Japanese Reading Report: 09 February 2025

This week was a bit messy. I lost interest in Gundam 00 about half way through the week and I didn't manage my time very well so I didn't read very much either. Ah well.

ＢＩＬＬＹ ＢＡＴ

As mentioned above, I had a pretty slow week. I wrapped up volume 13, read through all of volume 14, and started volume 15 of Billy Bat, which is really only about two volumes of content all together.

The story continues to be very compelling. There have been hints about the survival of a few characters thought to have died, there was a small arc focusing on Kurusu, the seemingly unredeemable Japanese hitman who has been meddling with Billy Bat stuff since at least the 60s. Naturally it totally redeemed him and even gave him a satisfying conclusion. The way it folded into the meta narrative of Kevin Goodman trying desperately to write an ending that prevented the world from ending was just great. I still love the ambiguity of whether or not the Bats are actually capable of doing anything they promise, as time seems to flow naturally regardless of their hand, and it mostly seems to influence an individual's knowledge of the future, not their ability to control it.

The last big story moment hinted at the threat of 9/11, yes that 9/11. Once again I don't know if the main characters are intended to actually prevent it or just suffer while trying their best through it. I guess we'll see.

機動戦士ガンダム00

I'm still trying to examine the depths of my mind to figure out why I couldn't connect with this series. The mobile suits were well designed, the conflict was sort of interesting, and the characters were mostly fine, but as soon as it all came together I just didn't care about any of the conflicts or personal stories. I gave it my best try, but unfortunately had to drop it at 15 episodes. Perhaps some day I'll return to see it to the end.

銀河英雄伝説

After dropping Gundam 00 I wasn't sure what to watch, so I deferred to my Japanese learning community for suggestions and this was mentioned as a series with a good blend of political intrigue and human drama.

The story covers a massive war between two factions who each claim about half of the galaxy. The main two characters for one faction are Reinhard and Siegfried, two young men who swore to earn prestige in the military together so that they could protect the people they loved. The episode going over their backstory was pretty good.
On the other side there's Yang Wenli. I feel like I don't know him too well, yet.

So far I've enjoyed the story okay. There was a pretty fun episode where Seigfried had to handle a battle with a planet that was very Roman-esque. The leader of the planet ends up dying in the exact same way as Julius Caesar. It was a pretty fun moment.