Welcome back to the Monthly Favorites! This month I actually did a fair amount of behind-the-scenes work. I’m not quite ready to official announce most of it, yet. But I just wanted to share that I am still investing in my blog and all that good stuff. In doing so I might miss a notification or two so I do apologize for that.
Otherwise as always, let’s go ahead and jump into the full feature!
Anime
Kicking off our anime enteries, is actually about a cartoon. You know, Western anime. This being provided by none other than youtuber Ray Mona with their video “Discovering The Lost Saint Seiya Cartoon | The Secret Stories of Saint Seiya Part 2“. Which wow, I was not expecting the results, and Guardians of the Cosmos, an inspiration, rip-off or something actually looked and sounded pretty interesting taking it at the face value of being pretty original. If you haven’t checked it out, please do so! And maybe one day we’ll find out more about that lost live-action, especially since the modern one is now in theaters in Japan.
Another youtube follow-up is “Classics of Japanese Horror: The Nightmarish Worlds of Hideyuki Kikuchi” from the youtube thegamingmuse. It’s a fascinating look at Hideyuki Kikuchi’s body of works, from the history leading up to his publication and analysis of characters and storytelling devices. A very through examination, well worth watching.
Manga
On to the manga section is Animehead’s Retroworld, is a very heartfelt piece called “Leiji Matsumoto: A Tribute“. It’s been a hard year of loss, but I think this piece sends Keiji Matsumoto off incredibly well.
From Mangakast, we have “Alice the 19th (Volume 1) by Watase Yu“, as a nostalgic series for me, it was nice to know other people are still discovering this series all these years later!
JDramas and Movies
Our first post for this section is from Beneath the Tangles with “First Impression: Kimi ni Todoke (Netflix, Live-Action)“. This is in regards to the latest 2023 adaptation by the way.
Another very heartfelt piece this time from sndrs reviews is “SAKAMOTO RYUICHI 坂本 龍一“. It’s crushing that another influential figure has passed away, but this review talks not just about the film (a biographical), but about his music as well.
From youtuber KyotoRobato is “The “Ghost” Caught in a Japanese TV Drama” – it seems like a mix of lost media, since I can’t find anything regarding the drama, and a ghostie it’s a mix of things I enjoy. KyotoRobato does a mix of true crime and other usual cases from Japan. Be sure to check them out if you’re interesting in that sort of thing.
Off of MAL, from user Greenlemon is “Akuma to Love Song (2021): A Review“. It’s a really unique take on reviewing the series, so I highly recommend giving it a read to expand your ideas of what a review can look like!
Music
Kicking off our final section is Appears with “25 years of Ayumi Hamasaki fandom: An interview with Delirium Zer0“. Which is a delightful review of fandom, Ayumi Hamasaki, music and the culture surrounding JPop focusing on just one artist. Absolutely a must-read.
As always, I’ll send you off with what I’ve been listening to lately – 2023 emo revival it seems!
As always, I’ll see you next month with another installment! Until then!
Phoenix Talks Pop Culture Japan 
Thanks for the mention! Hard to believe it’s been over one month since the news.
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You’re absolutely welcome! It’s incredibly weird to know it’s been a month, and at the same time… only a month.
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In the past couple of months I’d slowly been introducing my co-worker who I share an office with to Emo/Punk Rock from the 2010s (which is basically what I grew up on /subsequently the last of Western music that I listened to, LOL) to the point where I’ve since completely indoctrinated him into it and now all we ever play in the background while we’re at work are stuff like old FOB and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus XD
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That sounds like so much fun actually! I’d love to do something like that for my co-workers but they’re all pretty conservative lol. So hurray for old FOB (this recent album is really good though too!), and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus!
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