Media Journal

I saw some other sites with media logs, and decided I'd like to make one too! I'll be making notes on my thoughts of the things I watch/play/read/etc. each day, and then posting those here as logs.

Expect some amount of incoherence and rambling below. I also likely won't be marking spoilers, so be warned!

Entries are arranged newest-oldest.

2025, February 16

I spent a good portion of today carving my way through the event & story quests in Infinity Nikki. I discovered snapshots, they’re awesome! Like little bottled messages to connect to other players. I may heavily overuse them in the future, it’s fun to send out messages about whatever I’m up to & have a way to share my best photos!

I’ve also just watched episode 4 of Evangelion. The show in general is a lot slower paced than I’d originally expected, and this time it was just entirely Shinji deciding weather to run away or not. I like that.

This episode reminds me of being in college and feeling too afraid of having a meltdown to go to class, so I’d just sit in armchairs in the lobby and try and distract myself (usually with youtube, or games on my laptop) until it was time to go home. Sometimes I’d get snacks from the cafeteria too…

Just that kind of avoidance, and the lingering too long in liminal spaces. I admit, I do see a good bit of myself in Shinji. Especially from around that time.

2025, February 15

I’ve decided not to make these every single day, cause I don’t always have anything interesting to talk about. I'll try to update somewhat frequently though, as long as I remember and have something to talk about!

I’ve continued playing Infinity Nikki, and wow there’s a lot of event stuff going on. It’s hard to figure out what to focus on, between the main quest & the side quests & the limited time stuff. I’ve mostly just been wandering around and exploring cause that’s what’s most fun for me, but I did progress just a little bit in the story today. I got a purple hair item today, which is great cause I love purple 💜

In more interesting news, I’m starting to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion for the first time! I know relatively little about it, though I’ve watched a couple video essays so I probably have some spoilers. Anyways, here’s a list of my thoughts so far:

• Shinji is going through it
• Why would they make this kid go to high school, is the trauma from the robot fights not enough 😔
• I like Misato a lot
• Is it too early for me to lowkey ship Misato & Ritsuko? I may have yuri brainrot
• Penguin???
• I want to learn more about Rei
• I know a redhead named Asuka is going to show up, when’s that gonna happen?
• Seriously Shinji has it rough. like ow from episode one right off the bat he is not doing very well, and I know it's going to get worse
• the buildings retracting underground is cool! It’s nice to see the collateral damage of these fights being treated seriously

I’m planning on continuing to the end, and then I’ll probably watch the movies after a break to absorb it all first.

Oh, and I am definetly going to get back to Ace Attorney eventually. Although it might be a bit cause I’m currently distracted by Infinity Nikki, I shall return so I can see Phoenix make more silly faces.

2025, February 13

Oops, I’ve been missing some days. Sorry about that! I’ve never been good at writing journal entries every single day, so my media logs may end up being kind of inconsistent.

Over the past few days I’ve been staying up far too late playing Infinity Nikki, which hasn’t left me with a lot of time to write about it afterwards… I’ll try to get better at trying to sleep at a reasonable time, and leaving myself enough time to write down my thoughts.

I’ve also been making attempts to read the rest of the graphic novels I borrowed last time I went to the library, but I keep getting distracted… I’ll try and remember to talk about them if I actually sit down and finish them!

2025, February 11

Today I was working on this website for quite a while (and browsing some others) so I didn't have as much time to play games.

I did play more Infinity Nikki though, and made some outfits I really like! I may have to set things up to show images in these logs cause I'd love to show a few of them… Or I could just post them to tumblr I guess.

2025, February 9

I just played The end of an obsession, sequel to It gets so lonely here, the first game I ever played on itch.io! I really loved that game, so I was excited to play this one and it did not dissapoint.

The art and music are lovely, they create a wonderfully haunting dreamlike atmosphere. I felt the time-loop style structure worked quite well, and I liked reading further into the prose & picking up new details as I read it for the second time (though for subsequent loops I made larger use of the handy skip ahead feature).

I found the themes of roles, narratives, and submission really interesting. The dynamic of the Witch & Princess, and the cruelty of the Witch at the end… I love toxic yuri, and this VN has a lot I could dig my teeth into in that regard!

…

I also played Love Angel Syndrome. I really liked the art and visual effects, I ended up taking screenshots of most of the CGs. Although while i overall liked the story, I felt like maybe the prose or pacing could have been stronger? I’m not sure how to explain that, though.

...

And to finish the weekend of gaming, I spent the evening playing Infinity Nikki for the first time. I haven't played any other games in the series, but dressup elements are always my favorite parts of any game so I figured I'd enjoy a game built around it. And it's free, so I decided try it out.

In addition to being a dress up game, Infinity Nikki is also an open world & gacha game. I have my concerns about that last part, especially since I was a frequent Genshin Impact player for two years and keeping up with constant limited events and gacha banners was really exhausting after a while…

If I do keep playing Infinity Nikki, I'll try to be more casual about it and not worry about logging in every day unless I actually want to.

2025, February 8

Today I played through the 4th chapter of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney! I was expecting it to be the final one, but apparantly there’s another? I think it was added to the game later, so I’m interested in how different it’ll seem from the rest of the game. I’m not going to play it right now though, Edgeworth’s trial was dense and I want to take time to absorb it before moving on.

Chapter 4 was really good! Fleshed out the characters, wove a great mystery, tied up threads from the earlier chapter, and had incredible drama! It’s a perfect way to finish things off.

Edgeworth went through so much, wow. He watched his dad die, thought he was the one who killed him, his mentor had him framed for a different murder and then turns out to be the actual murderer of his dad?? that’s rough.

I’ll play the bonus chapter sometime next week, and then I’ll take a break before I play the next two games in the trilogy bundle. Probably some smaller games, cause my brain craves variety right now.

...

2025, February 7

I've been making my way through Welcome to Nightvale recently. I have fond memories of listening to it with my family during late night car drives when I was younger, but we were never caught up. I also attempted to relisten to it more recently, but only got close to the end of year 3.

I’m now on episode 55, so I have a bit more to get through before I get past where I last stopped. I'd love to get fully caught up, but that is going to be quite the task. I'll record my progress in this log, so we'll see how it goes.

...

I’ve just watched the final two episodes of Scavenger’s Reign!

I like the ending, I love it when characters who’ve gone through horrible things live and get the chance to make a new life. And the image of a settlement inside an overgrown wreck of a spaceship is just really cool. I’m also glad that Kamen survived, he was a terrible person and went through hell but now has the chance to recover and grow in a safer place. He holds a small creature in his hand, and lets it go.

Even Hollow survived. I'm glad that Hollow survived.

Imagine being one of the crew coming out of the cryo pods. What must Mia have thought, coming out and seeing a changed, injured Azi? And then all the carnage around them… When an emergency like that happens maybe you won’t expect to all survive, but the gore is just… I’m kind of surprised more of them didn’t get eaten in the end, though, considering how long they were all sitting there undefended.

Oh, and Levi has little plant-gollum babies now?? grown from the death-lilies? thats great, happy for her :D

From what was shown at the very end, looks like there’s setup for another season. Maybe a bit of a larger scope with the introduction of those masked characters? It’d be cool to see how the survivor camp develops further over time. Hopefully they don’t have too many problems with mind control parasites or other corruptive predato

I might draw some fanart for this show. Probably Azi & Levi, cause they’re my favorites. I’d love to draw some scenery, too!

I kind of wish we could’ve seen more about Azi & Levi reuniting. I really liked the little bond they were developing, and I’d be interested in seeing how Levi’s transformation affects that.

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2025, February 6

Played a bit more Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney today, just enough to finish the third trial. This one felt more complex, I was surprised by how neatly the pieces fit together by the end.

Edgeworth is an interesting character. I wonder what happened between him and Wright?

...

I just watched episodes 9 & 10 of Scavenger's Reign, and wow I've gotten emotionally invested in these characters.

Like the conflict of Sam having this parasite inside him and not wanting to hurt Ursula… That's devastating. And he ripped it out of his chest in the end?? Aghhhh….

And on a different note: Azi lesbianism confirmed?!?! Hell yeah!! I was somewhat lowkey shipping her & Levi, and I've been rubbing my hands together at the tension between her and Kris...

Aghhh she's been carrying Mia's book with her this whole time… It's not likely Mia survived, with the creatures that have been eating the crew, but gahh… it'd be awesome if she did.

And Levi’s back!!! I was so excited to watch all those lifeforms put her back together, I can't wait to see what happens when she meets up with Azi again. Maybe she can untie her from the shore of the riverbank?

On a less character related note, it is funny to me when the creatures around them become perfect tools to solve their problems. Like the perfectly boat-shaped shed skin of that giant bug, the gas mask & flying critters Ursula & Sam used in the first episode… I wonder how long it takes them to figure out what creatures can be used in what ways? Seems risky, considering how deadly a lot of them are.

So there's 2 episodes left, and everyone is converging on the Demeter. Tomorrow I'll find out what goes down!

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2025, February 5

Today I really wanted to play a new video game, so I started Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney for the first time! I got through the second day of the third trial, and decided to be done cause it's late at night.

I'm having a great time so far! The characters are all charming and I'm very endeared to Wright & Maya (and also Edgeworth. he’s silly).

The mysteries are very well done, making connections & piecing things together feels great!

I'm curious about how this most recent case is going to go. The other cases made it very clear from the start that the defendant wasn’t guilty, but in this case it feels more ambiguous.

There's a lot of questions left at this point. Why would Hammers drug Powers and steal the samurai suit? Why would he pretend to have Powers’ limp? He probably didn't plan to get murdered, so what was he trying to frame Powers for? Who changed him into the new suit after he died, and why? How did they go about moving the body from one studio to another, especially if the monkey head was blocking the way? Could they have gone through the woods?

I guess we'll probably learn a lot more if we can get into Studio 2.

I feel bad for the kid caught up in all this. This show clearly means a lot to him, and an actor being murdered by another member of the crew is already bad enough without also witnessing it happen. I hope he'll be okay after it's over.

...

2025, February 4

Today I read the graphic novel mage and the endless unknown. It actually has a kind of similar vibe to Scavenger’s Reign in a way! Body horror, corruption, and a dangerous yet beautiful world.

There's a lot of emphasis on illustration to tell the story, very little words throughout. I like how cute and simple the characters look, especially next to the grotesque detail of the more horrific parts of the book.

...

I’ve also watched another 5 episodes of Scavenger’s Reign! A lot happened in them, wow. I'm sad Levi died, I really liked her and was curious to learn more about the fungus in her circuitry. Just as Azi was bonding with her, too!!

More characters have been introduced now, too. I don't think I was expecting that, but I guess it makes sense from a writing perspective.

I find Kris pretty cool so far, and her relationship with Barry and Terrence (RIP) is interesting. Like some kinda dysfunctional found family. I feel like she and Azi are definitely going to come into conflict at some point soon, which should be neat to see.

I wonder what the hell’s going on with the guy the psychic frog… ate? fused with? Is this part of the regular psychic frog reproductive cycle?

And then on a similar note, Sam also seems to be influenced by an alien lifeform into continuing its life cycle. That feels like a bit of a theme at this point. I think Sam’s gotten hurt by the most different life forms at this point, guy cannot catch a break.

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2025, February 3

Today I watched the first 3 episodes of Scavenger’s Reign! It’s weird and interesting, I like it.

The art in this show is incredible, I love the way this alien world & the lifeforms within it are illustrated. Everything feels strange, dangerous, mysterious, and beautiful.

I like the characters, each of the 3 groups is compelling to watch in their own way. I’m especially looking forward to learning more about what’s going on with the fungus in the robot, and watching the situation with the redhead & the frog alien keeping him as a pet develop further.

Also, what the heck was up with that flower in the branch wall Ursula found?? There was another, different frog alien and it. Put on some kind of performance? Probably the strangest thing that’s happened so far, I wonder if it’ll ever get explained more...

I think it’ll probably be left a mystery.