Ajin OVA 1 “I haven’t been myself… for a long time!”

Spoilers ahead. The Ajin OVA was chilling to watch. Shinya takes careful measures to hide the fact that he is a demi-human but makes one fatal mistake: He doesn’t realise that he lost his head during his motorcycle accident. He had regrown a head and didn’t think to check his helmet (and left it at the scene of the accident), which still had his head in it.

The part where he says, “I haven’t been myself… for a long time!” struck me because I mean, is he even himself without his original brain?

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It’s been three months since I’ve last blogged here. Like Shinya, I also haven’t been feeling myself, and I blame the pandemic. It feels like I’m slowly fading into irrelevancy. I fully intend to make a comeback in my social media circles and actually do things with my life but the lack of energy and motivation are hurdles. Imagine chilling in quicksand indefinitely.

My Deepest Secret: Season 2 Finale Thoughts

If you haven’t finished reading My Deepest Secret Season 2 and plan to, stop reading here. This post contains heavy spoilers.

I became interested in this webtoon because Elios is a yandere boyfriend. Some of the things he’s done includes murdering a perverted teacher who tried to make advances on Emma, attacking Yohan for investigating him, and stabbing Sophie for hurting Emma.

Except, Elios didn’t do any of this. Elios is dead. He was killed by Emma a year ago (This is her deepest secret). Emma committed these crimes with her alter personality that she developed after murdering Elios.

Imagine my surprise, as a yandere enthusiast, to find out that the yandere boyfriend does not exist… Admittedly, I am not pleased about that but like most readers, I was shocked by this plot twist. For that, I say to Hanza: Well done.

There will be a Season 3. Some things I expect to be explained:

• Who was the real Elios? Did Emma take on his characteristics, meaning that he displayed yandere-like characteristics?
• What was the relationship between Emma and Elios – in childhood up until a year ago? Did they date?
• Why did Emma kill Elios?
• What is Emma’s childhood story?
• What will happen to Emma and Yohan?

Why Do People Interpret Matters to Suit Themselves? [Blue Literature Series]

Anime: Blue Literature Series/Aoi Bungaku Series Episode 1 – No Longer Human

I wanted to talk about a scene in particular. It’s the scene where Oba Yozo tells the woman he met at the bar the truth about himself. The woman calls him a liar. I resonated with Oba in this scene.

I don’t like how Oba thought, “Why do women always interpret matters to suit themselves?” Not all women, and men do this too. I know from personal experience.

Why don’t people try to look at the truth?

Here’s what I think. 1) I think that people have preconceived notions of others. When they view someone as a better person than they are, they tend to brush off anything that does not align with their views and take it as a joke. Or, they think it’s no big deal.

2) On the flip side, if you have a horrible impression of someone, their littlest action can anger you. You might think, I was right about them all along!

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I’m no saint, either. I am probably guilty of #2. I have the experience of being in Oba’s shoes, of people pulling a #1 on me.

The worst of them was D. It took a couple of years for D to finally leave me alone. This was after rejecting D and making it clear I was not interested. I’ve never met anyone more in denial of the truth.

Good vs. Evil [Moriarty the Patriot Episode 4]

Anime: Moriarty the Patriot

This anime follows a similar format as Hell Girl/Jigoku Shoujo, except there’s a focus on rich versus poor.

The formula is the following: Rich person does something to poor person –> Poor person seeks help from the criminal consultant, Moriarity (In Hell Girl, it would be obtaining the doll from Emma) –> Poor person kills rich person.

As I was watching episode 4, I thought, Should I feel happy about the revenge? Satisfied? Who is the “good” person and who is the “evil” person?

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Spoilers ahead. In this episode, the Viscount of Belfor refuses to have his doctor tend to his gardener’s sick son, who later passes away.

He presents himself very differently in front of Moriarty and his company, who are also upperclass.

Spoiler, but the gardener and his wife kill the Viscount of Belfor, with the help of Moriarty’s services.

Back to the question: Should we be cheering about his death?

In the previous episode, Albert stabbed his younger brother, who treated lower-class folks like trash. Someone commented that they were satisfied when the younger brother died. At the time, I thought, Woah.

Good versus evil is not black and white. There are a lot of grey areas.

It’s important to note that this is a work of fiction. Would things be different if this was a true story, though?

Any thoughts?

Is Kiyotaka Ayanokoji Fake? [Classroom of the Elite]

In my last post, I wrote about Kikyou Kushida and the reason why I think she hides her true personality. This post will be on Ayanokoji from The Classroom of the Elite. Spoilers ahead.

In the chilling ending scene, Suzune Horikita called Ayanokoji her ally. This was Ayanokoji’s internal monologue:

“But, Horikita… I’ve never once thought of you as an ally. Not you. Not Kushida. Not Hirata. All people are nothing but tools. It doesn’t matter how it’s done. It doesn’t matter what needs to be sacrificed. In this world, winning is everything. As long as I win in the end… That’s all that matters.”

When I watched this scene, I felt that I had been deceived the entire time. But now, when I think about it, was that on us?

Ayanokoji never claimed to be an ally. He consistently maintained his unfazed expression so why, exactly, were we surprised by the ending? I don’t think Ayanokoji was the one who deceived us and the other characters per se, but rather it was us who made assumptions about him.

A Discussion About Kikyou Kushida [Classroom of the Elite]

Kikyou Kushida is a character from the anime, Classroom of the Elite. It’s a great series, by the way.

On the surface, Kushida is friendly to everyone and is liked by the majority of her classmates. However, that’s not the real her. She hides her true personality. The real her is pretty scary.

Why does she hide her personality? This is what I want to talk about in this post. Here are my thoughts.

If Kushida showed everyone her true nature, I doubt she would have a lot of friends. The reality is, people will shun you once you do something that isn’t acceptable by their standards. I’ve seen it before.

Moving on. Is it possible to change your personality? If you are a terrible person by nature, can you become a wholesome person? If the answer is no, people with awful personalities are left with little choice. In order to blend in with society, you have to conceal your true side. It is more beneficial to be liked by others, after all.

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On a related note, why are so many bloggers anonymous? I’m sure there are plenty of reasons. For me, personally, it’s cancel culture. “Oh, you like yanderes? You like Boys Love? Wait until your employer hears about this!” (Based on a conversation I had with a blogger who had the unfortunate experience of someone calling their workplace.)

First Impressions: In Search of Haru

In Search of Haru is a free game in the app store. I am not impressed so far.

Synopsis: A boy named Haru was really nice to you when you were younger and you fell in love with him. You had to move and separated from him. You just enrolled in a new high school and hope to find Haru. The problem is, there are three Haru’s! Which one is the true Haru?

I became interested in this game because one of the Haru’s is a yandere. After all, I am a yandere enthusiast. However, I quit the game before I even reached the ending.

To progress the story, you must wait and tap classmates to collect stars and/or watch ads. You have to do this a lot. When you finally unlock a piece of the story, you’ll find that it’s extremely short. Then you have to wait, tap, and watch ads. Rinse and repeat. The amount of time spent and effort exerted is not worth unlocking the chapter.

The story isn’t that great, either. MC’s sole objective is to find Haru. That isn’t bad per se, but there are no other plot points.

They could have made the tapping into a fun activity, like a mini-game. Instead, you have to wait one minute just to gain 10 more stars. I’m just going to say it: This game is a time-waster.

I rate this game 4/10.

Review: Amnesia Toma Route [Bad End 2 “We’ll be together forever.”]

Game: Amnesia on the PS Vita

Synopsis: The basic premise of Amnesia is that you’ve lost your memories. In Toma’s route, Toma tells you that he is your boyfriend. Someone is targeting you by sending hateful emails (telling you to break up) and dumping garbage in your mailbox.

Toma is the yandere in Amnesia. Spoilers ahead.

One of the red flags in the beginning was this mysterious person telling you that Toma is not actually your boyfriend.

Toma said it with a smile. It’s like he’s joking, but you can never be too sure…

I had a hunch that Toma was doing this. I didn’t like this.

“Could have.” Even now, I still don’t know if he was responsible for the damage or not. Does this mean he created the mess and also cleaned up the mess?

One thing’s for sure: He wants to confine MC in his room.

In this scene, Toma surprises you with a kiss and drops a sleeping pill in your mouth via the kiss.

You wake up and you find yourself in a cage. WTF?

A cage!? That’s going too far. Although, Toma crossed that line when he started mixing sleeping pills in MC’s drinks.

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Bad End 2 “We’ll be together forever.”

In this ending, you do not get your memories back. Instead, your memories begin to fade little by little. After all, there is no stimulation and you have no agency.

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Final thoughts: I got this ending on my first play without looking at guides.

Toma’s route wasn’t that fun. I don’t think I would want the good ending, though. Hear me out first. Toma is a guy who drugged you and locked you up like an animal. Do you really want to be in a relationship with someone like him? What’s scarier is if you date someone but do not know who they truly are or what they are capable of. I think I would rather see the worst side of them. But maybe that’s just me. After all, I did get this ending. *laughs*

First Impressions: Silent Lover

Silent Lover is a Chinese BL manhua. I will be discussing chapters 1 to 23. Spoilers ahead!

Warning: Toxic relationship.

Synopsis: The Prince of Zhen Bai has asked for a concubine from the Chen family. The daughter of the Chen family does not wish to go, so the family sends Chen Yu, the male servant, instead. Chen Yu has to pretend to be a woman and serve the prince. He is also mute. The prince’s wife bullies Chen Yu relentlessly. Meanwhile, the prince is fiercely possessive of Chen Yu…

Thoughts: What drew me to this series was the time period. BL stories set in ancient China are popular nowadays. Plus, everything is in colour.

In one particular chapter, Chen Yu danced in front of people to impress the prince, Jun Xuanxiao. The audience admired Chen Yu’s beauty and talent. Xuanxiao became furious that other people were looking at Chen Yu’s dance and he hit Chen Yu later that night for it. I may be a yandere enthusiast, but this was disgusting to me.

Xuanxiao becomes better after that. For now, anyway. Mind you, I’ve only read up to chapter 32. He gave Chen Yu time to heal and rest. Major spoiler: He also knew about Chen Yu’s real identity and status from the first day and did not care about that.

That was one example of possessiveness. That being said, Xuanxiao does not allow Chen Yu to go out. He does not want other people to see him.

An important thing to mention is that Chen Yu likes Xuanxiao. It is mutual. Chen Yu almost died from the bullying; Xuanxiao protected him and punished the people accordingly. Xuanxiao is the first person that called Chen Yu “Yu-er” rather than “Little Mute,” which is a horrid name, by the way. He also taught Chen Yu how to read. Note: I am in no way trying to defend Xuanxiao’s actions. I am simply listing out why I think Chen Yu likes the prince.

I feel bad for Chen Yu. He was originally a servant. The Chen family used him and sent him away. They were well aware that the prince’s concubines had died in the past (due to the wife’s bullying). The punishment he faced by the wife was horrible and Xuanxiao is not exactly a good guy, either. Chen Yu needs to be protected from everyone.

Closing thoughts: I will be continuing this series. I wish to see Chen Yu happy. As for the other characters, I do not care about them.

First Impressions: ChatBook Yandere Boyfriend

Yandere Boyfriend is a mobile app. It tells a story through text and audio. Unlike an otome game, there are no options to select. The beginning chapters are free to read. It costs $7.99 to unlock all the chapters.

The story: You are a transfer student and join the music club. There, you meet a guy named Leo. Another guy at the music club gets into an accident and leaves the club. You are the only person that saw Leo that day so you confront him about it. He confesses that he tampered with the chair, which caused the accident.

Your friend, Grace, tells you that she has a crush on Leo. When Leo asks you to be his girlfriend, you reject him and say that Grace likes him. (I don’t know why MC said this…) From the conversation, Leo gathers that you want to make Grace happy so he agrees to go out with her. However, the one he likes is you.

The good: The story is pretty good so far. The yandere aspect does not disappoint.

The strongest point is the yandere boyfriend’s voice. The voice actor speaks in Korean and he does a very good job overall. The yandere boyfriend, Leo, occasionally leaves you voice mail. Sometimes it’s him singing, other times it’s him telling you how much he loves you.

There are other sounds, such as the school bell and the piano playing in the music room.

The bad: Since you play the passive role as the reader and have no say in what happens in the story, I’ll just say it: I do not like MC. She should be more honest with her friend.

If you are reading in English, there are some grammar mistakes. However, I chose to overlook this as I focused more on the yandere’s voice and the storyline.

My biggest complaint is how difficult it is to earn “free” tickets to unlock the chapters. The game says you can earn tickets by completing surveys, signing up for companies, and other things like that. When I completed a survey, a bunch of tabs opened on my phone. This had never happened before. Those sites are sus.

Another time, I didn’t even get my tickets. It makes sense that payment is required to unlock the full story. Work was put into the app so I understand. However, trying to get tickets is pointless. I would rather pay the $8.

As for whether I will pay the $8, I haven’t decided yet. So, I will turn it to the public. If you’ve read the full story, do you recommend purchasing it?