Reading Report: 22 February 2026

天元突破グレンラガン

有害図書の本

Most of the pure reading apart from some manga later in the week. This week's topics mostly looked at the Tokyo-specific regulations and they make a good case for why they give it its own specific focus. Basically, because Tokyo contains more than 80% of Japanese media publications and its market is vastly larger than any others in the country, their regulations for what is or isn't "adult media" has become the de facto national standard. A similar effect happens because of Tottori's digital media regulations. Normally prefectural regulations shouldn't cross borders, but digital commerce is not like physical commerce, so storefronts like Amazon just opt to not stock any adult media in Japan to comply with Tottori regulations. In the case of physical media it wouldn't be so bad if it was just labelling and/or restrictions applied to underage customers making a purchase, but since their initial implementation many of the regulations require physical stores to have special spaces for adult media, such as curtained back rooms, which not every store can comply with, reducing the number of locations that stock adult media, which then causes a chilling effect for publishers.

It's sort of like a localised, governmental version of what we've seen with global payment processors applying Western ethical standards on Japan. In this case individual regional governments in Japan are (perhaps unintentionally) damaging the industry at a national level. In case it's not clear, I think it's not a good thing.

As part of the Tokyo regulation lesson was a special history lesson of its specific use throughout the decades from the 1960s until the 2020s. Each decade had a "theme" that Nagayama Kaoru identified, but I didn't really find it too interesting. The biggest lesson I took away from this chapter was that the regulations were consistent in catching up with adult media trends and are currently applying more heavily towards BL as that genre finds its commercial footing.

The last section I read this week was a closer look at the original eight books which were regulated. This chapter was written by Kimi Rito, and he notes that 7 of the 8 were basically not visual media at all; they were more like confessionals, editorials, and erotic writing. One of the books was a mostly-visual collection, but its print quality was much higher than what you would expect of the genre today, indicating that it was probably made with a high level of care.

スーパーロボット大戦ＥＸ

Since last update I completed Masaki's route. In his final breaths, Prince Feil revealed that he abused the portal power to pull heroes from the outer worlds to fight for him. I was still sort of missing the context of what the first few chapters were even about, but considering we know Carks (I genuinely don't know how to romanise these names aha...) did the same thing, I take it as sort of an admission that both sides disregarded "fair" warfare to make a powerplay during this three-way war. Masaki's route ends with everyone going home and then Lune shows up and says like "Oh yeah I had my own adventure too, tee hee".

I briefly considered playing another game, moving onto Y or one of the other retro-era SRW games, but I decided I'm sort of in EX now, so I started up Lune's route to see what kind of adventure she went on. After all, I know she will get a crew that Masaki didn't, and I know she'll get Getter Robo.

Lune's route starts pretty well. Lune is introduced to the fantasy world by Yan-Lon, a Chinese guy who has been in Ra-Gias long enough that to be pretty deep in the culture. He pilots the Fire Masou-Kishin, Granveil. It has a really cool map attack where you basically draw a straight line between him and a tile and he breaths fire that burns everything in that path. Even though it hits fewer enemies than the various super-wide map attacks it just feels cooler to position yourself right to get multi-hits.

Since I'm still playing against my faulty memory of Masaki's route, I don't know if this is the same or the opposite of how Masaki entered the world, but Yan-Lon and Lune are on Carks' side in this conflict right now. Feil was such a clearly good guy (who only later got corrupted by evil) and Carks was such a clearly bad dude, it makes me wonder how they will develop him to be a (temporary?) ally.

I'm currently up to chapter 5 or 6. I've teamed up with the other Dunbine auraship (I'm using the ISS system so some of my story beats are influenced by my choices on Masaki's routes, even the choices I didn't remember making, aha), I have Kamille, Amuro, Fa, and of course... Getter Team. The MVPs. The GOATs.

天元突破グレンラガン

I finished this series. As with so many other things I've dropped in the past for being "kind of boring", the past version of me was a fool. I still have some reservations about the show; the antagonistic forces (during both major arcs) didn't really do it for me. And I think the cast is just a bit too big to pay attention to them all.

But, the second-half drama starts off really strong. I especially liked how Rossiu changes between the first and second halves. Viral was another standout character. I knew I liked him when he refused to fight an underpowered Gurren Lagann in the first half, and I think he makes for a great Gurren pilot alongside Simon. I also liked how Yoko re-enters the story for the second half. Of course, the final fight was also very epic and I thought the last two episodes were extremely good.

I wasn't totally sold on Nia and Simon, and I think the lack of a "guy" to root against in the second half of the story diffused the focus a little bit, but they mostly made it work in the end.

メダリスト

I started watching this series following Gurren Lagann. Though I am firmly in a robot mindset lately, so it's taking my mental fortitude to watch a sports anime, but it's in service of a media trade where a dear friend has promised to watch Code Geass, so it's probably a fair exchange.

The story is about a young girl, Inori, who desperately wants to have "a thing" (a talent, some meaning, some purpose), and an over-eager ice-skating coach, Tsukasa, who sees great potential in her.

The main drama of the first episode was that Inori's mother was unsure about her daughter ice skating because she's afraid of what failure can cause her daughter both physically and emotionally. It was a classic case of "The Wall vs The Frontier".

真ゲッターロボ世界最後の日

I watched 4 episodes of this within the week and then, like the Gridman Universe movie last week, I watched episodes 5-8 on the day of this report, but I feel like I might as well include it in this report. This is a rewatch of an iconic series. I think Getter Robo Armageddon is a really special experience, though I definitely noticed a few pacing issues upon this rewatch. Kei is a really great MC, but the first three episodes feel a bit meandering before the conditions are set up for her to appear. I think the Shin Dragon is also just a bit of a weak set piece up to this point, since it implies a big threat but effectively does nothing for a long long time.

Hoping to watch the rest and finish it next weekend.

ゲッターロボ

Part of my very slow reading of the Getter Robo manga. I finally read and finished Getter Robo volume 2 (specifically this print version which is cut up differently, leading to very long volumes that are difficult to hold and read... yes I suffer for my immersion).

This volume had Ryoma lose his memory after an act of self sacrifice against the Mechasaurus, the introduction of the Oni race, and then a little bit of Oni vs Dinosaur conflict, which was interesting because the original anime cleanly separates those races. I was expecting the iconic anime sacrifice by Musashi, and that sort of happens but it's also unlike the original anime (I believe Neo Getter vs Shin Getter adapts this sacrifice more faithfully?). The volume ends with the Getter team with their new Getter Dragon ready to finish off Gore only for the Mecha Oni to steal the kill. Treacherous guys...

８月３１日のロングサマー

Another fantastic volume and well worth the wait. Sadly next volume won't be out until May... true suffering.

This volume was a big continuation of the "Family" loop, focusing on Suzuki and Takagi's attempt to make Mana-chan's birthday special. This time they invite some friends over to celebrate her birthday. This brings Akabane and Mayo into the same environment, and they have quite a lot of chemistry.

In this volume Takagi is also overcome by the sadness that she and Suzuki are the only people who will remember any of this. Maybe she wonders if it's even worth trying when everything resets at the end of the day... Suzuki comforts her and says he will carry their memories as well. I really hope this series can figure out a satisfying way to resolve all of the established "problems" without a huge contrivance. I suppose either way it's a very good read.

The volume ended with Mana-chan's mother showing up, and the next volume looks like it might have a bit of drama around her family troubles.