Japanese Reading Report: 26 October 2025

ファタモルガーナの館

My first reading report since starting work. I think in the past few weeks I've been a bit too verbose with my reports, plus I just need to prioritise other things during my weekends now, so I'm planning to cut them down a bit.

ファタモルガーナの館

Through the Sixth Door we experience Giselle's gradual loss of self as she waits painfully for Michel to return to her. After centuries, the events of the first three doors are retold from the perspective of the maid. The White Haired Girl, a recurring character throughout the game, identifies herself as "Michel", but she also rejects Giselle, claiming she has no memory of her. Is "Michel" just one of Morgana's toys used to torment Giselle?

Though the Sixth Door ends with Giselle's complete personality shift, it's also a hopeful end because we know that we were able to help her through the fact that she was telling us the story in the first place. Anyway, Michel and Giselle are finally reunited in with their full memories and I was half-expecting it to just be a happy ending there, but there was someone we forgot to ask.

Morgana emerges and takes Giselle away. Michel wakes up in the house, now ankle-deep in blood. He finds a chain on the door to the tower with three locks, and goes to obtain three keys from the male protagonists from the three first doors. I decided to meet them in the original order: Rose era, Beast era, and Industrial era. Other than the Rose era, I didn't think the conversations were all that interesting.

After collecting all three keys, Michel heads up the tower, but it seems to go on endlessly. Morgana taunts Michel at first, then explains that this world is not of the living. She doesn't really get into the details but I guess everyone involved is long dead and this is some kind of purgatory. On our ascent, Morgana is convinced to tell her own story. I don't think I've finished it yet, but I've played up to a short break in the story.

Morgana was sort of fated to be in the spotlight. Her mother claimed an immaculate conception, so Morgana was received into her hometown as a saint (or some other holy human). She completely bought into her mother's story as well. Even though she was only six years old, her body begun to be used for faith healing rituals that involved drawing blood from her hands and arms. This lead to a lot of scarring along her arms. After several years of this, and regional fame as a miracle healer, Morgana's mother became annoyed that the family hadn't made any money from the situation. One day Morgana woke up in chains, sold by her mother to a wealthy aristocrat from a foreign country. The aristocrat seemed to have no interest in Morgana's history except as a tool to humiliate and hurt her in front of his other wealthy friends. They bled her even more and drank her blood, laughing about the healing effects. After Morgana finally tried to resist her situation she was called a "witch wearing the face of a saint" and was struck down by the aristocrat.

So that's sort of where I'm at right now. Michel's reaction to the ending of the story sort of implied that he and Morgana are connected in some spiritual way. I think the blood theme of Morgana's story also suggests that the blood in the house might be hers (though I don't know what that really means).

暁のヨナ

Yona and the crew team up with the Green Dragon, Jeha, and his pirates to protect the town they're in. In order to team up, Yona has to do a little trial to pick a flower at a dangerous location, and it's a nice character building moment for her. The plan also involves infiltrating a ship owned by the belligerent faction, which includes some really tense moments where Yona and Yeun's lives are at risk. Overall it was a pretty fun moment in the story.

Unfortunately after that part of the story there was only one episode remaining in the series. They sort of rush meeting the Golden Dragon and then tease a bit more of Yona and Haku's relationship and then call it there.

キミと越えて恋になる

Hidaka and Asaka's friendship continues after their sexually-frustrating mishap at the end of episode one. With the help of Aida, an upbeat and kind classmate, they work on Hidaka's personal and school issues a bit more. There's a cute scene in Aida's bedroom.

アルマちゃんは家族になりたい

This is just a seasonal anime that I decided to put on to fill a daily quota because I didn't know what else to watch.

It's about a robot girl (Alma) who convinces her two inventors to form a family with her. The inventors are a male and female pair, and there's a bit of relationship tension that Alma helps them understand. As a comedy it's okay, but it feels a bit like a weaker version of Spy x Family.

となりの怪物くん

This was on my Planning list for a while and I just felt like watching something with a bit of prestige.

This series is about a high school girl, Shizuku, who has given up everything in her life for grades. One day she has a chance encounter with a boy assigned to the seat next to her who hasn't come to school all year called Haru.

Both of the main characters are absolute freaks with apparently no social sense, but they express it in totally different ways. The series sort of reminds me of His and Her Circumstances (which I watched back in May/June) except without the Hideki Anno charm and with a more balanced budget.

To Kill a Mockingbird

I finished this book. It was alright, but didn't blow me away. I think the courthouse stuff was pretty well done, and I felt like I could really picture it all as it was explained. I really liked the descriptions and vibes of the Halloween part towards the end of the book, though I wasn't super impressed by Atticus and Tate's final conversation. Also I was just sort of sad that the book didn't have the movie scene where Atticus talked about what he would leave his kids when he died. For some reason that part felt important to the movie, so it was a surprising absence.

I'm gonna move onto a Japanese book next, so no more experimental English books for a little while. Perhaps they'll return soon.