Goyavoyage's den

Things I liked in December 2024

December was kind of a hell of a month on my end. I hope it has been a softer time period for some of you, somehow.
2024 has come to a close, and it's hard to have hopes about 2025 considering... everything, but this tired fox will keep surviving by clinging to close people and enjoyable fictions and moments of joy, at least.
I wish you just as much, and some opportunities to make the world around you a kinder place in little or big ways.

As an extra disclaimer, since these are for me coping mechanisms in a wobbly mental state, most things this past month are Touhou or yuri (or both, which is rather easy to achieve in a Venn diagram).

Games

Touhou Imperishable Night: It's been a joy to replay a bit one of the most iconic official Touhou games. It's funny, quite cinematic at times, and chock-full of emblematic characters. It's also comparatively the easiest of the series, which is still extremely hard if it's your first dip into the bullet hell genre, but I'm slowly trying to achieve a run in Normal mode without any continue, and it's a satisfying feeling to realize how I've gotten better at dodging magical bullets with time.

Mystia's Izakaya: A Touhou fangame I've heard of several times, this one is a sweet and slightly addictive restaurant management game with a visual novel aspect too. The core of it isn't my kind of game per se, but it's got a wonderful starting hook (necessarily reminiscent of things like Overcooked, but Touhou-flavored) - and then it's a delight to find the perfect food for each and everyone of Gensokyo's inhabitants while trying to pay off a shady debt. The characters are a bit exaggerated at times, and may be too excentric for people who don't know all the Touhou references in there, but it's definitely a fun (and yuri-coded) time to be had.

Books

... Yup, it's all yuri here.

Otherside Picnic vol. 9 (File 27) by Iori Miyazawa: As hinted at in my previous blog post of the same format, J-Novel club, the publisher of Otherside Picnic, is releasing the new volume part by part online before an actual full release at the end of March. We're four parts deep out of ten at the time of this post, and let me just say I'm having a blast. I just love this series so much, and it's incredible to see how it keeps unfolding in surprising, relatable and excellently-written ways.

Otherside Picnic Yuri Club Stories 1-5: As written in my Februaryuri rerun of my Otherside Picnic review, these are extra little stories that tumblr user hurpdurpburps translated to English. I've been nibbling on them between two updates of the book series and it's just great to have small extra scenes in-between the Files. Sometimes there's even foreshadowing of future Files or actual new info in there, like Sorawo figuring out Toriko's hair isn't dyed - and overall even more insight into her psyche, and that's delicious. I'm awaiting one that follows File 9 in particular for reasons that may be clear to people knowing the series. Anyway.

Twinstar Cyclone Runaway by Issui Ogawa (first few chapters): I've been reading the manga version of this yuri series for a while now; and it's a delight to finally be able to read the original novel version. Shoutout to girlswhokiss and kinseijoshi, who are handling this English fan-translation - I've been amazed to see how much more powerful the hook of the novel is, and its greater amount of details, and the clearer neurodivergent feeling the two leads give me. I think this is finally the turning point where I'm getting really hyped up about this series too.

Mangas

Yuri corner

Hanamonogatari by schwinn: I should talk about this one again soon, but I think it has immediately become my favorite yuri discovery of this year, and one of my favorites period. I've just never seen a yuri focusing on ~65-year-old characters, first. And if that wasn't enough, it has so clear a focus on escaping ingrained sexism and compulsory heterosexuality, and the eye-opening feeling of feeling seen when reading queer authors - here the novel Hanamonogatari by Nobuko Yoshiya, a prominent figure of the 1920s Class S genre, which has been a big inspiration for the yuri genre - and of bonding over literary works and analyzing them. It's not been released in English yet aside from the fan-translation I'm reading, but I hope that'll happen soon. I've been more and more amazed with each chapter.

Twinstar Cyclone Runaway by Issui Ogawa and Ahiru Tanaka: I mentioned the manga version of this one in October already, but I must say this sci-fi yuri series has been steadily growing on me. It's also going to interesting places in recent chapters, notably erased queer history and gay thoughts. And also, it's simply a joy to have more genre fiction yuri. I would recommend the novel version over the manga one, though, but I'm slowly tying elements of the two versions together as they're at different points of their fan-translations (hi, prologue of the novel version that's getting referenced in the manga version) and it's a great puzzle to witness. I suspect that in one form or the other, this series might become one of my yuri highlights of 2025.

Firelit Cherry Blossoms by Suika Amazaki: I'm slowly getting used to Amazaki's artstyle through their (really good) series Girlfriend limited to 7 days, and this collection of very short stories published on pixiv is uneven but a fun way of seeing that artstyle grow - and some of them are still quite fun or relatable for 3- to 10-page small stories.

Like a Cinderella by Mizutani Fuuka: A collection of yuri oneshots by an author I didn't know before, it has a good proportion of sweet stories in my opinion - including a two-parter on an exchange of shoes, and one on the love polygon of a high school group of misfits. I've also read Lonely Wolf, Lonely Sheep by the same author since then, which was also a good read, if a harsh one at times content warning-wise. Overall a pleasant discovery.

Becoming Her Lover for the Sake of Love by Shio Usui: I already mentioned this one in October and in my review of Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon by the same author... And how, with her other currently serialized yuri series which couldn't be more different, Usui covers a breadth of yuri that's quite remarkable. I've been less hooked by Becoming Her Lover... for a while, considering its more conventional setting, but I must put it again in this post. First because it's still really cute and fun. And second because it's just had, very simply, one of the most beautifully framed kissing scenes I've ever got to witness.
I can't wait to see what else Usui Shio has in store.

Touhou fan mangas

Spell by Aya Azuma: This. This is my kind of thing. A wonderful fan series that tells the invention of the spellcard rules, Spell has soaked up all the hints in the Touhou lore about how this defining gimmick of Touhou came to pass, and is weaving an extremely compelling story from all of those. I love it a lot, and I may make a dedicated blog post about it at some point. It also nails the ways it portrays the insecurities of a young Reimu, and how Yukari can shift from ominously manipulative to playful to all-powerful in seconds.

Ladies of the Scarlet Devil Mansion by Risui: This lighthearted over-the-top fan series is quite uneven. Some elements, notably surrounding Okina, really don't land and sour my enjoyment; but some other moments, mainly playing a Meiling x Sakuya relationship dialed up to 11, are pure comedy gold; and the art conveys this unhinged tone excellently. An arc around chapters 5-7 caused me some wonderful fits of laughter. I'd gladly read more of that.

So many more Touhou doujins, because it was definitely a comfort activity/coping mechanism at some point of the month. For sample, in the off chance it may be of interest to someone, here is a list of some of the authors I liked most organized haphazardly, with a few doujins of each:

Other

I Hated My Female Body so I Cut Off My Breasts by Kazuki and Noppa: The title here is very... direct. That being said, this is an excellent and very instructive account of a nonbinary's author mastectomy - and them having jumping through hoops to get it done; and their overall struggles in living in a gendered society.

The two oneshots Waltz and Lily by Oshimi Shuzo: A recent interview of the author on Anime Feminist reminded me of Oshimi Shuzo's Inside Mari, a read that was both extremely unsettling and raw when I was wondering about my gender identity, and that I don't think I read in full at the time due to its heaviness. I have not yet restarted it, but I have been reading these two oneshots by the same author, out of curiosity. Somehow, they ooze a similar feeling of depression or at least uneasiness in being alive, a deep-seated fear of people, and conflicted relationships to femininity, sex, and romance. It's... quite a bundle. I wouldn't recommend any of these lightly, but I remain very interested in reading or rereading more when I'm ready for it.

Elevator Girl by Okada Kirin: Somehow, this short oneshot stuck with me. It deals with themes of depression, suicide and grief in ways that feel like they could be expanded upon - they feel simultaneously slightly too brief when constrained by this oneshot's length, and yet with enough elements to hit really hard in the little sentences. Also, one could build a whole series around this mysterious elevator girl character.

Tonari no Youkai-san (in French as Nos voisins les yôkai) vol. 2 by noho: Gosh I just love this series. I should repost here a recommendation I once wrote for the anime version that aired last Spring. The manga version, which has yet to release in English, is exactly the same, only with more chapters than what the series could adapt. You have the most wonderful and polite talking cat ever, lovable characters all around, brilliant character design, the heartwarming support of a community (notably through a center theme of grief), and overall simply an entire village of characters that truly feels like home. The series also features a fox woman I love a lot, who takes center stage in this volume. It's truly been a highlight of this year.

Yotsuba&! vol. 4-5 by Kiyohiko Azuma: Each volume of this series centered on five-year-old Yotsuba, just living her daily life with her single father and her neighbors, is, for the most part, a delight. The depiction of her childish logic is always incredible to follow and absolutely spot-on, and each volume makes me laugh heartily so many times. The only fly in the ointment is the occasional objectifying, creepy and sexist comments of the grownup adult men on some of the female cast, which is played for laughs. It's sadly a bit par for the course for a manga that started in 2003 though. I do love this manga a lot in spite of this, and it's fascinating to see the series is still going to this day. This promises lots of laughter still.

Series

Anime

Revue Starlight: This one was nice! Most of the characters stay very two-dimensional throughout the entirety of the run, but it was fine: after some point I was here mostly for the surrealist, the grandiose of the swordfighting musical, and the overarching theme of the two protagonists mirroring the tragic play they love. On that, the show did deliver. Also, one of the more secondary characters departs from her original archetype in ways I was not expecting that deal with reenacting and embellishing memories, and that part somehow kinda wrecked me. That was good.

Revolutionary Girl Utena (ep 37-39): Finishing Utena was an indescribable experience. Part of why this post is rather late is precisely because my brain has since been busy obsessing over it instead of writing posts. It has some extremely heavy CWs, but it's such a striking work of art on deconstructing fairytales, and literally fighting back and escaping abuse and patriarchy. The ending left me with too many emotions for this post, emotions that will clearly spill onto other writings. I have also seen the movie in early January, which was quite an acid trip of a retelling of the series.

Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (first half of season 1): I have finished this series by now, but I remember having mixed feelings early on. It has a very nice start, and some occasional shocking and interesting developments on children traumatized and used in war, and a great protagonist; but also some of its episodes and geopolitical situation feel more... perfunctory is too harsh, but it's still the closest word for it. My feelings toward the series is very much the same: it's been a good time for sure, and it's not often you get genre fiction that has also a bit of yuri in it! But ultimately, I wish there had been more bones to chew on a lot of its conversations and themes. It was still nice, though.

Movies

Revue Starlight Movie: What if Revue Starlight, but more? This movie asks this question and answers with a big yes. Sure, even with the new theme of graduating and separation hanging over the characters' heads, they do not gain much from the series, and most of their duels are thematically, in the end, a grander rehash of what happens in said series... but what a grandiose version, with fights extravagant and incredible in ways only a movie could allow. The way the stakes are never quite made clear means that you have to actively engage with what any interaction is telling you, but that can be nice! Also, once again, what flair. What freaking flair. This movie just pulls all the stops in surrealism and awesome duels that are also a thousand scenes unfolding at the same time. And you know, sometimes, being an absolutely over-the-top, surrealist work of art is enough - because it sure is.

Around the Internet

Magic Wormhole (and friends) by plumpan (18+ website): An open-source program allowing the safe and encrypted transmission of any file from one computer to another simply with the recipient entering a password feels too good to be true. But it is true. A forgotten mention from November, this discovery shared by plumpan hasn't made me dicth entirely my habit of sending things to myself using emails, but step by step, it should.

Tentativa de agotar un silencio parisiano by Alia Trabucco Zerán: A striking text in Spanish, also translated to French, by the Chilean recipient of the Femina novel prize, about the horrifying silence following her attempt to speak about the Palestinian genocide during her speech. The title is a reference to a short book by George Perec Tentative d'épuisement d'un lieu parisien.

What Role Are You Playing? by Vrai Kaiser on Anime Feminist: My read of Yuri is My Job the past few months has left me thinking a lot about depictions of communication, and this older article by Anime Feminist that analyzes the first five volumes is a great read about some of that, with a focus on heteronormativity, masking, neurodivergence and understanding each other. If I'm able to articulate my thoughts and have the energy to do so in the following moths, I'd love to write about this series too, particularly how it handles relationships - there's a lot in it that really speaks to me.

Shattering the Self by Tony Sun Prickett and Vrai Kaiser on Anime Feminist: This interview of mangaka Oshimi Shuzo made me think back on Inside Mari, an extremely unsettling manga I have only read by bits and pieces, and made me want to read more. Hence two oneshots mentioned earlier, and possibly more reads in the upcoming months, if I feel stable enough to stomach them.

Demonic Controversies and other considerations by Frank Hecker: Manga and anime Frieren presents, overall, a rather clear genocidal intent of its demon antagonists. This rightfully deterred people from the series, but also caused a lot of critics toward people who appreciated the series, saying they necessarily cautioned that narrative. Contrasting it with other works, Frank Hecker makes it apparent both why it is indeed particularly unsettling, but also why it may be a tool of reflection on the world Frieren depicts, and on the series itself too, without having to endorse its logic. This also served as a rightful reminder that I should read the webtoon Mage and Demon Queen, referenced along the way.

Music

My soundtrack for December was first influenced by my end of November, with the OST of anime movie Suzume and Girls Band Cry's group Togenashi Togeari's songs (again, but this time including their sometimes really great MVs).
The rest of it has been, among others:

As a less, say, weeb addition, queer artist cavetown also released a bunch of lofi versions of some of his most emblematic songs, and that's also played a part in some of my more chill moments of this month.

Closing thoughts: As I said last month, I'm not sure I'll continue this format in 2025 - it's great to be able to look back on every month like this, but also demanding, and I have so many other things I want to write (some I am writing right now). The hinge between years feels like a good place to pause this for a while.
I may do so again from time to time, though. I keep my options open. As you can see, this blog is kind of an experiment. There's still fresh paint everywhere.

I'll be wary about not burning myself out, too. I want to keep some energy for this year's Februaryuri. I'm enthusiastic about it, so I hope I'll manage.

See you then - or earlier, depending on my energy levels.

#things I liked in...