Blazer-Sharp, Prattle-Ready, Brainless Steel Samurai Banana

We ushered in the New Year quietly and without event. Unlike the girls of Lillian Girls' Academy, I will sadly not be doing this rounds at temples or staying over with friends to-day, but the moment in which we ushered in 2026 was no less meaningful for me, and I got to watch the triumphant return of AKB48 to NHK's Kouhaku Utagassen so I have no real complaints. If I have any resolutions this year, it's that I'm going to really double-down on deconstructing and treating seriously anime tropes in a medium for which they were not intended. This statement was brought to you by my resisting the urge to take apart the notion of harem anime shows.

Ah! Friends, I can't make Christmas last any longer (disclaimer: I can. Technically Christmas doesn't finish until Candlemas in early February, or on 6th January if you're less generous) but I did spend a moment yester-day going through my journal and mastodon to answer the question: "what did you actually like Courtney?" The criteria is simply that to make this list, it had to be released, even if only in translation, during 2025, so without further ado:

( comics )

( anime )

( games )

( pop )

"... and thanks to you, the player!" is how games used to conclude, and by this, I mean thanks to you for putting up with me ramble about nonsense for another year. I'm going to do my best to make this year better than last but I know that the last year would have been 200% harder without you, my friends, to get me through, so I just want to say thank you to all of you for that. I'm starting off the new year making some big changes about how I do things creatively so if at any time you see me resting on my laurels, please feel free to give me a kick.

Happy New Year, friends! 💖🎊🍰🎉🎂🎍

When we look back on this year's Wednesday-ish entries, we will think of it as the year we spoke about Juice=Juice. A lot. This is entirely not my fault, no one but luckyzukky could have predicted that the group were going to release a song like More! Mi Amore and that it was going to be such a terrific single. At the same of writing, I would actually put More! Mi Amore in my top ten idol releases this year—this song, in addition to =LOVE's Love Song ni Osowa Reru really brightened up this winter for me, they are both songs explicitly from this moment, and whenever I hear them in future, I am sure I will remember these days. No doubt, I will also be thinking of Kawashima Mifu.



Omifu debuted with Juice=Juice in February with the release of the double A side, Hatsukoi no Bourei/Kon'ya wa Hearty Party, a single which mostly passed me by due to my extreme association of Juice=Juice with Karin, and only Karin. Despite this, I was aware of Omifu, not by name, but by sight, as I vaguely remembered the promotional material following the auditions which saw her win a place with the kenshuusei after having failed three separate prior auditions for a place with Morning Musume and ANGERME, as well as the joint Tsubaki Factory and Juice=Juice auditions. A year later finding her feet, however, she was awarded with a judge's prize during the research students' concert, and a year after that, with another award under her belt, it was announced she was joining Juice=Juice. But wait, you might proclaim, looking at this timeline, if she joined the group in 2023, why was her debut single in 2025? Ah! Alas! From the October following the announcement throughout most of 2024, Omifu was unable to perform due to a sudden loss of hearing that required both surgical intervention and a long, long period of recovery. I cannot begin to imagine how terrifying it must have been to have gone through that, to finally make it to where the start of where you want to be only to have something out of your control happen like that. I was completely unaware of all that Omifu was going through during this point, I wasn't even aware of her having joined Juice=Juice, but I am relieved to report that in April 2024, Omifu began to resume activities, leading us to where we are now, the release of More! Mi Amore sending her popularity skyrocketing.

In the Hello! Project Official Shop in late autumn, it came as no surprise to me that Omifu's photo that month had sold out. I first became aware of her around 2022-ish when she appeared in a video alongside Tanaka Reina, and I was struck by how emotional she was during the performance, mouthing her words as she danced before eventually burst into tears following the performance, but because I am an idiot, I didn't follow her career; in October, I felt more like an idiot for not having followed her as everything about her presence in More! Mi Amore stands out so vividly, from the skill of her dancing, to the delivery of her lines, to her presence amongst her peers. If I had been smarter in 2022, I would have made it my resolution to follow her, rather than arriving late to the party with everyone else. What is important is that I am here now though, just in time for the New Year! My resolution for 2026 will be to support Omifu more!