TOP UPDATES FOUR PILLARS CINEMA/TV GAMES MANGA/ANIME MUSIC WRITINGS FAQ LINKS
TOP UPDATES FOUR PILLARS CINEMA/TV GAMES MANGA/ANIME MUSIC WRITINGS FAQ LINKS
Here is my running log of media I've engaged with this month, be it manga/anime, games, books, films, etc. ([R] indicates a re-watch, re-listen, etc.):
If I have something to say about what's going on in my life or with the site, this is where I dump off-the-cuff updates. Some of them are more serious than others.
FILMS
2026/01/01: Bright Angel (1990) Michael Fields - 4/5 [R]
2026/01/07: The Night of the Hunter (1955) Charles Laughton - 5/5
[R]
2026/01/11: The Night of the Hunter (1955) Charles Laughton - 5/5
[R]
2026/01/19: White Hunter Black Heart (1990) Clint Eastwood - 3/5
2026/01/21: Lonesome (1928) Fejős Pál - 4/5 [R]
2026/01/22: 激突! 殺人拳 [The Street Fighter] (1974) 小沢茂弘
[Ozawa Shigehiro] - 4/5 [R]
2026/01/24: 提防小手 [Carry on Pickpocket] (1982) 洪金寶 [Sammo
Hung Kam-bo] - 5/5 [R]
2026/01/27: Slavnosti sněženek [The Snowdrop Festival] (1983)
Jiří Menzel - 4/5 [R]
GAMES
2026/01/18: Hollow Knight (2017) - 4/5
MANGA/ANIME
2026/01/17: SPACE ADVENTURE コブラ [Space Adventure Cobra: The Movie]
(1982) 出崎統 [Dezaki Osamu] - 2/5
2026/01/22: 舞-HiME [My-Hime] (2004-2005) - 3/5
2026/01/29: 帝都物語 [Doomed Megalopolis] (1991) - 3/5
MUSIC
2026/01/01: Xtermination (2014) Insecticide - 4/5
2026/01/01: Death Breathing (1998) DJ 6666 - 2/5
2026/01/01: To Embrace the Corpses Bleeding (2002) Judas Iscariot -
4/5
2026/01/02: Discography (2003) The Spirit of Versailles -
4/5 [R]
2026/01/17: Population II (1970) Randy Holden - 2/5
2026/01/17: Volume One (2017) I, Detest - 4/5
2026/01/17: Indifel Eternal (2005) Ssorc - 4/5
2026/01/18: One Morbid... A Poser Holocaust (2014) Medieval - 3/5
2026/01/24: Thunderdome XVII: Messenger of Death (1997) Various Artists -
3/5
2026/01/25: Raping the Ancient (2004) Bloodaxe - 5/5 [R]
2026/01/27: Sickened by Holy Host / The Grand Masters Session (2012)
Profanatica - 4/5
2026/01/28: Building the Rebellion (2006) At No End - 4/5 [R]
2026/01/31: 運命への挑戦 [A Challenge to Fate] (1995) 灰野敬二
[Haino Keiji] - 4/5 [R]
BOOKS
2026/01/03: Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness (1990) William Styron -
4/5
2026/01/04: The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere (2014) Pico
Iyer - 2/5
2026/01/07: Transparent Things (1972) Vladimir Nabokov - 3/5
2026/01/13: Волшебник [The Enchanter] (1939) Vladimir Nabokov -
4/5
2026/01/14: Japaneseness: A Guide to Values and Virtues (2016) 山久瀬洋二
[Yamasuke Youji] - 3/5
I ordered a figure of Moriya Suwako last year around fall and she finally arrived... I can't tell you how happy I am. I was genuinely worried because of all the fuckery with tariffs making US trade less stable. But even the tariffs couldn't even stop her! She may have taken way longer than necessary, but now I finally have Suwako, Kanako, and Sanae all together. If there was one figure I know I would need to have a collection I could feel happy with, it was her. And I now feel like a piece of Nagano Prefecture is here in my bedroom with me and I'm overjoyed. Here she is in her place:
Also, I remember hearing somewhere that ZUN apparently said all 2hus canonically have frilly bloomers for underwear. But this figure would beg to differ! How do I know?
If this is a deviation from canon, in this rare case I welcome it!! (っ˘ཀ˘ｃ)
I don't like to talk a lot about current events, just because it's very easy to spread misinformation and get people riled up for the wrong reasons. And that's basically the fundamental issue we have today across the board. But I want to say something about the current US president's strong-armed attempts to procure Greenland for the United States. I think it's a stupid move for a bunch of reasons and I don't support it at all. I wish there was some way to stop it myself, but I feel very helpless at this point. I voted for whoever will put an opposition to this in Congress if it gets decided there, but what more can I do?
I'm a supporter of Greenland's independence from both the United States and from Denmark. But Greenland is in the middle of two gigantic spheres of influence (US and EU). All I can hope is that Trump doesn't take the same line as Venezuela and resort to force. As someone who loves the Arctic and its peoples, I would LOVE to see the US and Greenland become closer and have friendly relations. But I do not want it to happen at the expense of the Greenlanders' wishes. I would not be surprised if the result is that Trump uses his bone-headed muscle-flexing to strong-arm concessions into more military bases or increased access to rare earth minerals in Greenland and claims that this was his goal all along as some kind of some 4-D chess bullshit. I would not take great pleasure in that, but if it will allow Greenlanders their own sovereignty without the start of a war, I will be relieved.
What I worry about more than anything else though is the portent this has to even more troublesome conflicts. The world is heating up and the Arctic will become increasingly contested real estate as it does, especially as the Arctic ocean opens up as an increasingly vital trade route. I love the natural beauty of the Arctic and would hate to see it become a battlefield and have all its ice stained in blood. I'm not overly optimistic about it, but my heart and support is with the Greenlanders and I wish them the best. I would love to see the US, Canada, and Greenland unite in their Inuit heritage and mutually prosper. It would be a dream of mine to move to Greenland in fact, but not as a colonizer. (Also, I hope the Greenlanders keep Denmark's lolicon laws, which are much more based than a lot of their other European neighbors.)
It's Reiwa Year 8, the year of the horse. I really don't know what to say about it other than that I will continue to live life the way I know best and hopefully help others along the way. I will be re-committing to my resolutions from last year of eating better (less at restaurants) and meditating daily. I also want to add in the resolution to read a chapter of manga at least once a week. Daily seems a bit much to commit to for me right now. But I never have the time to read manga among all my other interests and hobbies, and I end up regretting that. It's a good way to keep my Japanese fresh. I also added a "this month so far" ticker to the top of this section as you can probably see. I sort of miss doing monthly reviews and summaries and want a record of what I experienced during the month, but I don't want to force myself to do a writeup every time. So keeping a log here seems helpful. It will let others follow my progress, and then at the end of the month I'll archive it as a post. I used to do something like that on an old forum and it comes naturally to me!
Here's to another year. Let's try to survive and thrive, despite the odds.