April Media Favourites/Recommendations

Hey guys!

I recently came up with this idea for an additional series of monthly posts to do on here: a little recap of what I've been watching, reading and so on that can also double up as a list of recommendations! My typical monthly update posts usually focus on video stuff, so I thought it would make sense to separate this out, and hopefully it's something you'll find interesting. There's no saying stuff I cover here won't crop up on my channel and end up being discussed in more detail there, but this is an opportunity for me to highlight the many things that won't fall into that category and generally recap what media I've been enjoying (I'll leave out stuff I was more meh about for now). As you'll see, these lists will be fairly eclectic!

Aria the Natural

Aria is, very simply, the story of Akari Mizunashi--goldolier-in-training. Aria the Animation left a huge impression on me when I watched it as a kid, and I was young enough that it tangibly shaped my worldview, turning my attention to the healing power of nature and the simple yet essential lesson to treasure the small happinesses in life. It was an instant favourite, and I vowed to savour the rest of what the series had to offer me. Fast forward over a decade, and that mindset had led me to simply never continue my journey through Neo Venezia. Recently I've been trying to get back to the many series I've given this "save for a rainy day" treatment, and I've really enjoyed just watching an episode of the Natural here and there, as and when I need the comfort it offers in such abundance. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it feels every bit as magical now as it did back then, with the beautifully-scored but quiet, drawn-out shots of simply-animated scenery creating an almost meditative experience rarely found in anime.

Aria is a series I've dithered over whether to make a video about only because I feel like so much of what I'd have to say about it is both obvious and has likely already been covered by others. As a lover of and frequent visitor to Italy myself, it's a welcome salve while we wait for the world to return to normal and for travel to become possible again. Maybe, just maybe, I'll return to the idea of a video once I can make that next trip and capture all the B-roll footage a show like this deserves to be depicted alongside.

Genshiken

As you'll know if you saw my post at the start of the year, numbered amongst my list of planned videos is a tribute to my favourite seiyuu, Satsuki Yukino. As such, I've been taking my time making my way through more of her filmography. This endeavour is what led me to the absolute joy that is Genshiken.

While the first season is pretty rough around the edges, Genshiken is a story I became far more emotionally invested in than I had anticipated. The show follows a group of students who meet through their school's otaku culture club, and explores their many feelings regarding both their hobbies and one another. I could probably give this one an entire video of its own, but its more mature handling of romance and sex in particular are two of the things I'm looking forward to discussing in tandem with the rest of Satsuki Yukino's work specifically.

Genshiken won't be for everyone, but I do recommend it for those interested in seeing more anime about young adults as opposed to teenagers, as well as more candid exploration of otaku culture and what it means to be a true hobbyist and nerd. Oh, and it's hilarious. Think a bit of Welcome to the NHK!, a bit of Shirobako, and even some of the topics I covered in my VOCALOID video.

If Found...

If Found... is a beautiful, few-hour long visual novel I read most of in a single evening after getting sucked completely into its world. It's one of a number of visual novels we've seen emerge from new, non-Japanese indie studios over the last few years—a very welcome development.

The thing that really drew me to If Found..., though, was its setting—the west of Ireland. I'm entirely Irish by blood and just got back from my latest four-month stint in this very part of the country as it's also where my parents currently live. Before this, I spent my childhood visiting my grandparents there after they moved out of our home in London, where I grew up listening to them speaking their native language and having instilled in me a powerful awareness of my cultural heritage. Needless to say, it was uncanny to see a place so intimately familiar to me realised so vividly through the words of a complete stranger, in the last medium I had expected that from. If Found... follows Kasio, a trans woman, and is the achingly painful, stunningly creative and beautifully executed story of a family trying to mend its fissures. Check it out when you feel like your heart can take it.

Nice White Parents

Now for something a bit different: a podcast! I love podcasts, but don't often find the opportunity to listen to them—with the exception of literally anything by anybody who had anything to do with the seminal Serial. The original series drew me in for being an actual half-decent piece of true crime media, but the execution kept me coming back for everything else the team has done since, regardless of the topic. I'm only on the second episode, but I think it's accurate to say that NWP explores the impact of segregation as enforced by New York City's public school system, and how this has essentially continued on into the modern day. It's a fascinating and important piece of journalism that I'm learning a lot from.

Silence: The Power of Quiet in a World Full of Noise

Next is a book. I don't find much time for reading these days outside of my studies, but Thich Nhat Hanh's work is the perfect antidote to that. Hanh is a world-renowned Zen Buddhist monk whose books aim to make the tradition's teachings accessible even to those with no prior knowledge. I've been dipping in and out of stuff in this vein for the best part of the last ten years after learning about mindfulness from an old therapist, but nothing has felt so easy to recommend even to the uninitiated. Silence focuses, as the title says, on finding inner peace and quiet in an increasingly overwhelming world. It's really been helping me recently, and if it even remotely sounds like something that might help you too, I definitely recommend picking it up.

Summer Wars

I've never been much of a film person, but I made the decision a little over a year ago to try and start getting around to all the classics I'd been missing out on in the anime sphere because of that. This was what led me to Mirai, and subsequently resulted in my becoming an instant Mamoru Hosoda fan. Since then, I've been treating myself to a film of his here and there, and this month's pick was Summer Wars, which starts out with some fake dating escapades and ends with stakes through the roof. I'm still digesting this one, but it only continued to solidify my belief that Mamoru Hosoda knows how to capture family in a way very few people do. I loved how the film explored the clash of tradition and modernity, and Summer Wars was all in all as heart-warming as it was fun. A great pick-me-up and probably best watched with others.

Otherwise, some YouTube videos I enjoyed this month (or remember enjoying, I only came up with the idea to make this post two weeks ago):

the dark side of "blowing up" by amandamaryanna

Why Do Popular YouTubers Stop Uploading? by tiffanyferg

Why You Should Read: Umineko - When They Cry by NezumiVA

How Coded Character Design Works (Dragon Maid Blew up on Twitter and Everyone has a Hot Take) by Noralities

That's me signing off for now, and I'll be back in about a fortnight with video updates and a new podcast!