The March 2025 Quarterly Media Report
Games
January
In January I played a variety. I got back to Rune Factory 5 for a bit, slowly but surely “progressing”. It's on my list of things to beat relatively soon. I also played a bit of Animal Crossing New Horizons which sometimes signals my mental health is bad. Not always, but often. Yes in this case it was a sign my mental health was bad. But enough about that! I also played a little Umineko Chiru: Episode 8 and I'll let you know right now: Still haven't beaten it. Scheduling and coordinating things with people is difficult!
I got back to Hades II. I am not nearly as far as some people are, partially because I tend to do it in small chunks, like one or two runs a in a week. Or month.
The rest of my January games are Visual Novels. Got back into Rose of Winter because of the webcomic The Golden Boar. I still have at least one more path to do whether or not I care about getting all the endings.
I played a little Vampire Therapist. I really love the game, but it sometimes does the therapy a bit too well in my brain. I think that's why I haven't beaten it yet, because I will go “You know I should bring this issue up to my therapist” write it down, and then close the game. I do wonder how a licensed therapist would feel about this game. I imagine they wouldn't want to play it in their off time because it might be a bit too much like their job (even if they are not a vampire).
February
More Rune Factory 5. I take a break from it after this month, because I decide I don't want to burn myself out on anime farming before Fields of Mistria's next patch (in March).
I played a little of Fish Fear Me. It's a really interesting concept for a Roguelike. I recommend it, though I suck at it and I'm not super far.
Back in December, one of my friends gifted me Stella of the End and I decided now was a great time to add yet another Visual Novel to my list of things to play. I liked what I played so far. Then… then I decided to play the of the devil Demo because I heard good things about it. I would describe it as a “Cyberpunk Ace Attorney”. There's more to it of course, but I'm not sure how much I should tell people before they try it themselves.
March
Fields of Mistria. Most of what I played this month was Fields of Mistria. And I regret nothing, though I'm getting really “Frustrated” that I keep wanting to pair up the bachelor(ette)s with each other. Some of them would make really cute couples! I'm pretty sure fanfiction is already getting written about Juniper/Valen, for example. It feels weird to go to the Summer Romantic Festival with Eiland when now I ship him with (REDACTED). I'm sure I will find a special someone for my farmer, hopefully it's not March.
At the end of the month I started Hello Kitty Island Adventure on Switch and I got frustrated at some of how the mechanics are set up but I honestly think I prefer it to Animal Crossing in some ways. It's really fun though overall. I recommend it.
Things I'd Like to Work on (Game-wise)
I should probably try to finish some Switch Games (not Hello Kitty or Stitch.) because while I'm fairly certain data will carry over, It feels appropriate to at least finish some games (like Pokemon Scarlet or perhaps XenoBlade Chronicles ) that I seem somewhat if not rather close to beating?
Speaking from the future, I'm trying to finish Rune Factory 5 (to my satisfaction) before the next one comes out in June (though I suspect I will let it sit for a bit and wait for some patches to drop).
And of course I'd really like to beat Umineko but I've been saying that for a while haven't I? Maybe I just need to resign myself to the fact it will happen when it happens. And it goes without saying that I want to get back to Ciel noSurge but once again: scheduling and coordinating times with people is difficult.
Things I'm looking forward to (Game-wise)
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma looks nice, and very much up my alley, and seemingly fixes my main complaint about Rune Factory 5 (that there are no seasonal fields like previous games).
Other than that, I'm hoping to purchase my own Xbox Controller for PC gameing (basically it's a pain to share them across computers, so while there is one in our house, I pretty much can't use it) so I suspect I will focus on a bunch of my backlog that requires controllers. (Maybe I will finally beat Pyre!)
Books
January
I mostly read manga in January. Some rereads (like A Man and His Cat) some was trying to make my way through Kimi ni Todoke (I progressed but did not finish it this quarter) but I want to focus on a couple of titles.
The Graphic novel by Hari Conner I Shall Never Fall in Love. If you know me well (that I am a sicko for Queer Regency Romance) it will not shock you that this was extremely my shit.
I also read Legend of the White Snake by Sher Lee, an MLM romance. I enjoyed this one. A snake that can turn into a human falls in love with a prince that needs to hunt that particular kind of snake to help his mother. I recommend it.
February
More manga reading, and also I started a Lore Olympus reread.
Among other things I read The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley by Melissa Marr and Jenn St-Onge. It was a fun read. It's kind of interesting, other than cultural osmosis I hadn't really been into DC stuff at any age, but I'm finding myself more and more drawn to their characters, partially due to these accessible graphic novels, and partially due to the WebToon Wayne Family Adventures. I don't dislike Marvel or anything, just as of late finding DC more interesting to me (as a note while I haven't watched any DC movies so beyond seeing Warner Brothers make a movie just to throw it out for a tax write-off is... depressing to say the least).
I also did a reread of Melissa See's You, Me, and Our Heartstrings because it was haunting my thoughts despite the fact it had been YEARS since I read it. So I decided it was time for a reread and I regret NOTHING. It's a great novel about ableism and music.
March
In March I mostly read Kimi ni Todoke (but still didn't finish it!) and a bit of Lore Olympus. Also noteable: I finished The Selection Series by Kiera Cass. I AM FREE (just kidding it was a fun ride). I also started A Gentleman's Gentleman but have not finished it yet. It's good so far. Ditto The Chromatic Fantasy.
Things I'd Like to Work on (Reading-Wise)
I really need to get back to A Gentleman's Gentleman (TJ Alexander). I've just been taking it really slow. Ditto The Chromatic Fantasy (H.A.). I also have a lot of stuff listed as “paused” in Storygraph and I would like to get back to at least one of them.
Things I'm looking forward to (Reading-Wise)
Nothing specific that I'm looking forward to, but I have like 4-5 holds on things that are coming out by like mid-June at the latest that I am first in line for. RIP, me.
Miscellaneous Media
January
I started Mob Psycho 100 since I'd heard it was quite good. I assumed it was a light-hearted comedy. It is… it is not. I still enjoy it though.
I watched a bit of The Muppet Show. It's soothing even if I never know who these celebrity guests are.
I watched a bit of Ranma ½.
My sicko brain decided to start making my brother watch Vinland Saga since I'd been nagging him to read it for years and he had never gotten around to it. I was really into the manga about a decade ago (I plan to get back into it, there's just… a lot. The manga is like 20 years old at this point). I had heard the anime filled in some of the empty spaces in the timeskips. It is absolutely its own thing, and I love it.
And of course, I'm still watching Pokémon Horizons. It's soothing.
For audio dramas, between episodes of Remnants: an audio drama I continued to make my way through Spirit Box Radio.
February
More of The Muppet Show. Can't go wrong with Muppets. Instead of uploading my consciousness to the cloud I want my consciousness transfered into a Muppet. Not even like a particular one like Fozzie Bear or Grover, I want my bespoke Muppet Body.
We caught up on Ranma ½ this month. I really want more.
Of course there was more Vinland Saga and Pokémon Horizons.
My brother heard about Mashle and wanted to watch it. It's a humorous show, but not really laugh at out loud funny to me (though I'm pretty self-conscious about laughing so that may be part of it), but it's enjoyable enough.
I finally finished up Spirit Box Radio this month. Good show.
But that was between episodes of Re: Carmilla.
March
More Pokémon Horizons, Vinland Saga, and Mashle.
Between episodes of Re: Carmilla I worked on more of my audio drama backlog and went through 36 Questions which is an audio drama musical.
During a hell of a migraine I listened to Cast of Wonders 633: Born in Flame and Song written by Jameyanne Fuller and narrated by Charlotte Moore-Lambert. It is a beautifully sad story about being the chosen one, and Dear Reader: I cried, and it wasn't because of the migraine. A+ Would inflict this sorrow upon myself again.
Another great one that sticks with me is Sometimes it Happens That Way written by Jamie Lackey and narrated by Jason Arquin. A different kind of gut punch of a story. Read this one as well!
Things I'd Like to Work on (Miscellaneous Media)
I still want to work through my backlog of Audio Dramas (while going through Re: Dracula again). I do not want to tell you how many podcasts I'm subscribed to. They'd invent a kind of Tsundoku for podcasts and audio dramas all because of me, that's all I'll say. I'll probably work on a some shorter ones first. Hopefully I will finish the first season of The Magnus Archives as well, but that's not the top priority.
I feel like I want to watch more TV shows and movies, but I'm not sure of the best way to go about that yet.
Things I'm looking forward to (Miscellaneous Media)
Eventually Remnants: An Audio Drama will start its second season. I don't know if that's Quarter 2 or Quarter 3 though. I miss it dearly though. Maybe I should relisten?
I'm not going to say anything about goals in general this time, as I think I'd like to reevaluate those around July or so.
See you, hopefully soon! I hope you read my story A Spell of Grief which was published fairly recently! I think the narrator, Jordan Kurella, did an excellent job.
Feel free to at me on the Fediverse, please provide context though.