Like The Tomato
Nothing here but my musings about daily life, books, anime, and food.
I often find myself staring at the ceiling when I wake up. You know why? Because I wanted to keep sleeping and not do anything. But I needed to feed the dogs of course. Then I had to go downtown for something. Well, technically I didn’t have to go but you know, I haven’t been downtown for how many months and I miss the food. So I tagged along.
It was a pretty okay day I guess. I did some grocery shopping and then gave Phoebe a bath. And now, I am cooking chicken. I am winging the recipe. I just used whatever we had in the pantry for the cause. A little bit of vegan oyster sauce, with some Shaoxing wine, a little bit of dark soy sauce. Planning on adding some broccoli once it gets closer to getting cooked. It’s simmering right now.
I finished a book 5 of 10 of Haven City last night. I read it in just a few hours. So I cannot complain. I just started reading book 6. Tomorrow, I’m going to read Craig & Fred. I didn’t end up picking it up on Friday. But I will definitely continue that tomorrow. No big plans tonight either. just continue reading and relaxing. I mean, it’s still pretty hot right this moment. So I just want to minimize my movements as much as possible.
- Title: Tomie
- Author: Junji Ito
- Genre: Manga, Horror
- Pages: 752
- Publisher: VIZ Media
- Published: 2016
I am not a horror reader. So picking this up for a read is out of character for me. What made me interested in it? My roommate and I went to a Japanese bookstore a while back and she bought this tome. She read it and liked it. And I wanted to see what this is all about. As I flipped through the pages of this chunker, I got hooked on the artwork. So I decided to read it.
Tomie was Junji Ito’s first published work which led to him winning a Kazuo Umezu award. This has been serialized in Monthly Halloween and ran from 1987 to 2000. This work has been adapted into film and television series. Let’s just say that this manga was (is) well-loved, gathered a following, and has been praised by fans as well as critics.
The titular character is Tomie Kawakami who acted like a succubus. She has the power to make any man fall in love with her. Of course, the power does not end there. This ability of hers drives men to violence oftentimes leading to her being killed and mutilated. Each body part regenerates to create multiple versions of Tomie across Japan. I mean, interesting right?
This manga is pretty graphic. I mean, one of the reasons why I decided to pick it up is the fact that the author did not shy away from the illustrations of violence. This manga definitely delivered some skin-crawling artwork that lives rent-free in my brain. There is a story in this collection that still makes me itchy just thinking about it.
It’s easy to complain about recurring themes in this manga. I mean, how many times can someone read and see Tomie being murdered and mutilated by the men who fall in love with her. However, Tomie showed a level of toxicity when someone is manipulative and narcissistic. It showed obsession and the desire to possess remarkably well. And jealousy too. These themes heavily reflected society – manipulation, humiliation, misogyny, violence, and sexism.
Bottom line, I liked this manga. It was a good read for sure. Some stories were better than the others of course. My favorite stories were Tomie (the first one, we got introduced to Tomie) and Hair (which involved two girls using Tomie’s hair to make themselves “beautiful”). If I could redo my first read of this collection, I wouldn’t have read the stories back to back. I personally think that the reader was not meant to read this back to back to begin with. However, that didn’t really minimize my reading experience. Just the symbolism found in this manga kept me reading. It almost made me want to read all of Junji Ito’s works (almost, I have not committed myself to them yet).
I was struggling this week. I found myself sleepy, tired, and exhausted. I was fighting to stay awake. It didn’t matter if I was sitting or standing. I was fighting to keep my eyes open. All I did was yawn all day. That was frustrating, to be honest. Why? Well, I was getting some decent hours of sleep on a daily. I had no excuse. I had no reason to be this tired. The thing that sucked though was that once it was time to go to bed and sleep, I would be wide awake regardless of whether I took a nap during the day. Yeah, my sleep schedule has been nonexistent lately. Not that a schedule was necessary at the moment. I had nothing going on in the daytime anyway.
I was finally able to finish Lolita. It took a while. And I did take a break from it. Not the book’s fault. I was having some focus issues last month and I had to put the reading of this novel on hold for a bit. But it was done. I was glad that I read it. It was a good, solid read. My main complaint really was having to look for translations of a lot of French phrases sprinkled on the pages. It really did take me out of the reading experience. The next one that I was planning on reading would be Craig & Fred. Again, I had to put reading this nonfiction on hold as well. Focus issues. So I will be continuing with this one. I read a couple of chapters already before I placed this one on hold, so I would just be picking up where I left off. Not going to lie though, the daily reading schedule and goal that I made for myself helped a lot with my finishing Lolita.
Not planning on doing anything today. I just want to chill and read. I don’t have a social life really. My hobbies are pretty solitary, which reflects my personality really well. Besides, I am in a constant bubble of tiredness and sleepiness. So I would be fighting to not stay awake as well.
I had a pretty successful reading month. It helped that I really didn’t want to do anything else. I also knew that the quantity and material that I read on a monthly basis were not up to par with other readers out there. And that was okay.
I used to be jealous of people who could sit and read all day – reading three or more books a week. It took me a while to actually accept that I probably won’t be able to do that. People are different – reading speed, jobs, free time. There were a lot of factors to consider. And it took a while for me to stop comparing myself to other readers. I even stopped making “read xx amount of books” as a yearly goal for me. I just don’t see myself reading 100+ books a year.
Anyway, I read 8 things in August – 1 manhwa, 1 memoir, and 6 novels. 81 episodes and 1749 total pages. 1 webtoon, 1 physical book, 6 eBooks. For how I am, this was a decent reading month. Trust me, it would be lucky if I finish 3 books in a month. So this much reading was good.
Secondo Piatto (manhwa, webtoon). It was decent. I had fun with this BL webtoon about a chef and a detective. The chef’s restaurant was located in an area where the mafia was very interested in. Some action ensued. The chef and the detective were both in love with their best friends who happened to get married. And they were stuck in this loneliness of losing both the love of their lives. And you guessed it, they turned to each other for comfort. It was okay. I enjoyed it for the most part so I cannot really complain. I’ve read better manhwas for sure. But for what it was, the story was cute.
Hi, Anxiety (memoir, physical book). I already have a separate post about this one. I picked it because I felt like I was drowning in depression and anxiety, so I wanted to read about how someone was able to live with something like this. Check the post here.
Adrenaline Rush, Omega’s Kiss, Father Figure, and Together Again (novels, eBooks). These are books 2 to 5 of a five-novel series called Never Too Late. It’s an omegaverse series set in Boston. The characters included detectives (the alphas) in the Cold Case division and their respective omegas. Not going to elaborate too much. I am still thinking if I want to create separate posts for this specific genre. If you enjoy the alpha-omega dynamic, this series as a whole is decent. I enjoyed the books for the most part.
Rogue Wolf, and Alpha’s Shadow (novels, eBooks). These are books 1 and 2 of a ten-novel series called Haven City. This is an urban fantasy M/M romance series involving the shadow world of Haven City. We have shifters, sorcerers, elves, seers, healers…You name it, this series would most likely have it. Books 1 and 2 mainly focused on detectives Sharp and Alwen, who incidentally are both members of the shadow world – Sharp, a wolf shifter, and Alwen, a half-elf seer. Again, I am not going to elaborate. As I said, I am not sure if I want to create a separate post for this genre. The first two books were fun. I enjoyed the action, the mystery, and the “mate” trope.
For the most part, I am reading for enjoyment. Aside from reading classics and nonfiction, a lot of the books that I chose to read are mostly for my escapism. And this month was no different. Aside from the memoir, these books were chosen for my entertainment and distraction. I am not sure what September will look like. I have plans on going back to a schedule this month so we shall see how that would affect my reading.
I didn’t wake up until 11 AM. You would think that was me sleeping in. But no. I didn’t really sleep until 5:30 AM. So, as much as I want to say I had a good night’s rest, I did not. I really need to stop taking naps in the afternoons. It messes up my “sleep schedule”. It’s practically nonexistent at this point. I don’t need to ruin it even more.
I did finish reading book 3 of the Haven City series early today. So my nonexistent sleep schedule came in clutch with my “one more chapter” mantra last night. I barely started the 4th book today. All good. All good. To help me finish my other books, I had to schedule them on my reading calendar. I mean, technically, I am not sure if penciling them in would help me go through the books. But I need to get on with them. They are just currently sitting on my bed. Staring at me accusingly.
And no big plans tonight. I really just want to read tonight. However, I need to make sure that I sleep at a decent time! I am going back to my regular schedule activities starting tomorrow after a couple of months of just being a potato. So just read a little tonight, sleep before midnight, and then wake up at a decent hour tomorrow.
- Anime Title: Toilet-bound Hanako-kun
- Episodes: Season 1 – 12 episodes
- Where to Watch: Crunchyroll and Hulu
- Publisher: TBS
My man actually found this. If I recall correctly, he watched a couple of episodes while he was at work one night and decided to suggest for us to watch. And I’m glad he did. We enjoyed this one a lot. And we actually wished there was a second season made.
This anime was set in a school, Kamome Academy, famous for its rumored Seven Wonders and supernatural events. Here we met Nene Yashiro, a first-year high school student obsessed with having a boyfriend. Because of this romance obsession, she summoned the Seventh and most famous of the wonders, Hanako, in hopes that the spirit would grant her a wish regarding her love life. And the adventure began.
There were a couple of characters that I loved of course. Hanako and Kou Minamoto. Hanako was a given. I knew I would enjoy his character off the bat. He was characterized as childish and mischievous. However, that was a mask of how serious the character was. And that was without the character’s background. His main duty was to monitor all supernatural activities in the school and ensure that there was a balance between the supernatural and humans. And he took this duty seriously. Honestly, he was just so fun to watch with his playful character and his weapon of choice – a kitchen knife. He was very secretive about his past life, with reason. And the more we got to know about him, the more I found him so endearing.
Now, Kou Minamoto has the most character development in this. He came from a clan of powerful exorcists and believed that all supernatural beings were evil. And we got introduced to him when he tried to exorcise Hanako. But as he continued to tag along with the Hanako-Nene duo, he realized that not all supernatural beings were evil. We saw him questioning his upbringing and beliefs, especially when he encountered a spirit that he genuinely cared for. He has some heartbreaking scenes that made me cry. The way his character developed through the whole first season was so beautiful to watch.
Not going to lie, I was not a fan of Nene whatsoever. Not that I hate her. I just did not like her boy-obsessed character. But then I guess, some girls do focus on romance and having a boyfriend in their high school years. I mean, I would be hypocritical to say that I did not have a crush on someone back at that age however, I did not actively search for romance either. This girl decided to summon a spirit that could grant her a wish – to have her crush return her feelings. I thought that was a pretty extreme obsession, especially after realizing the consequences of her actions. Sure, she mellowed a bit but I still did not care for her as the anime went on. However, I did enjoy her interactions with Hanako and Kou. And I think their relationship naturally progressed to an actual friendship and genuine caring for each other.
Anyway, the artwork was amazing in this anime. Honestly, when my man sent me the link to the anime, the first I thought was, is he going to make me watch a Lolita anime? What is this? And that was not the case. That was just the art style of the anime/manga. And I loved it. We loved the bold black lines for sure. This anime was just fun and I loved the story. A season two was announced and it should be out mid-2024 or end-2024. It would be a while but we would be patiently waiting.