003 ☆

[tinkaton]

☆ I finished reading Bloom into You! It grew on me by the end, I enjoyed the main characters' individual development and the conclusion to their story. It had a happy ending, of course, and it was sweet getting to see the little time-skip at the end. Plus the art is very pretty, so I'd definitely recommend the series to anyone looking for a f/f romance with a little high school drama. I especially liked the message that love isn't just feelings, it's a choice you make over and over. Their struggles/character arcs felt more real to me than those stories with the grand love-at-first-sight style romances (which are very fun! but not particularly realistic).

Not sure if I'll bother watching the anime since I've just got so much other anime I want to watch haha, but it looks like there's a light novel side story with Sayaka as the protag which I may look into, I really felt for her while I was reading so I'd love to read more about her.

☆ I also finished my Crooked Kingdom buddy read with my friend! Still such a good duology. If anything I was even more emotionally wrecked by this series the second time around than the first lmao, I literally cried at the end of Inej's final POV chapter. Ketterdam is such an interesting setting, it's like a character all on its own, so while CK felt slow at times compared to how the momentum of SoC was always moving forward it was worth it to see all the character development/relationship growth/etc. I'd love a third book with the Crows if Bardugo ever wanted to go back to this series. (I'm not particularly enamored with her current series, I'd be absolutely thrilled if she did another Grishaverse book next lol. I was floored when I found out Bardugo wanted to do at least 5 books in the Ninth House series, like first of all is Alex going to fail college and have to repeat a year or something. What kind of plot could possibly keep this going for 5+ books. BUT I digress.)

Anyway yeah we're trucking along and have started on King of Scars, though I'm only a couple chapters in so far. I've realized I barely remember anything that happens in these last two books?? I have a few specific memories of plot points that I THINK are probably from the second book? So it's like I'm reading this one totally anew so far. My buddy read pal didn't like Zoya in the original trilogy so I'm hoping these books turn her opinion around because I love Zoya.

☆ And lastly, Honkai: Star Rail release! I actually haven't even downloaded it yet lol I was waiting to see if they were going to announce a Playstation release date but as far as I can see they haven't. So I guess I'll just download on PC to start and if they finally do release a Playstation version I can switch over. I haven't played the other Honkai game(s?) but I do play Genshin and Star Rail looks neat so I definitely want to check it out. Anyone else planning to play?

Comments

[moontrips]

I can't say I personally understand the appeal of those gacha RPG games... perhaps I'm just slightly too old for 'em, idk. I suppose my interest in RPGs overall isn't high anymore, so there's that too. but I hope you enjoy it

[tinkaton]

I could certainly do without the gacha elements for sure but I never spend money on gacha so I just learn to make do with what fate wills me to get lmao. I am easily charmed by silly little anime character designs so stuff like Genshin and Star Rail always draw me in (being free is a plus too haha). RPGs are definitely all about the characters and story to me so I'm more lenient about the gameplay unless it's truly super boring or terrible, and stuff like Genshin are never-ending releases of new neat characters so I think that's probably the biggest draw for people.

[moontrips]

fair and valid! if I were interested, I wouldn't spend either. I heard Genshin isn't too bad about the gacha stuff, but not sure how true that is.
yeah, I'd have liked stuff like that as a teen but my tastes are super different now. :')

[sultrybutdamaged]

Bloom into you sounds interesting. “Love is a choice you make over and over” is literally always what I’m looking for.

[tinkaton]

YMMV based on whether you care for high school romance stories haha but I thought it was cute and pretty well done, dramatic enough to be interesting but not like, American teen TV show dramatic. While it's obviously a romance the main characters' personal character development was actually just as important, which was nice to see. It's 8 volumes but it's a pretty quick read so if you can get your hands on it I'd definitely recommend it! edit: just realized I never actually said anywhere it's a manga lmao so that's why it's 8 volumes!! so not a massive undertaking to read haha

[meikuree]

I especially liked the message that love isn't just feelings, it's a choice you make over and over. Their struggles/character arcs felt more real to me than those stories with the grand love-at-first-sight style romances (which are very fun! but not particularly realistic).

This sounds absolutely like my jam and now I'm all eyes emoji at Bloom Into You -- I'm with you on preferring stories about love and relationships which take effort as opposed to stories about love stories with cosmic importance. I have lots of other media I need to watch/look at, but I'm tempted to pick it up now :D

out of curiosity, what anime shows do you want to watch?

[tinkaton]

It's a very cute, down-to-earth manga! I like the big dramatic romances and soulmates and stuff in like, fantasy stories etc. but for a regular high school drama it's nice when things are just, well, normal. I definitely recommend checking out the Bloom into You manga at some point, it's very sweet. :D

Right now I'm still working my way through Lycoris Recoil and then I just discovered Gundam: The Witch from Mercury is airing its second season already so I want to catch up with that next. I've also got my eye on Buddy Daddies since it's the same sort of premise as Spy x Family which I love, and a lot of people on my timeline seemed to enjoy it haha. I've got a ton of other stuff on the to watch list but that's the top of my list at the moment I think.