God, I played so many things but never wrote much about them. Some stuff, I’m sorta going “Well, I’ll collaborate with Amelie Doree on this”. I’m including stuff I did on December 2021 because I didn’t do one last year.
If you’re interested in what I might get to next year, here’s a list that I may or may not follow.
I’m splitting the post into three sections: the first being stuff that came out this year or I played its rerelease version, the second being random retro stuff I played, and the third is academic-adjacent stuff that made an impact on me as a researcher.
The Actual 2022 Media I Played
I first played Elden Ring because I felt like shit and wanted something different. Everyone’s going to put this game on their top 10 list, so what else is there to say? Do love my buddy, Mimic Tear.
Jewelry Hearts Academia was a pretty good game. I wrote a short post on it. Totally short.
Tokyo 24-ku (not to be confused with the Nitroplus anime of the same name) was a sleeper hit for me. A BL visual novel about Totally-Not-LDP politicians, it investigates the ostensibly democratic state of Japan and how it has failed its quest in supporting people’s rights, especially the minorities’. I sorta wish I had the energy to write about the game, but I already wrote a long ass piece on Jewelry Hearts… I will at least be open to collaborating with Amelie Doree on a video on this or something.
Shuuen no Virche is an otomege I would recommend to anyone without hesitation. It’s got the otomege hot anime men appeal, but the scenario is some galaxy brain stuff. I wrote a post on this because I would love more people to play it.
Demons Roots came out in December 2021, but fuck that. Anything in December is next year!!! Anyway, it’s a great title if you want to see a girl fight against JRPGs to save her girlfriend. I love that shit.
Hentai Prison is arguably the most ambitious title coming from a young brand.
Watashi no Oshigoto wa Yuri Desu! is a kami ongoing yuri manga alongside Futari Escape. They’re both candidates for this Substack whenever they’re done.
Kitanai Kimi ga Ichiban Kawaii! was so good a yuri manga I wrote a post on it. I stan the cursed queen, Manio.
If you aren’t reading Asumi-chan is Interested in Lesbian Brothels, you’re missing out. LOOK AT THAT TITLE.
Amayo no Tsuki is an ongoing yuri title that explores the relationship of a girl who has a crush on a deaf woman, but she isn’t sure if this is some savior complex, a fetishizing of disabled people, or just plain ol’ lesbian love. It’s so good. Wrote a small thread on this.
Ancient Media
I replayed Caligula Overdose and its sequel, Caligula Effect 2, for my partner-in-crime. While I recognize their flaws, I think they remain influential and relevant works for my own approach to narrative design. I’m workshopping a piece on this still… If it ever comes out, it’s gonna be something I’m proud of.
Chou no Doku, Hana no Kusari is a wonderful otomege. I wrote a thread on this and it made me think I kinda want to blog about visual novels again after years of not doing so. You can blame this title for all the writing atrocities I’ve put out this year.
Getsuei no Kusari is a new favorite visual novel of mine. It’s SubaHibi’s “Insects” chapter but as an entire game. Just like the above title, this moved me so much to write a real post on it. I’m pretty sure if I didn’t play this title and write about it, I wouldn’t have started this newsletter in earnest.
Makai Toushi SaGa (translated poorly as Final Fantasy Legend) might be one of my favorite titles of all time. Its minimalism is able to evoke something grand yet atmospheric. I’m also fond of Romancing SaGa 1, which I’ve written about on my Dreamwidth blog.
I played the Dark Souls trilogy since I enjoyed Elden Ring. They’re not bad.
Swan Song and Carnival were standout titles from my mini journey on Setoguchi titles. I wrote about the latter in a tsundere way.
I’ve also written a piece on Kana: Imouto because it’s such an important title on the history of English visual novel communities.
God, I hope the Tokyo NECRO translation is going to come out soon. The game is surprisingly deep; what I wrote previously feels too superficial for my taste now.
Saihate no Ima rotted my newsletter brain.
私の世界を構成する塵のような何か is a very poignant manga about seven women (they’re styled after the Seven Sins) who are in complicated relationships with each other. Tweeted about it here.
行進子犬に恋文を made my Twitter brain melt.
あなたと私の周波数 is a dank yuri short story collection. I won’t say much except to just read it.
If Only I Can Reach (たとえとどかぬ糸だとしても) is a yuri manga I kinda want to write about…
Oretachi wa Tsubasa ga Nai was a good title I didn’t write a post about because I stalled the game when I was in university. It’s a damn good title that has the best approach to mental health I’ve seen, even though it’s a minor thing. A pity that I didn’t feel confident writing about it because I really adore the title. Maybe, when Amelie Doree asks me to help out…
Do not play a game named Semiramis no Tenbin. It might ruin your life as seen in this post.
Yoshiwara Higanbana is not a good game per se, but it made me respect how joseimuke writers approach sex and love. Wrote a thread on it.
Lobotomy Corporation is a big brain genius game. I’ll probably write about it whenever I’m done with Library of Ruina…
The Bob Emergency is the greatest YouTube video ever about athletes named Bob. Jon Bois is a genius and will make you cry about the many people named Bob throughout the years.
Labyrinth of Galleria is perhaps the best Japanese DRPG ever and it also has good yuri.
Suisenka was not a fun experience, but it definitely impacted how I view metafiction in visual novels. Amelie Doree is likely to make a video on it, so I’m gonna be lazy and not write a post on it. Tehepero.
Power Pro-kun Pocket R and Power Pro 2022 are proof baseball games need dating sims. I would like to write an overview on these games someday…
Boku wa Tenshi Janai Yo is a short visual novel about Taisho Japan and BDSM. I think more people should read this.
MISSINGPARTS the TANTEI STORIES is perhaps the best mystery ADV experience I’ll ever have. I wrote a Twitter thread on this.
The Kamaitachi no Yoru trilogy is something I wish that got translated properly… It’s an iconic series for good reason.
Kurutta Kajitsu is a silly PC-98 adventure game with the dankest presentation on an ending.
Nonomura no Byouin no Hitobito was the last Hiruta visual novel I had left in my backlog and it was a good one to end on. I’ll never shut up about Hiruta.
Hacchake! Ayayo-san is a Thing of Marvel. I would recommend people to watch Doree’s video on this since Len and I helped out there.
The same can be said with Jisatsu 101 except I’m less a fan of it.
Tokyo Twilight Busters is a PC-98 survival game that deserves some mention. It mixes point-and-click gameplay with real-time stuff and some RPG shenanigans. Really fun title.
Youkoso e Cinemahouse has a cool thread from Dec 2021.
Fucking Rance X also made me write a thread on the Rance series. God, I can’t wait to help out with Amelie Doree’s giant video series on the games lol.
Academic-ish Stuff
Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family and Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation especially by Sophie Lewis are excellent primers on the case for queer mothering, family abolitionism, and just love in general. I would also recommend her Parapraxis article (CW: sexual assault, family abuse).
Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California is what made me take prison abolition and geography seriously. Anytime I bring up space/geography, I’m always thinking about this book. Thread here.
Men in Place: Trans Masculinity, Race, and Sexuality in America is probably one of the best scholarly reads ever. It’s about gender, sure, but it’s also about geography and how place changes the context of gender. I admire the attention to specificity in the analysis and it’s made me think how I should be more careful with how I write about stuff. Thread here.
Pollution Is Colonialism was not a read I expected to heavily influence me because I initially thought it was going to be a standard critique on pollution as a concept. Instead, it reintroduced me to the Indigenous idea that “research is ceremony” and made me think about the responsibility and accountability researchers need to undertake ethical research. I would seriously recommend people interested in becoming a researcher to read this first.
The White Possessive: Property, Power, and Indigenous Sovereignty is a book I wished I read for my dissertation on Australian politicians. It’s given me a new angle on how to discuss the racialization of property.
Spaces Between Us: Queer Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Decolonization is a really interesting read about how queer identities in the USA are linked to the repression of Indigenous people. This is not to say being queer in the US sense is bad or settler colonialist, but it is worth investigating its genealogy.
I Am Woman: A Native Perspective on Sociology and Feminism should be essential reading in feminist reading lists. I was surprised that I never heard of this book until I looked into Indigenous writers…
Capitalism and Disability: Selected Writings by Marta Russell is a must-read for any leftist. It takes the social model of disability and relates it to labor relations. Great stuff.
Mobility Justice: The Politics of Movement in an Age of Extremes is a dense but rewarding read if you’re interested in migration and how rich people can fly everywhere but poor people can’t.
Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation is a short but insightful read on how the tech industry bowdlerizes industries. Features our favorite Twitter-in-Chief.
Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire is perhaps the best introductory read to discussions on race and class. Helps that it’s about the United Kingdom, which rarely gets discussed in contemporary discourses on racism.
The Future Is Degrowth: A Guide to a World Beyond Capitalism is a good overview on the current approaches to degrowth/post-growth.
Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers' Rights is a necessary read for anyone who wants to say a thing or two about sex workers. This work was a corrective for my own bullshit because it’s written by sex workers who are advocating things that I didn’t think about. Good callout.
The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice may be old news for most trans people in the UK, but I think it’s a great read regardless for people who want to help trans people. Thread here.
Capital Volume III: The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole is probably my favorite volume because it’s some weird macroeconomics shit.
Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Are Right about Why You Hate Your Job and Work Without the Worker: Labour in the Age of Platform Capitalism are nice books to read while working.
The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions and Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World are the best books I would recommend to anyone who wants to understand what the fuck I’m researching about besides Japanese media.