... perhaps this version of Mazinger just isn't holding me enough. This week included episodes with some iconic enemies like Spartan X (and that one underwater scissor guy), but I think the idea of watching 50 more episodes of the same thing is just too much for me. I'll be moving onto something else for next week.
母性
The start of my new book. I read a surprisingly big chunk of
this in the two days since starting it. So far the story has
been about a woman who has defined her goals and happiness by
her mother's appraisal. Just in the first section I've read
instances where she expresses a distaste for something, finds
out her mother likes it, and then changes her mind. At times
it can be unsettling, however the flipside is that her mother
is just a very positive person. She has deep, considerate,
supportive things to say about everyone and anything she meets.
After the main character marries the man her mother likes - a
man who reminds her of her father - she becomes pregnant and
the first person she tells is, you guessed it, her mother. Once
again her mother is extremely supportive, and she's very enthusiastic
about the main character continuing their lineage. She says
something about how history isn't a point, it's a line which connects
generations. Despite her doubts, the main character gives birth
to a healthy baby girl who grows up to 3-4 in the span of
a few pages. The girl has a lot in common with her grandmother;
she's very kind, thoughtful, and generous even at a young
age, to the surprise of the main character.
I left the book at a little cliffhanger last night. Apparently
all of the good things are about to come to an end, so I look
forward to seeing what the rest of the book has to offer.