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Monthly Log: 2024-04

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Original language: Chinese . AI translations: English , Japanese .

I literally just finished writing the March monthly recap (

Structure

  1. Input
    Reading: professional books/novels/good articles, all count as reading
    Anime: new shows / old shows, TV season / movies, notes on what I watched
    Others: movies, TV series, etc., put here

  2. Random Thoughts
    Maybe I will write down whatever I’m thinking

  3. Output
    Maybe a blog, but I’m not good enough, so maybe I have no output for a whole month (lol)

  4. Travel
    If I went somewhere, I’ll jot it down. If not, then whatever

  5. Misc
    Small things that don’t fit in the categories above

Input

Reading

As I said in the previous monthly recap, I only read one book in the last two months: The World of Programs by Yukihiro Matsumoto. I still don’t fully get some parts.
But it’s a great book and worth recommending.

Anime

April season is here. Nice.

  • New shows I started in April

    • 末日列车去往何方/終末トレインどこへいく？
      One of the three big April original anime. Dense dialogues, wild turns, post-apocalyptic road-movie vibes. The one that matches my “radio waves” the most.

      • Episode 1 reminded me of 少女终末旅行 in many ways. Someone on bgm commented that this show is like 少女终末(硬座)旅行, which is pretty accurate.
        I really liked the part where the train departs at the end. Great BGM, and the train details felt well-researched (made me think of Revue Starlight’s transformation sequences). A sudden journey into the unknown, and that lingering feeling continues into the ED~
      • Episode 2: cute girls doing rapid-fire comedy. Good.
      • Episode 3: the first half had great horror-movie vibes, then it suddenly becomes wholesome.
      • Episode 4: this is why I watch anime. Unrestrained imagination, fully using the strengths of animation as a medium.
        The refined background art in the middle paired with the music was also excellent. Very “travel”.
      • Episode 5: such an unhinged development, but that’s exactly what I like; it even pays off a setup from episode 4

    • GIRLS BAND CRY
      One of the three big April originals. I didn’t plan to watch it since I’m not into band shows.
      I randomly clicked episode 1, watched a bit, and: huh? It’s in Kawasaki? Interesting.
      In the second half of episode 1, a lot of landmarks were places I’m familiar with. Seeing everyday scenery turned into an anime stage on screen is a weird experience. Now I kind of have to keep watching.
      I’m up to episode 5 now. Great script by Hanada. High story density and the pacing feels reasonable.
      Production-wise: it’s 3D, but the visuals are comfortable. It uses 3D’s advantages well: rich micro-expressions. The visuals are actually a plus. Recommended.

      GIRLS BAND CRY pilgrimage, scheduled immediately

    • 夜晚的水母不會游泳
      One of the three big April originals, and yet another band show.
      Starting with TikTok, influencers, idols, and illustrators kind of triggered my “uh-oh” alarm.
      I held on and kept watching. High schoolers talking about life, ideals, confusion… there’s a certain beauty to “forcing sorrow for new lyrics”.
      Compared to GIRLS BAND CRY, the conflicts here feel too weightless. Another “cute girls doing cute things” show. Not that interesting.
      I watched two episodes. If it doesn’t take a big turn, I’ll drop it.

    • 怪人的沙拉碗
      New work by Hiraska Yomi. Interesting plot, cute heroine.
      Episode 3 discusses “inspiration scams”, a common tactic used by various religious groups in Japan.
      Maybe I just haven’t watched enough, but this is the first time I’ve seen such a serious social issue discussed directly in the story (the closest thing I can recall: in 化物语, the heroine’s family goes bankrupt from donating too much to a religious group).
      Production-wise: resources are limited, but you can tell the team is trying to make it more interesting rather than giving up. Nice.

    • Unnamed Memory
      The original novel is pretty famous, but I haven’t read it.
      According to bgm comments, the anime adaptation isn’t great: it skips too much and becomes hard to follow.
      Probably better to read the novel.

    • 声优广播的台前幕后
      The appeal is watching the two heroines bicker. The visuals scream “low budget” everywhere, but the story is still kind of interesting, so I can keep going.

    • 狼与香辛料
      I went to a screening last month and watched episodes 1-4. Planning to start the new version from episode 5. Hope I won’t “go miao miao miao” and never finish (
      Holo’s design in the new version feels younger and cuter. The old version seems more melancholic. Saw a comparison image on bgm.

      Some comments also say the new version’s character design and story are closer to the original novel. Different strengths, I guess (but the OP is definitely better in the old one. Too classic).

    • 京吹3
      I watched a movie last month, but haven’t watched the TV version yet. I’ll definitely watch it someday (

    • 怪兽8号
      Production and music are good. The OP visuals look “mysteriously impressive”, the ED visuals are obviously lazy.
      The story hasn’t had anything particularly exciting yet. The male lead is constantly making horny jokes. I haven’t found other highlights.
      The male lead + male #2 best-buddy combo is there, but the male lead’s image is kind of weak, so “fujobait” is hard to sell.
      I still don’t get why they picked this kind of character.

    • 恋语轻唱/ささやくように恋を唄う
      The manga is known for its art, but the anime is… hard to describe. Not very interested.

    • 无职转生
      Mushoku is back again, but nothing has really popped off yet. I’ll let it pile up and binge later.

    • 从Lv2开始开外挂的前勇者候补过着悠哉异世界生活
      Isekai “toilet paper”, until I saw the OP of episode 2
      Premium isekai toilet paper. Straight-up character selling. The Kugimiya effect. Must-watch every week (

    • 单间，光照尚好，附带天使
      Character selling. It’s watchable.

    • 贵族凭鉴定技能扭转人生
      Isekai toilet paper. Just watch the parts with the mage.

    • THE NEW GATE
      Isekai toilet paper.
      The first 5 minutes speedrun an SAO script, then it turns into isekai. The only thing keeping me watching is the elf maid.

  • Continuing

    • 迷宫饭/ダンジョン飯
      Stable performance in all aspects. Great work. Recommended.

Others

Recent TV/movies. I’ll try not to spoil.

  • 奥本海默
    Japan finally got this movie. 3 hours long. My butt hurt from sitting.
    As someone with face blindness, there were too many characters and I couldn’t tell who was who.

  • 空中杀手/The Sky Crawlers
    Directed by Oshii Mamoru. An older film. I don’t think I really understood it.

Random Thoughts

Experience or Taking Photos?

I saw a tweet recently. Roughly: when you’re young, you think memories should stay in your head rather than constantly taking pictures. But after 40, your memory fades a lot, and in the end only photos remain. So now you regret not taking more photos when you were younger.

私が20才前後の若き時、海外へ行って「思い出は写真なんかじゃなく、自分の記憶に留めておきたい。」と強く思っていて、そんなに写真を撮らなかったんですよ。　40才半ばを過ぎた今、記憶力が大変おぼつかなくなって、「結局残るのは写真だけ。」を座右の銘にして生きている。　参考にしてください。
https://twitter.com/dounagauncle/status/1777916611527311387

I do have some doubts about taking photos.
At last year’s fireworks festival, I was busy taking photos and didn’t really enjoy the fireworks show in front of me.
I did get some nice photos in the end, but between being present and saving memories via photos, I feel like I over-valued the latter. Taking photos took over and became the goal.
That feels a bit off, but I’m still not sure how to choose between “focus on the experience” vs “focus on photos”.

That tweet makes a point.
I’m not someone who’s confident in my memory anyway, or rather, I’m very confident in how forgetful I am.
One reason I started this blog is also recording:

  • Record what I think and feel. It’ll probably be interesting to revisit years later.
  • Record tinkering experiences. Might be useful in the future.
  • The monthly recap series I recently started is also a record of what I did each month, as a small-stage review.

After buying a camera, I sometimes look back at previous photos. Compared to text, images really feel different.
Text requires you to write things down, and what you write basically defines what you’ll be able to recall later.
Taking photos is much easier: press the shutter and the whole scene is preserved. Later, just looking at the photo can instantly take you back: “oh, I went here that day”, “I was doing this back then”.
And it’s not only vivid memories. Sometimes you even discover small details in the photo that you didn’t notice at the time. It’s like treasure hunting.

So maybe I’ll take more photos in the future.

Output

Reading: The Mythical Man-Month
In April I finally organized my notes on The Mythical Man-Month as promised.
This book is worth rereading. I’ll come back and read it again in a year.

Travel

Cherry Blossoms: Nika-ryo Yosui Sakura-lined Path

Early April, the cherry blossoms finally bloomed. Grabbed the camera and took photos!
Nika-ryo Yosui Sakura-lined Path is a long little canal lined with cherry trees. There are wooden viewing platforms by the water. Flowing water and cherry blossoms, with people sitting here and there enjoying the view. Very comfy (except that one office worker under the cherry trees working overtime on a laptop, kind of ruined the vibe).


The cherry blossoms look nice with the light-colored buildings behind them. Only downside: the weather was a bit overcast. Blue sky and clouds would’ve been perfect.


Close-up (there’s a tiny flying bug on the flower on the left)


Cherry blossoms go well with all kinds of cars.


Saw a few trees in full bloom at night. Really lucky.


Sneaking a shot of someone taking photos of cherry blossoms.


Besides cherry blossoms, I also saw a few white camellias. Very pretty.

Walked the whole day, took a ton of photos. Big win.

Pilgrimage: Girls Band Cry

Everyday scenery showing up in anime, holy land descends around me.
I already finished the pilgrimage for the first five episodes. While taking photos, I realized the backgrounds are way too accurate, to the point I suspect they just used real photos + filters (some details do differ).

I’ll organize it later as a “water” blog post: Pilgrimage: Girls Band Cry (Kawasaki), currently in production.

Update 2024/05/23
Anime Pilgrimage: GIRLS BAND CRY officially published

Misc

Nothing else to add, I think.

Closing

So far my plan for the monthly recap was: at the beginning of the next month, create a new file and recap the previous month while the memory is still fresh.
But… in reality: January recap was delayed by half a month, February recap was delayed by more than half a month, March recap was delayed by a whole month.
This kind of stable procrastination doesn’t feel sustainable.

I’m going to change how I track monthly recaps: create the file at the start of the month, outline it first, then gradually fill in content over the month.

Writing it only in the next month means the workload isn’t that huge, but it’s not trivial either: collecting and organizing takes time.
Non-trivial work + not-that-high priority has made the completion time of the first three monthly recaps in 2024 steadily stretch longer and longer.
If I create the file at the start of the month, outline first, and fill slowly, maybe I can break the workload down and reduce the pressure.

And while logging the past few months, this happened a lot: sometimes I’d have thoughts that could go into the Monthly Log (like seasonal anime comments?), but since I hadn’t created the file yet, I had nowhere to write them down, and those “optional thoughts” would just slip away.
If I create the file at the start of the month, those thoughts will have a place to go.

Yeah, that seems very scientific and reasonable. May recap, file created,堂々.