Another rough week at work means another somewhat unsatisfying week for reading. I think I managed to catch up at the end but I’ll have to do better next week.

Manga: Finally got around to reading チェンソーマン vol. 14. It was alright. Apparently my sister really liked this “arc” but it felt pretty short and aside from one scene it didn’t feel all that special to me. The very end of the book seemed like it was setting up something cool though so I’m still looking forward to reading on. Also read 殺し愛 vol. 10. I’m still frustrated by the death fakeouts — despite the title literally having 殺し in it, I never actually expect anyone to die. I’m getting pretty close to the end so hopefully the stakes get raised a little at least.

I fell behind pretty hard on 伊坂幸太郎エッセイ集. Between work being crazy and a few essays in a row that were just pretty boring to me, it was hard to find the motivation to read it. Fortunately I think I’ve gotten past the worst of it and I read a little over 10% of it yesterday alone. Standout stories this week:

• 父の犬好き: on the author’s father’s love of dogs, including his tendency to carry dogfood directly in his pockets in case he should have the opportunity to use it.
• いいんじゃない？: a sweet story about how the author mustered up the courage to broach the topic of fulltime writing with his wife, and how she immediately supported him in his dream.
• 特別料理: about a crucial mishap while the author was trying to level up his cooking from “just throw some vegetables and meat in a pan with salt and pepper and it’ll probably be fine”.

I listened to all of 銀の椅子 (8:32, high focus) and it was alright. I do feel a bit of fatigue with these Narnia books but there are always moments that get me emotional (partially from nostalgia, partially from what I feel is the author’s heart coming through in the translation). Came across some 遊ばせ言葉 and てたもれ for the first time in the wild, pretty crazy stuff.

Finally for anime, 鬼滅の刃 ep. 2-3, 地獄楽 ep. 3, and スキップとローファー ep. 2-4, and the 推しの子 premier. I have to say I felt like 推しの子 was a bit slow towards the middle but I’m definitely excited to see how it progresses. スキップとローファー is probably going to be my favorite show of the season. It’s so cute and warm and there are so many good characters. 結月 is such a sweetie I love her!!!