2025: Year in Review

December 28, 2025

A still life drawing on toned tan paper featuring a human skull on the left and a geometric cube on the right

❄️ January

📷 Pic of the month

A colorful table at FLIPPER'S Shibuya during a Sanrio collaboration. In the center, a stack of fluffy soufflé pancakes is topped with strawberries and a My Melody figure. The spread is surrounded by pink drinks, a Liella! acrylic stand, and plushies of Chisato Arashi wearing My Melody hoodies — My Melody collaboration pancakes at FLIPPER’S Shibuya

☀️ July

Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot and I have history.

Back in 2015, the show was all the rage at my workplace, so I promptly binge-watched Season 1.

I was immediately hooked: great cinematography, a strong atmosphere, an extremely solid soundtrack, and a cool (albeit kinda obvious in hindsight) twist. The Season 1 finale cliffhanger was excellent and left me speculating wildly about where the show could go next.

Then Season 2 came along, and I watched it in real time. It was way slower and somehow even more pretentious than the first season.

After that, the show completely fell off my radar. I didn’t wait for Season 3, and I more or less forgot it existed.

So this summer, for no clear reason at all, I suddenly felt the urge to revisit it and finally finish the series.

Rewatching Season 1 was a strange mix of fascination and cringe. Sam Esmail clearly had a lot of creative control, and it shows. The dialogue, pacing, and even the plotting often feel indulgent, sometimes overwritten, occasionally straight-up try-hard. There’s a lot of /r/im14andthisisdeep energy, and the constant use of classical music can feel like the show is really trying to convince you it’s high art or something. Still, it worked more often than it didn’t, and I kept watching.

The show remains uneven all the way through, but the final season genuinely impressed me. Visually, it’s excellent, and especially strong at portraying characters’ internal states and emotional weight. By the time I reached the finale, flaws and all, I had goosebumps.

Mr. Robot has more vibes and ambition than clean execution, but that’s also what makes it feel human. It’s messy, indulgent, and clearly driven by a strong creative vision rather than a writers’ room trying to play it safe for broad appeal.

I won’t spoil it here, but I think it’s worth a watch. It’s a deeply flawed show, and somehow its strength lies exactly in those flaws.

🎃 October

The Martian (book)

I picked up The Martian after learning it began as a series of blog posts. I went in completely blind and found a survival story built on engineering puzzles, hard science, and a snarky narrator.

The tension is maintained through a constant cycle of progress and setbacks. What started as a strength eventually felt repetitive due to the sheer volume of technical explanation. The plot itself is very linear and predictable: stranded, survive, progress, setback, repeat, then get rescued. There are no real twists or surprises for me, since the tension comes from how problems are solved, not what happens next.

While the writing is casual and the chapters are short, having to follow every granular logic chain becomes tiring. At times, the story felt almost procedural, like reading a technical manual with a narrative glued on. I feel like this would have been more enjoyable as an audiobook.

Look, I appreciated the problem-solving and the space science, and I liked the clear love letter to NASA and space exploration. But the humor mostly did nothing for me, and the characters, including the protagonist, felt paper-thin. There was very little emotional depth to make the stakes feel personal.

Overall, it was good, but not great. It probably works best for readers who enjoy methodical problem-solving and dad jokes.

Rating: a handful of space potatoes 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

🪵 November

Final Fantasy IX 25th Anniversary The Exhibition

Gallery: FINAL FANTASY IX 25th ANNIVERSARY THE EXHIBITION‐いつか帰るところ‐

🎄 December

Kawaii Lab Session 17 @ K-Arena Yokohama

Tbh, I was really looking forward to this event.

It was MORE STAR ’s debut day, so I was especially excited to finally see them.

After the trainees ( KAWAII LAB. MATES ) finished their set, CUTIE STREET and SWEET STEADY came out and the arena lit up.

Then Mana Manaka and Rise Shiokawa appeared to introduce the 5th KAWAII LAB. group, MORE STAR. They performed もっと、キラッと and debuted their new song ハグ！ that day. It’s a super upbeat track and already feels like it’ll be really fun at live shows. I liked it immediately on first listen.

After MORE STAR wrapped up, CANDY TUNE came on. Shouting “Candy Tune!” together during their intro felt amazing, and the calls during キス・ミー・パティシエ, エトセトLOVE YOU, and 推し?好き?しんどい were just pure fun.

Then came FRUITS ZIPPER . I loved everything about their performance, and ふるっぱーりー！ was an absolute riot.

For the grand finale, all the KAWAII LAB. members came back on stage for CHU CHU CHU研究 Silver tape flew everywhere at the end.

The vibes were unreal. Every single member looked incredible. 💖

Thanks to the seat upgrade, I ended up right in the middle of the arena area, with a great view of the stage without relying too much on the big screens.

Artist	Setlist / Songs Performed
KAWAII LAB. SOUTH	まるっとピースでいいっちゃない？！
KAWAII LAB. MATES	わたしの進路が決まったら
CUTIE STREET	Overture / ちきゅーめいくあっぷ計画 / ひたむきシンデレラ！ / かわいいさがしてくれますか？ / ハロハロミライ / かわいいだけじゃだめですか？
SWEET STEADY	Overture / すいすてたいむ / 始まりの合図 / YAKIMOCHI / カワイイコレクション
MORE STAR	Overture / もっと、キラッと / ハグ！ (New Song)
CANDY TUNE	Overture / キス・ミー・パティシエ / エトセトLOVE YOU / 倍倍FIGHT! / 推し?好き?しんどい / アイしちゃってます?
FRUITS ZIPPER	Overture / NEW KAWAII / ふるっぱーりー！ / はちゃめちゃわちゃライフ！ / ずっと、ずっと、ずっと！ / 君の明るい未来を追いかけて / ピポパポ / 完璧主義で☆
TEAM KAWAII LAB.	CHU CHU CHU研究中！

Misc

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