Goyavoyage's den

Things I liked in November 2024

Mid-December, already?
I wanted to write this post earlier, but an egregrious combo of bad mental health and cold (and trying to keep up the pace with my ongoing rerun of Februaryuri) got the better of me in this first half of the month... Still, I am trying this kind of list again after my October attempt!
I have been hesitant to do so, as I wasn't sure I'd find the energy to do so, but it may help me reconnect with things that brought me joy in the past weeks; and, who knows, it may help you hear about stuff too?

I hope you can keep holding on amidst these difficult times.

Games

Neva: I finished this one at the beginning of November, after starting it in October. I ended up expecting its ending, more than the one of its heartwrenching older sibling Gris by the same studio, so it didn't have as big an impact; but it still was a very beautiful adventure. It's cliché these days to compare videogames to Miyazaki movies but Neva definitely had vibes picked from Mononoke and Chihiro, along with some gameplay elements slightly reminiscent of the old video game Ico. It was nice.

Wagotabi: A partner sent me this somewhat Pokémon-inspired RPG made to learn Japanese, and I have been thoroughly impressed by it. As I started Japanese at the start of summer this year, I had already some grammar and vocabulary knowledge covered in the game, but it still ended up going further and sometimes faster than I expected, and it's still expected to grow with future updates! I tend to be a bit skeptical of gameification of stuff, but this was an unexpectedly great fit for me.

Books

monsuta pi moku nimi by jan Pensa: I finished this longform story in toki pona I had started reading during summer, which was a fun origin myth about how sounds and words in toki pona were formed, and a less scary read than most stories of the larger lipu monsuta toki pona horror anthologies (which seem to have just ended publication :(). I also really liked mi en waso Kaka en monsuta pi ma kasi by the same author. All this makes me want to write a post about toki pona stuff. I probably will when I have more energy.

A la tâche à venir (celle d'enterrer le monde) by Mécistée Rhéa and Nanténé Traoré: I am cheating here to conceal my absence of book reading this month, since this is actually a play I saw a performance of, not (yet?) a book I read. Still, it talks through three different scenes about this suffocating sensation of the world slowly ending and what we leave behind, and that is a harsh and very real feeling within me these days. It also has nongendered characters, which is the kind of thing that makes me wonder why this kind of decision isn't more widespread in plays, honestly.

Comics

Night Cry by Borja González: A fascinating oneshot about a bored bookshop clerk girl who summons a demon girl, in a strange town riddled with worrisome disappearances. It has a very heavy atmosphere of night and some kind of ennui; it's often funny yet tinged with some inexplicable melancholia all over, with a sometimes obscure plot in ways that still feel like there is something deeper to this, and some beautiful art choices, notably using faceless characters that still feel extremely expressive. Cherry on top, it's also a tiny bit sapphic.

Heartstopper vol. 4-5 by Alice Oseman: After watching season 3 of the series adaptation in October, it was nice to take the time to reread volume 4 and finally read volume 5 of the original comics series, that that season adapted. I wasn't surprised to see the original medium really, really nail the giddy excitement of mutual teenage sexual attraction and sex-adjacent talks; and also handle a bunch of heavy mental health-related topics so well - but it's still such a wonderful read. It feels important to see all this represented. There is also a very striking and great scene near the end of volume 5 on relationships and asexuality that was changed in the series as it happens in the last episode of S3, and in retrospect the changes really feel underwhelming... but it was helpful to read some feedback from the author about it.

Mangas

Yuri corner

Yuri is My Job! by Miman, vol. 8 to current hiatus (past vol. 13): That was... That sure was a ride. The second half of this great yuri read accompanied me throughout the entirety of November, and I'm still amazed by the intricate ways it shows real miscommunication, misaligned wants and needs, rejections, and building relationships taking all this into account. Though I still think its café setup is a bit contriving in some ways, this second half found some room to explore things outside of it; notably, and I couldn't hide my joy at it, various elements around the social perception of lesbianism. And overall, this series has real moments of catharsis and heartfelt discussions and mended emotional wounds. It builds, in several ways, truly queer relationships that blur the line between platonic and romantic, which is really scarce in yuri and something profoundly important to me... and it makes me want to write one day a bigger essay on all that.
The only real fly in the ointment was some big element of sexual violence in volume 12 (of an adult on a minor, at that), that feels shockingly heavy compared to all that was before. It's purposeful and addressed to some extent (there is even an extremely welcome CW in the English edition, and we see it coming, and there are a few good panels on other characters struggling to help in the aftermath), but it still feels under-addressed in itself (to me, and so far, at least) for its sheer gravity - notably compared to the rest of the tone of the manga. It seems to be a bit of a tool to bring a character where she should be emotionally for her next arc, while simplifying the antagonization of another; and, ouch. I can't help but think this could have been handled differently.
Anyway. The manga is currently on hiatus because the author is burnt out; I wish her rest :(

Love Bullet by inee: I didn't expect this small series, about a team of Cupids that try to make humans fall in love using not bows but love-themed firearms, to be this weirdly engaging. Its first arc, on saying goodbye to a love that wasn't, surely played into this; but it's also-- I don't know. The paneling? The pacing? The easy-to-root-for characters? There's something to it that draws me in in spite of broader reservations I could have had (on firearms repurposed for love, or the absence of room for aromanticism to exist so far) and it's just-- Somehow, it's really fun.

Lemonade Poly Yuri Anthology: I found this by chance browsing titles Shio Usui contributed to, and I just want to point it out here. Only a few chapters have been translated to English, of varying quality as anthologies often go, but I'm still happy to see it exist: we really need more polyamorous yuri stories.

Otherside Picnic manga by Iori Miyazawa and Eita Mizuno, recent chapters: I have yet to read all the currently released volumes of the manga version of Otherside Picnic. I did once, but am now lagging behind by several volumes. Still, I couldn't help myself and did read the few most recent chapters, because we are reaching the parts where it gets really, really unavoidably and clearly gay. It makes me so happy to see the manga reach these game-changing Files at last.

Touhou fan mangas

Hourai Fixed-Point Observation Record (NSFW) by Kawayabug: I didn't read many Touhou doujin this month, but this one instantly became one of my favorite ever. It has it all: a very clever and impressive fixed-point meta POV paneling, great art, the whole Eientei-adjacent cast, some surprisingly convoluted plot elements conveyed through extra text pages, and the exact kind of over-the-top humor that I find hilarious and just right as it makes me go "yes, this is exactly how all these characters behave". It is clearly more unhinged than the canon, yet somehow it still feels ridiculously on point and in character to me.
Be mindful of the content warnings in the tags, though. If you're not already into Touhou and have never been near the Kaguya x Mokou ship before (which often has its fair share of hatesex and gore), this may not be the place to start.

Other

Look Back by Tatsuki Fujimoto: I posted about this oneshot in November! A memorable story on art creation and jealousy and grief, it still really resonates deeply with me, and I can't encourage you enough to read it or watch the stunning anime movie adaptation.

Goodbye, Eri by Tatsuki Fujimoto: As I was on a roll, I also read this one by the same author, and I also mention it briefly in my same post. Truly, the way it blurs reality and fiction inside its story, while making us think about what can be edited in any kind of documentary to tell entirely different stories and make any kind of truth unreachable, is properly dizzying. As it is all recorded from a smartphone camera in-universe, it would definitely make for a good anime, too.

Series

Anime

(I had a few attempts at ongoing series such as Dan Da Dan or the Ranma 1/2 reboot, but none of them stuck. I couldn't get pass the early proclivity to genitalia mention of the former; and the latter had fun bits but clearly aged. This did give me a bit of a better knowledge of its well-known accidental trans narrative, though, and it made me read a few essays on Ranma 1/2, which was interesting!)

Revolutionary Girl Utena (ep 32-35): Owch - this month was the part that hurt. This month was the part that took all the content warnings lurking within the series so far and put them explicitly under the spotlight. It makes for a chilling arc on grooming and abuse, and I am as amazed as I am terrified to see the show pull this off so well - this is a masterpiece on the topic. Much as Ikuhara's other works, I would not recommend it to anyone without heavy content warnings, though.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: With how November was going, I knew I needed hope. And somehow, I also knew I could find it in a rewatch of this terrifying magical girl series that is at its heart about a sliver of hope amidst the deepest despair. It was cathartic, and just as brilliant as I remembered it.
I did try the recap movies, too, but ended up shifting gears: the original series really is the superior medium for this. This rewatch also gave me the push toward finally watching the third, non-recap movie, Rebellion (that I avoided during my first watch of the series)... for better or for worse. See below.

Serial Experiments Lain: I had started this strange and really old anime this summer, and finished the few episodes I had left at last. It was... very disturbing, and a good mirror of the fears of the Internet before the Internet truly was a thing. It shows its age, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend the series, but that was interesting. Its uncaniness will stay with me for a long while.

Revue Starlight (ep 1-3): I tried the beginning of this acclaimed yuri series one or two years ago without being in the right state of mind, and I mostly thought it was... bizarre, with a cast of rather simple characters. I have just restarted it and I am enjoying it a lot - there's a theatrical, musical, over-the-top swordfight energy similar to the one in Utena, which is absolutely delightful and intense; and the characters are somewhat growing on me. And a few glances at AnimeFeminist are building up some hope in term of yuri or queer message toward the end. I'm really curious to see where it'll go.

Girls Band Cry: Still in need of hope, I ended November by rewatching this incredible series with a friend. Though outside elements of said rewatch triggered me and my brain is now a nightmare swamp, Girls Band Cry itself is simply a marvel. I had forgotten just how deep it cut right from the start; and I also see the last two episodes in a much kinder light now: they first felt to me like a potential bridge toward a season 2, but they now appear downright crucial to the message of the series as it is about refusing to compromise oneself against anything. I ended up on the verge of tears from it all - and notably from Nina's presence on the scene, and determination, and rawness.
I just can't recommend this series enough - it is apparent by now that it is extremely dear to my heart.

Other

Arcane S1-2: This one is here in good part because of the intense and great conversations it sparked with friends on how season 2 utterly failed the nuanced class struggle and brewing revolution season 1 had set up. After rewatching the first season to get in the mood, a watchalong of said second season gave rythm to my month of November, and, well... Though it did have some strong moments and beautiful visuals, it was also often a clusterfuck of messy plot threads and painfully disappointing elements, coupled with a surprising inability to kill main characters.
Still, being able to pinpoint all this with close ones and to happily tear the whole thing apart together made us able to keep the good things and joint memories of this whole spectacle, in spite of the sour taste left by the plot's messages in the end.

Movies

Look Back: Once again, I talked about this one in more details here! So this is just a small sentence to encourage you to watch or read it, if the CWs are bearable for you.

The Summer: A recommendation by cohost acquaintance Lily V, this Korean animated yuri movie was a nice and interesting departure from the tropes I am used to in the Japanese part of the genre. I watched it with somewhat clunky subtitles, though, which made my viewing experience a bit less smooth than it could have been.

Go Fish: I also talked about this movie in a specific post! This niche lesbian movie from the 90s made by and for lesbians and centered on a small community of roommates who support each other has a lot of scenes and elements that still resonate deeply today, and immediately ascended among my favorite movies period when I first watched it this summer.

Madoka Magica: Rebellion: So. Huh. This one is mentioned here because I finally got around to watching it after my rewatch of the series itself. I had been told it changed quite a few things in the way it twisted a certain character, and tainted a bit the original ending, and was a prime example of queer villainy, so I really waited before watching it... And, wow. Yup. This is the epitome of the villainization of sapphic love, alright.
I think I'm putting it here because I want to mention it anyway - there are some interesting ideas to some of its setup, though it is also a bit of a pretense to see the cast of the original series fight again each other... but really, these last 15 minutes hurt, and not in a good way at all: they reach a seemingly strictly improved situation that is framed as bad precisely because it is motivated by queer love, which is made explicit (compared to the series, where it is not) only as it is presented as a very clear force of evil, and ouch.
Yeah. I wouldn't recommend it at all, compared to the series itself that is dear to my heart. I'm still... cautiously curious as to what the upcoming additional movie that should release anytime soon, Walpurgisnacht Rising, will bring (I'm right on time for its release, it seems); but this one really really hurt :(

Suzume: A friend nudged me into watching this movie by Makoto Shinkai, and I regret nothing. I was reticent because I didn't particularly like Your Name and rather disliked Weathering With You among his most known works. I also knew this one was originally supposed to be a girl-meet-girl story instead of a girl-meet-boy; and I didn't know whether my little gay heart could take not living in that other reality.
But you know what? Suzume is really good. Its plot is in some ways a nonsensical pretense, and its girl-meet-boy (with an uncomfortable age gap at that) luckily mostly shuffled aside... because what truly makes it shine, and what truly matters, is its core theme: the heartbreaking exploration of grief and trauma, specifically here from losing people to earthquakes. And gosh, it does not pull any punch about that.
It is also a funny roadtrip around Japan, at times, featuring a girl, a chair and a cat. But really, it is at its heart about soothing memories and grieving the loss and literally trying to prevent natural disasters, and trying to live on.
I'm having chills just writing this and remembering some of its visually spectacular scenes, and its music. From the moment around when the title appears, to the climatic emotional payoff, this movie creates some haunting, devastating visions, with a sliver of hope through acquaintances met along the way, and acceptance and mending of the self.
Now I want to rewatch it; its music is haunting me again.

Around the Internet

The Diminishing of Exploration on the Internet, by Reimena Yee: a relatable piece on how social media overwhelm us and force us into being commodified into brands, that advocates - as many others on little slow corners of the Internet do - for a slower pace, for lurking and meandering through little websites, instead of the constant thrum of a feed.

Two essays by The Afictionado on Keep Your Hands off Eizouken: they reminded me of that wonderful anime series I watched a few years ago on art (anime) creation. Eizouken talks a lot about sharing passion and imagination with friends, managing these feelings to actually reach a finished product, and the joy of creating things as a group; all that with a very memorable trio of lead girls. These reads made me remember how much I had liked this series, and that I should rewatch it, or try reading the original manga version.

Porygon Was Innocent, by AJ on AnimeFeminist: I knew that Porygon had been cut out of the Pokémon anime after an episode causing Japan-wide (non-epileptic) seizures starring it; but I didn't know that much about the strict regulations enforced since then in Japan (and to a lesser extent in the UK) for this not to happen again, enabling a clear progress on the topic of photosensitivity. These details and this larger analysis on the infuriating refusal to broadcast safe versions of movies in some other countries came to fan my wider anger about how so many things could be made accessible but aren't for no real reason aside from sheer discrimination. This makes me want to read more and more about how disability is a social construct. And to break knees.

Two reddit posts on some of my favorite topics:

Finally, my attempt at watching the reboot of Ranma 1/2 led me to several articles on AnimeFeminist dissecting Rumiko Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura and Ranma series, and notably elements of their representations of gender roles, which were really interesting pieces.

Music

This month was less indivudal musics, and more full albums. Here are a few of those I listened to:

Additionally, I have returned to old Vocaloid classics and have listened to Mozaic Role on loop (along with its Reloaded version) to an absurd extent. It really scratches an itch in me, and I think it is my most listened to music of this year somehow.

Closing thoughts: I'm still unsure whether I'll continue this kind of posts for long. It's both a great exercise and rather energy-consuming - and I have so many ideas of longform posts that are waiting for this same energy. I'm glad I managed to finish this second attempt at it, though.

On an adjacent topic, I probably won't be able to post new things for most of the rest of this month, except the remainder of the Februaryuri rerun, and if everything goes well, a special Touhou-focused cohost repost at the end of the year. This little fox needs rest.

If I have enough energy, though, I may try and heal the rough spot I am in by reading the beginning of the volume 9 of the Otherside Picnic novels, of which the English release has been announced yesterday(!!) and should be streamed online bit by bit on the publisher's website (caution, the descriptions of the books spoil stuff a bit!) starting next week(!!), until a full ebook release at the end of March. I am exhausted, but also overexcited. If I disappear for a bit, you know why - unless it is simply because my brain is acting up.

Take good care of yourselves in this harsh season.

#things I liked in...