gen-shoku

Summer songs are typically slower and darker for me. These are my top three:

Right now I'm re-reading Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto. I read it a couple years ago and I saw it in the wrong section at the library and figured I should read it again. Both stories in this book have a strong element of grief. Even when it's not directly stated, it's always felt in the tone, the words, and the characters' responses to the events that happen afterward. Her style never feels melodramatic, which I value. I enjoy subtlety in emotions, and trying to understand the combinations of factors internal and external in creating quiet inner storms. Of the two stories in this book, I think the first has the more interesting characters while the second has the more unusual plot. The second features some supernatural elements, but the author delivers them in such a way that it becomes believable that this could happen in everyday life. The characters are all a little strange, but grief and loss do strange things to people. I recommend it both to those who haven't read it and to those who already have.

It's been a couple years since my last real relationship. I guess I have a thing right now, but we aren't serious about each other and what we have couldn't be called a genuine relationship. I've definitely needed these years to reshape who I am as a person, and while I do think that's possible to do while in a relationship it's much easier to do it while being single. After all, if the person you're with doesn't like the person you become, what's the point in having stayed together? In my last relationship, we hurt each other badly because we didn't understand the other person as well as we thought we did, and also because we didn't know ourselves as well as we'd believed. I realized I needed to understand myself better in order to know what to change to become the kind of person I wanted to be, and I value that more right now than finding someone to share my life with. I guess it's mostly a process of becoming comfortable with who I am.

Yep, me too. It's interesting how sexuality influences perceptions of this genre especially, since so much of the marketing and visuals depend on sex appeal.

I was impressed by the change from Crazy Shampoo to DDRM. When 溺れる魚 came out, both the song and the video caught me by surprise. I liked Crazy Shampoo as well, but they didn't have the same depth of sound that DDRM has. I'm always looking forward to their next releases ^^

Have they announced an official release date?