The newsletter is out, and the podcast is online: This month I wrote about いただき (itadaki). Yes, just いただき. I had this bizarre internal sense that いただき was a more commonly used, potentially more natural phrase when thanking someone for … Continue reading →
Sep 28, 2025 • Subscribe
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Futari ha Daitai Konna Kanji (ふたりはだいたいこんなかんじ)
In the Yuri world Ikeda Takashi is best known for Sasamekikoto / Whispered Words in English, from One Peace Books. That series made fun of every Yuri trope,…
Futari ha Daitai Konna Kanji, Volume 3 (ふたりはだいたいこんなかんじ)
One of the defining characteristics of an adult life is facing setbacks. You can work really hard, gambare with all you have and still not achieve the goal.…
Futari ha Daitai Konna Kanji, Volume 4 (ふたりはだいたいこんなかんじ)
In Futari ha Daitai Konna Kanji, Volume 4 (ふたりはだいたいこんなかんじ) Ikeda Takashi brings his specific brand of wacky slice-of-life to a fantastic conclusion. In the first three volumes of…
Futari ha Daitai Konna Kanji, Volume 2 (ふたりはだいたいこんなかんじ)
Okay, so here’s a mood. You like a creator, so when they announce a new book or series, you’re cautiously optimistic at the least. You know it might…
Mabataki (まばたき)
Mabataki (まばたき) is a collection of short stories by Battan, creator of Run Away With Me, Girl. This is another manga I picked up while in Japan (I…
甘えたい
A bit late, but 新年おめでとうございます！ The newsletter went out a couple weeks back, and I wrote a little about 甘える (amaeru), a word that is extremely difficult to…
Dekisokonai Hime-tachi, Volume 4 (できそこないの姫君たち)
Fujishiro Nanaki, having been ostracized by her group of fashionable and popular girls, has found acceptance with the “nerd” group, Kurokawa’s friends Izumi and Iroha. Together th…
![Featured image for Just Remembering (ちょっと思い出しただけ, Daigo Matsui, 2021) [Fantasia 2022]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20220723/1658536740.40271.70023.jpg)
Just Remembering (ちょっと思い出しただけ, Daigo Matsui, 2021) [Fantasia 2022]
Former lovers are confronted by reminders of their failed romance amid the loneliness of the coronavirus pandemic in Daigo Matsui’s melancholy drama.
Dekisokonai no Hime-tachi, Volume 3 (できそこないの姫君たち)
In Volume 1, otaku and class loner Kurokawa Kaede is thrown together with school princess, Fujishiro Nanaki. In time-honored fashion, Fujishiro gives a radical makeover to the girl…
Here Because of You (君たちがいて僕がいた, Ryuichi Takamori, 1964)
Post-war teens take on injustice in the form of a problematic parent at their school in Ryuichi Takamori’s cheerful youth movie.
Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, Volume 1 (作りたい女と食べたい女)
I am so excited to be able to review this particular book as my first review of 2022! Since I first read this on Comic Walker, I’ve been…
Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, Volume 3 (作りたい女と食べたい女)
In Volume 1, we met Nomoto Yuki, a contractor in an office. She finds society’s expectations for women confining and stress-cooks to relax. We then met Kasuga-san, her…
Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, Volume 2 (作りたい女と食べたい女)
Because I loved Volume 1 so very much, I ran out immediately after reviewing it, and bought Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, Volume 2 (作りたい女と食べたい女) as a digital…
Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, Volume 4 (作りたい女と食べたい女)
There are so many reasons that Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, Volume 4 (作りたい女と食べたい女) is an amazing volume of manga, that I’m hard pressed to pick one thing.…
Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, Volume 5 (作りたい女と食べたい女)
With more than two decades of reading, I am still absolutely amazed at the high quality of Yuri manga we have gotten in the last few years –…
"Can I Say したい Instead of ほしい?" #learnjapanese
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あの作品の裏話もー。漫画家の星野泰視さんにお越しいただきました。A Talk with Urasawa’s old assistant, Yasushi Hoshino.
漫画家・浦沢直樹の「浦沢チャンネル」。今回は漫画家で元浦沢アシスタントの星野泰視さんにお越しいただき、アシスタント時代の思い出やデジタル作画、漫画制作の裏話などを語っていただきました。 [ゲスト] 星野泰視 Yasushi Hoshino 漫画家。山形県出身。『哲也～雀聖と呼ばれた男～』（原案／さい ふうめい）で第24回講談社漫画賞受賞。著作に『江川と西本』（原作／森高夕次）、『ABC殺人事件』（原作／アガサ・クリスティー）など。現在『日本を創った男～渋沢栄一 青き日々～』を「ヤングチャンピオン」にて連載中。 “Urasawa Channel”, a YouTube channel by a Japanese manga artist Naoki Urasawa. This time, he invites a manga artist and his former assistant,…
Yuri Manga: Dekisokonai no Hime-tachi, Volume 2 (できそこないの姫君たち)
Last spring I took a look at a pleasant “opposites attract” school life Yuri romance by Ajiichi. In Volume 1, we met otaku Kurokawa Kaede and fashionable Fujishiro…
Aisarete mo Iindayo, Volume 1 ( 愛されてもいいんだよ)
In Amano Shuninta’s Aisarete mo Iindayo, Volume 1 ( 愛されてもいいんだよ) we meet Kimura Rin, an office worker who is being sexually harassed by a superior at work. She has…
Itsuki Tsuchigami【土上いつき】Sakuga MAD
Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwrI-DkXiWQ Itsuki Tsuchigami (alternatively miso) is a favorite animator of mine, and I've planned to make a MAD with his work for a long time. Now that FGO…
Tsukurita Onna to Tabetai Onna Live-Action Drama (作りたい女と食べたい女)
Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna (作りたい女と食べたい女), the NHK live-action drama, may well be the very best adaptation from a manga I have ever seen in any media. Nomoto…
"Can I Say 何食べたい？" #learnjapanese
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Would あたためてくれないか？ Be Too Casual? #learnjapanese
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のだ
A subtle but important tip for written Japanese - How to Japanese - August 2023
Crazy Thunder Road (狂い咲きサンダーロード, Sogo Ishii, 1980)
A perpetual outsider seeks direction but discovers only nihilistic despair in Sogo Ishii’s apocalyptic biker movie
Dreaming in Between (逃げきれた夢, Ryutaro Ninomiya, 2023)
A middle-aged man tries to make up for lost time by becoming more of himself but is more often than not rebuffed in a gentle character study from…
Struggling Man (私はいったい、何と闘っているのか, Toshio Lee, 2021)
A dejected middle-aged man experiences a crisis of masculinity when his home and work lives come under threat in Toshio Lee’s warmhearted comedy.
My Sorry Life (愛のくだらない, Kozue Nomoto, 2020)
A self-absorbed TV producer gets a wake up call when her boyfriend announces he’s pregnant in Kozue Nomoto’s ironic dramedy
Love at Least 生きてるだけで、愛 (2018) Director: Kosai Sekine
Love at Least offers a nuanced depiction of living with depression with three great performances from its lead cast. Love at Least 生きてるだけで、愛 (2018) Director: Kosai Sekine
"You shouldn't use たい when talking about other people." #learnjapanese
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Immersion (忌怪島／きかいじま, Takashi Shimizu, 2023)
An attempt to recreate the “real” in the “virtual” causes a rupture between this world and another in Takashi Shimizu’s high tech horror.
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 12 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
Yesterday I said that I was reviewing two series this week that focused on complicated relationships. The first was Volume 9 of Otona ni Nattemo, by Shimura Takako…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 7 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
When I reviewed Volume 6 I said of that volume that it was like a fever finally breaking. “You don’t feel “good,” per se, but you feel better,…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 9 ( 付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
When we first met Miwa, she was unsure of herself. And when we met Saeko she seemed very confident. As we’ve got to know them, we’ve come to…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 6 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
You know how you feel after you’ve had a fever, when the fever breaks and you’re soaked in sweat? You don’t feel “good,” per se, but you feel…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 4 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
In Tamifull’s Yuri drama Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 4 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな), we are confronted with something we don’t see very often at all in Yuri…two people who may just…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 8 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
“The characters and the art have grown, Tamifull’s narrative skills are excellent here. We’ve been with them through a lot…and we’re still here as they enter the next…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 10 ( 付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
Life is complex – humans are complex systems and relationships are complex systems made up of other complex systems interacting. Things are always complicated in Tamifull’s Tsukiatte Ag…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 11 ( 付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
In my review of Volume 10, I said, “I’m ready for something to lighten up.” Welp, Volume 11 of Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana ( 付き合ってあげてもいいかな) by Tamifull is not…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 5 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
As a reviewer, I understand that spoilers are sometimes unavoidable in order to make a review make sense. As a reader, I don’t particularly mind spoilers…until I do.…
Dreaming in Between 逃げきれた夢 (2023) Director: Ryutaro Ninomiya
Dreaming in Between 逃げきれた夢 (2023) Director: Ryutaro Ninomiya
The Nighthawk’s First Love (よだかの片想い, Yuka Yasukawa, 2021)
A young woman begins to regain a sense of self-confidence in the face of social prejudice when invited to consult on a film in Yuka Yasukawa’s adaptation of…
Sensei, Would You Sit Beside Me? (先生、私の隣に座っていただけませんか？, Takahiro Horie, 2021)
A mangaka and her cheating husband become locked in a cat and mouse game of ambiguous revenge in Takahiro Horie’s deliciously cynical anti-rom-com
Too Young to Die (死ぬにはまだ早い, Kiyoshi Nishimura, 1969)
An adulterous couple begin to reassess their relationship when caught up in a hostage situation in Nishimura’s tense interpersonal drama
It’s All Right, My Friend (だいじょうぶマイフレンド, Ryu Murakami, 1983)
Bandmates help a stranded alien recover his ability to fly to Ryu Murakami’s forgotten surreal countercultural blockbuster.
Yuri Manga: Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 3 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
2020 marks an interesting new phase for me in regards to Yuri manga. Because there are so many more comics about adult women, written for adults, my specific…
いい歳
How to Know You're in the Good Old Days - How to Japanese - May 2021
How to Subtly Flirt in Japanese No. 2 好きな人いる？
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Okiku and the World (せかいのおきく, Junji Sakamoto, 2023)
A samurai’s daughter falls for a lowly manure man in a city on the brink of change in Junji Sakamoto’s touching dramedy.