Like The Tomato
just me, my books, and my journals
- Title: Lord of the Flies
- Author: William Golding
- Genre: YA Fiction, Allegory
- Pages: 190
- Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
- Published: 1954
What happens when a group of kids crash-landed on an inhabited island? Well, let me just say that they would not be peacefully waiting at the beach to be rescued. I honestly do not like rowdy kids. And aside from Piggy, the rest of the kids are just rowdy, some are bullies. Yeah, I was aggravated by some of the situations in this little novel. Of course, this is not just some kind of adventure book about preteen rowdy boys. No way. To the core, this is a story of the fall of society. This book takes a closer look at how human nature shapes society.
I found myself aggravated as the story progressed. From the bullying that Piggy constantly got from these boys to the increasing descent to savagery and cruelty. It was hard to see some of these kids lose their morality. For the most part, I forgot that these were kids because when it all comes down to it, I think people – adults – would respond the same way when put in this kind of situation.
Now, I am not about to dissect this novel and discuss the symbolism of a novel like this. I am not planning on writing an essay ala English writing class. One thing that I can say though, this is a thought-provoking one. And that is what I enjoyed the most about reading this book. I am glad that I never had to read this in class when I was in my teens. The subject matter is dark and the book definitely has violence in it. I mean, reading it now as an adult was difficult (maybe I’m just sheltered) and all I could think of was “This was meant for children”? Young adult? Maybe.
I need to read more classics like this.
- Anime Title: High Card
- Episodes: 12 episodes
- Where to Watch: Crunchyroll
- Publisher: TMS Entertainment Co., Ltd.
My boyfriend picked this anime for us to watch. Not that I was not interested in it. I just simply neglected to add it to our watchlist. I am glad that we got to check this one out. We had fun.
What is this about? In the Kingdom of Fouland, there exists a secret 52 deck cards. It’s called “X-playing cards”, which give the users special abilities. Though originally held by the royal family, the cards were stolen and scattered throughout the kingdom. Fast forward to the present day, where we are introduced to Finn, a thief trying to raise funds to save the orphanage he calls home. Finn decides to try his luck at a casino to gain money quickly, where he gets into a squabble and meets people with special abilities. During this encounter, Finn learns how to use the 2 of Spades, the card he has been holding. This leads to his induction into High Card, a group of people assigned by the royal family to recover the 52 playing cards while disguised as salesmen for the Pinochle car company. Of course, High Card is not alone in this quest. There is another group, Klondike mafia family, who wants the cards for nefarious purposes. And the story goes from there.
This anime is definitely action-packed. A lot of cat and mouse chases trying to get a hold of the 52 cards – who will get to this first and all that. It was fun. This season focused a lot more on Finn Oldman and Chris Redgrave – two members of the High Card. Sure, we got to see the other members – Leo, Wendy, Vijay and Bernard – but the season heavily focused on Finn’s and Chris’ background story. Their motivations for joining High Card. Their friendship and all that.
Between Finn and Chris, it was Chris’ story that made the show for me. Not to say that Finn is not a likable character. He is – with his main motivation in doing things and eventually joining High Card to save the orphanage that he grew up in. But Chris to me is a very fleshed-out character. We were only allowed to see the surface of this flirty womanizing character at the beginning. But as the season progressed, we got to see what he was hiding behind that mask of his. Yes, it was a mask. He exhibited this noncommittal persona because ultimately as revealed in the season finale, there was no use in getting attached to anyone. And that in itself made Chris so real to me.
The friendship between Finn and Chris also progressed naturally. Sure, they may not admit it outright but they are buddies. They rely on each other a lot. And the fact of the matter that these two understands each other is something so beautiful to see. Of course, the fujoshi in me wants something more to develop but I mean, that’s just me.
Season two has been approved for this anime, and I am hoping to see more of the other members of High Card. We got some background on Leo and Wendy, but I want to see a bit more. We didn’t really know anything about Vijay aside from his ability. So hopefully these characters and Bernard as well could get a more fleshed-out story in the coming season. I can also do without Sugar Peace. I cannot stand that detective. She can just be nixed in season two. She is aggravatingly annoying because of her decisions. I cannot.
This is a fun anime. It’s pretty fast-paced with action in pretty much every episode. It does have a heart as well, which elevates the plot. The soundtrack is pretty good too. I definitely love the opening and ending songs. My boyfriend did not seem to mind letting me play the opening and ending songs for almost all the episodes.
- Anime Title: Tomo-chan Is a Girl!
- Episodes: 13 episodes
- Where to Watch: Crunchyroll
- Publisher: Aniplex of America
Since I saw this anime on the list of winter anime, I knew I would watch it. Why not? Finally, a tomboy in a romance anime. In this anime, we follow Tomo Aizawa (a tomboy) who has been in love with her best friend, Junichiro Kubota. This follows Tomo as she tries to get Junichiro to see her as more than one of the boys.
The comedy here stemmed from Tomo trying to be “girly” so that Junichiro would notice her. This was due to the fact that her other best friend, Misuzu Gundou, told her that she needed to be more traditionally girly. Honestly, this was the only thing that I found a bit meh about the anime. It was funny. Seeing Tomo out of her element and trying to navigate the girl world was chaotically comedic. Though I laughed, I just found it a bit difficult to agree that Tomo needed to change herself and be girly.
Anyway, Gundou as a character was interesting to me. Why? She seemed like a dark character to me. A lot of girls were scared of Tomo because she was tall and loud and could kick a dude’s ass without batting an eye. But honestly, Gundou was the scary one. She was cunning and almost sadistic. I loved her devilish smirk that often graces the screen. She was often seen messing with Tomo and Junichiro.
There were some characters that my boyfriend and I did not know how to feel about at the beginning – like Carol. But it did not really take away from our enjoyment of the anime. It was really nice to see the progression of Tomo’s and Junichiro’s relationship. I mean, it was young love. What not to enjoy about it?
Overall, this was a pretty good romance, slice-of-life anime about young love. We definitely enjoyed it. Would I watch it again? Maybe. I mean, it would not be my first choice of anime to rewatch. I want a season two though just to see what happens to this love story. Just note, if you’re going to give this one a try, watch the sub. The dub for Tomo sounded unnatural.
Since Chris and I found Filcuisine, we knew we would be back! This place was a drive for us. So we only get to think about visiting the place if we would be in the area. Well, it happened last weekend. We needed to get some stuff at HMart and this restaurant was in the same complex. Anyway, this was the third time we went here. The second time, we didn’t get to dine in. They were so busy at that time. But luckily, this weekend, we got there right as they opened.
We got new dishes this time around, except for the laing. Because we just loved that dish.
First Order: Crispy Pata. It was between this dish and Lechon Kawali. But I wanted more in a serving so I went with crispy pata. This was a roasted, then deep-fried pork hock. This was served with white rice. And this dish came with two dipping sauces – a spicy soy/vinegar with crushed garlic and Thai chili, and the lechon sauce. It was so good. And I think, Chris and I eating this dish made it look so good that the table next to us ordered it as well after asking the server what we were having. The skin was so crispy that we heard every crunch as we bite into it. Anything fried was a comfort for me. And this definitely hit the spot. It was what I needed.
Second Order: Ginisang Munggo. This was sauteed mung beans with pork chicharon and spinach. I was not expecting much really. I knew I wanted to try it out because we have not had this in years. And yeah, it was good. Really good. We had this white rice. Oh god. Yeah, I need to learn how to cook this. I really do.
Third Order: Beef Tapa Fried Rice. I wanted to try this because I ordered Tapsilog the second time we went here. And it was good. So I said, I loved the marinate they use for their tapa so I was definitely going to order the fried rice. This was fried rice with minced beef tapa, mixed veggies, and egg, flavored with sweet tapa seasoning. I know I said that the ginisang munggo and the laing matched well with the white rice. But having those dishes with this fried rice, elevated them. This was good. The servicing was huge so we were eating this fried rice the whole weekend.
And yes, we did have leftovers for all these dishes including the laing. So we were just going ham on Filipino food the whole weekend. And I loved it. We also got a dessert to take home called leche flan. OHMYGOD. It was definitely not good for me, but it was really good. It was creamy, it was the right sweetness, right consistency. It was really good. I wished we got two of them. And yes, we would be going back. I want to be a regular at that place. The server recognized us! And we’ve only been there three times!
- Title: The Lies I Tell
- Author: Julia Clark
- Genre: Domestic Thriller
- Pages: 320
- Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
- Published: 2022
I like a good thriller mystery. So it was no surprise why I picked this book up. I read the synopsis and it gave me Anna Delvey vibes. Conwoman came back to her home state not knowing that there was a reporter hell-bent on exposing her.
Meg was the con artist. Kat was the reporter. And this book basically revolves around their relationships. And their motivations for why they do things.
And with that, I found Kat’s motivations for exposing Meg a bit weak. Look, I love good a revenge story. And yes, Kat was exacting revenge on Meg for something that happened to her years ago. This situation eventually changed her life. And that was fine. But honestly, it was such a misplaced blame that I got annoyed every single time I was reading Kat’s chapters.
Meg’s chapters on the other hand were a delight to read. I was really glad that the book was able to convey her reasons and motivations so clearly. I enjoyed the flashbacks on her for sure. I am not surprised that I enjoyed her chapters a lot. I am kind of obsessed with heist things so her chapters were right up my alley. I definitely enjoyed her first and last cons the most. Although all her cons were satisfying.
Of course, since this was a thriller, there was a twist! Which I kind of figured out a lot sooner before the big reveal. I was in denial for the most part and refused to accept it. I was too invested.
I do not hate this book. I enjoyed it for the most part. I liked it enough to push through the book. I could’ve easily put it down and stopped reading it if I was not enjoying it. I just found it harder to go read through Kat’s chapters. It was muddled with misplaced blame and obsession almost. But other than that, I thought the book was fine.
- Anime Title: Haikyu!!
- Episodes: Season 1 – 26 episodes; Season 2 – 25 episodes; Season 3 – 10 episodes; Season 4 – 25 episodes; 2 movies; 2 Land vs Air episodes; 3 OAD episodes
- Where to Watch: Crunchyroll
- Publisher: Toho
I am not a sports anime fan. All these years, I’ve only watched one sports anime, and that was Slam Dunk from back in the day. I watched it when I was still in the Philippines, and the reason why I watched this was because basketball was or still is big in my home country. Anyway, we’re not talking about that. I am just saying that I would normally not watch a sports anime. Haikyu!! was highly recommended to me by Chris. I just never got around to watching it until recently.
And oh boy, I was glad I finally watched this. This anime was that good even if you don’t normally gravitate to something like this. Not going to lie, this anime made me care about a sport. I am not a sports person. Period. But it did! I wanted to keep on watching and watching just to see where these characters would go, how much each player would improve in each episode, and how much the team would grow as a group.
Every episode in this anime was exciting. There was no downtime. Even what you would consider downtime was exciting. Every single episode has something going on in it. Just because in every episode, there was some kind of internal realization, some kind of character development, some kind of struggle. And it was a treat.
It was nice watching Hinata Shoyo improve every single time. It was nice watching Kageyama Tobio not just improve as a setter but actually be a team player. The anime could’ve stopped there and focused on these two characters alone. But no, they extended the character development to the whole Karasuno team. Sure, there might be a couple of characters that barely got any screen time, however, they were shown improving as volleyball players as well as actually integrating themselves into the team. It was actually great seeing them turn from individuals to a cohesive Karasuno team.
Again, the anime could’ve stopped there and just focused on the Karasuno team. But no. The anime showed the other teams. Sure others got more highlights compared to the others, but it was great seeing each team adapt to pressure. Especially the ones that went against Karasuno. As Karasuno was improving on the spot, so did the team they were up against. And it was exciting seeing each team one-up the other. Some members of the opposing team got their own character development in the series as well, which was great. It made me root for other players that were not from Karasuno.
This anime adaptation did so much and did it really well. The story was great. The character development was top-notch. The animation during the games was chef’s kiss. The soundtrack was good too. My boyfriend and I were pumped the whole time we were watching this. And that was all we could ask for a sports anime. And we cannot wait for the conclusion of this series.
The normal benchmark, if I liked an anime, is if I would ever watch it again. And I would definitely rewatch this anime again. I might do just that before the conclusion movies come out. This anime became one of my favorites hands down.