Ishura Volume 1 and 2 by Keiso, Illustrations by Kureta. Translated by David Musto. Published by Yen On (Yen Press).

The Apothecary Diaries Volume 13 by Natsu Hyuuga, Illustrations by Touko Shino. Translated by Kevin Steinbach. Published by J-Novel Club.

I am literally so sad that I'm caught up to this series...

Volume 13 is a short story volume, and it's almost entirely from the point of view of the other characters. Since the main crew has been gone for a year, this volume catches readers up with Lahan, Yao, En'en, and even her sisters back at the brothel like Meimei and Joka. Even though it's not explored in relation to Maomao, there does seem to be some plot moving regarding a "meeting of the clans" that will happen in the next book.

There's an ongoing theme of relationships in this book. Meimei found "someone" to buy out her contract. Joka is listless, and is aware that she needs to accomplish the same thing. Lahan is living out other mens' dreams of a harem rom-com, to hilarious effect. Lahan's Brother curses Lahan for his good luck, while thinking about his own marriage prospects. Yao has a crush on the most un-eligible eligible bachelor imaginable. There's of course the drama between Basen and Lishu, still unresolved but with Maamei's intervention, more developments are promised to come. And of course, Jinshi and Maomao almost move too quickly, which is rare for the two. 

I would have thought this book was published on Valentine's day (it did release on February 2023 in Japan). But of course, there's intrigue and a murder to solve. 

I enjoyed the breather this volume offered, and it offered great insights into the other characters. It also felt fresh seeing the effect that Maomao has had on other people. While she thinks so humbly of herself, others can (rightfully) see the effort she puts in, and her true strengths.

Now begins the painful wait until the next volume. Volume 14 is being published at the end of May, and Volume 15 will take another couple months to get released. After that, J-novel Club will be completely caught up to the Japanese volumes (yay?). 

Hyuuga-sensei, please write faster! ლ(¯ロ¯"ლ)

This article came up on my feed about how game publishers may abandon physical games, as tariffs in the US would probably make it completely unprofitable. Gaming in general has been moving toward what people might say is an “All Digital Future”, and I dislike it heavily. We don’t really own digital purchases.

I like collecting games. My game collection currently includes Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, DS, 3DS, and Nintendo Switch Games. (Technically I have some PS3 and PS4 games, but they’re not part of my collection since they were bought for me, and they’re stored with my sibling’s other PlayStation games.)

I appreciate the artwork on the cover, the mini booklets/manuals, and all the little extra goodies, such as stickers. I love pre-ordering games from Japan, as there’s usually an extra little something they include. One time, I even got the full soundtrack as a pre-order bonus with 2064: Read Only Memories! I ended up loving the music for that game, so being able to rip it to flac and listen to it on-the-go in high definition quality was awesome.

There’s something magical about popping in a little cartridge and just starting the game. This doesn’t always work out, since some games are horribly incomplete on launch, but it isn’t always this way. There are many games that are feature complete. Otherwise, there are “complete” editions that you can wait to buy.

I have a gaming PC as well, which is currently being used to play Monster Hunter Wilds. While I’ve been enjoying the game, it just doesn’t feel as fun as the day I opened the Monster Hunter Rise deluxe edition, and added the included Kamura pin to my itabag. I proudly displayed the Magnamalo amiibo, and stuck the stickers everywhere. And once I was done with the game, I got to put it next to Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, the game that started my love for this series.

With Wilds, I simply paid ahead of time, and downloaded the game the day before. The day of, I was able to load in my save game from the beta, and start playing. While I am enjoying the game, this experience is just missing the “specialness” that I had with the previous games in the franchise.

Even the extra goodies in the PC Collector’s Edition of Metaphor Refantazio doesn’t make a difference, the game is just a steam code!

There’s no fun in collecting digital games. If gaming moves towards becoming completely digital, then I will simply wait for sales. There’s no incentive at all to buy a game full price at launch. I will simply buy a game right before I intend to play it.

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the Switch 2, since it’s looking to be the last bastion of physical games.  Once that console cycle is over, if everything is completely digital, then I will wait. I have such a large collection of physical games in my backlog, that I might abstain from buying new games at the pace that I have been currently.

I have a lot of games to beat anyways.

edit 2025/05/06: It looks like a majority of third-party games will be game key cards, which means that I’ll have to make a decision about physical collecting a lot sooner than I wanted to :/

A Ballad of Sword and Wine: Qiang Jin Jiu Vol. 1, Written by Tang Jiu Qing, Illustrated by [St]. Published by Seven Seas. Translated by Jia, Xia, and amixy.

We all love a good enemies to lovers plot-line. I was really impressed with this series. The story hooked me right from the beginning, and I wanted to see how Shen Zechuan navigated all the issues. I don't have a good read on what his motivations are right now, other than surviving and maybe getting revenge (but against who?).

Surprisingly, it seems like quite a bit of the political intrigue wraps up in this book. But knowing that there are going to be 8 books total, I'm really excited to see where things go next. The development of the "relationship" between Xiao Chiye and Shen Zechuan was fun to read since they always kept each other guessing. I don't think that's going to change anytime soon, as they barely set aside their animosity when interacting with each other.

There are some really hard scenes to read, mostly due to the torture at the beginning and one scene of animal abuse. It definitely had the intended effect, but do keep that in mind.

You definitely need to pay attention while reading this book, as there are dozens of important named characters, but I actually like that. I got sucked into the intrigue right away.

I think this could easily become one of my new favorite series. I already have books 2 and 3, but I'm going to pace myself and read something more lighthearted next.

I previously wrote a blog post about how I've got my current setup with dreamwidth. I liked DW's tag structure, but I hated how SSGs made you write posts in Markdown.

After getting over that hurdle (I still find it kind of annoying), the next biggest problem was finding a blog theme that I liked. I've checked out a bunch of themes from Hugo, Jekyll, Hexo, etc. but I couldn't really find anything that was simple AND attractive, until now.

I found this absolutely gorgeous Fuwari theme from Saicaca.

After cloning the github repo, I found that editing the config file isn't too hard. Most of the code is readable, and everything is preloaded. I'm already pretty happy with how everything looks, so I've decided to finally commit to this blog instead of forwarding http://blog.pomnavi.net to my dreamwidth archive.

I still don't like having to write in markdown, but at least the blog is nice to look at now. All my posts will still be archived on DW because I don't trust myself not to screw something up, like the test run I had with 11ty and Hugo.

I hate the experience I had with SSGs so far (especially with trying to hook-up a 3rd party CMS), but I'm going to try straight markdown for now. If I need rich text conversions, I'll probably look up another tool online.

This has been a really annoying saga, but I'm gonna keep sticking with this until it breaks.

Agents of the Four Seasons, Dance of Spring Part I and II, Written by Kana Akatsuki, Illustrated by Suoh. Published by Yen Press. Translated by Sergio Avila

Agents of the Four Seasons is a fantasy series written by Kana Akatsuki, who is well known for the Violet Evergarden series, which is highly regarded. I haven't watched Violet Evergarden yet (the novel hasn't been licensed, though there is a fan translation), but I know that it's a well-regarded as a highly emotional and beautiful series, and worth the watch.

I really liked the art on this once, so I decided to pick it up physically. Dance of Spring Part I and II are one complete story released in two parts. In Japan, they were released simultaneously, but their release was split up by Yen Press. 

The story is about a world similar to our own, in which natural phenomena like the four seasons and the day/night cycle are managed by people (agents) with god-like abilities. The main character for these two books is a girl named Hinagiku Kayo, a 16 year old girl who is the Agent of Spring in the country of Yamato (Japan). She is recovering from a traumatic incident involving her kidnapping, and the same thing happens to another agent. The characters band together to save the other agent, and reconcile their past differences. 

Lots of trigger warnings apply to this series, as the characters are dealing with some heavy emotions, such as feelings of inadequacy, abandonment, confinement, suicidal ideation, etc. Despite all this, and while it may be a tear-jerker of a story, it's still one of hope and determination. Of moving past trauma, and letting love into your heart again. 

And there's a lot of love to be found here; Love between Agent and Guards (like Hinagiku and her Guard Sakura), love between parent and child, and love between family members. And of course, there is also a romantic love between the Agents of Spring and Winter. 

I wouldn't say that this is a romance driven series, as it focuses primarily on the plot, but since these feelings are integral to the character's motivations and their development, it feels included naturally. 

And I can't lie, there were several moments that brought me to tears. The traumatic backstories of the characters are recounted through harrowing flashbacks, and some truly terrible stuff happens to them. But it's not just the what but the how the story is told, and Kana Akatsuki's writing truly delivers that emotional journey. 

This felt wonderfully complete on it's own, and the next books focus on other characters. Although it's a hard read at times, I really am looking forward to continuing the series. The next books will cover the Agent of Summer, who I really liked in this book, so I'm excited to see where the story goes next.