Vibe Check #18 (March 2025)

Welcome to the #18th edition of our Vibe Check (our 3rd edition for Vibe Check for the year 2025) where we talk about anything dealing with Japan, Japanese culture, anime, or anything on the top of our heads. Hope you have a good reading!

**Please note there might be some spoilers if I am talking about an anime series**

Check #1: Netflix Anime Galore

Realizing that I need to catch up on my anime series, I've decided that I should go to Netflix to catch up on some anime series. 

One of the anime series I've finished watching was Sakamoto Days. It's about a legendary hitman who settled down and has a family, but gotten out of retirement when he's being targeted for a bounty of 1 billion yen!

As a person who hasn't watched a lot of action series, seeing the fighting scenes from Sakamoto Days was amazing. The reactions from close combat, the use of projectiles and guns, and the backstories of how each hitman got to where they are amazing to see. Not only that, the touching moments of Sakamoto pushing himself to protect his family and coworkers are mesmerizing to say the least.

Now I wouldn't say it's anime of the year material, but it was a really good anime series and I am happy that it's going to have another season (couldn't wait for DanDanDan season two more in my opinion).

Another anime series I've been watching is Mashle: Cream Puffs and Fists. It was more comical than action-like, which fits some people because they want some laughter during something serious. 

Mashle is about a young kid who never has magical powers going to a school that are filled with talented wizards, but because of his superhuman strength and speed, he breezes through tons of hardships which would be considered humanly impossible to do. And it has its usual thing when it comes to tons of anime series: the power of friendship.

Mashle was a little funny, but overall, it was more of being a valedictorian at your school type of thing. I would say it's more of a bob-cut haircut version of My Hero Academia. Just put Izuku Midoriya with a bob-cut haircut and you have Mashle.

Would I watch the second season of Mashle? Of course! However, I would be choosing the second season of Wind Breaker more than Mashle, in my opinion.

Vibe Check #2: Japanese Magazines

Ever since 2021, I've been buying Japanese magazines from Japan on topics that I am interested in the most: anime, food, cars, and sports. I mostly bought an average of 6 to 8 magazines that cost around $100 per order. So yeah,... I've spent a good amount of money on Japanese magazines.

I get the magazines from an online store named YesAsia, a website where you get exclusive items from countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea. Out of all my time in YesAsia, I always get their Japanese magazines. Because they have free express shipping of $99, I bulk up tons of magazines close to $100 to get it faster.

The one magazine I almost always get is Car Top, a car magazine that talks about Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) cars and Japanese car companies' exclusive look at their future concepts. Since I am super into JDM cars, it's a nice investment for me to learn more about the Japanese car industry and how it works.

The second kind of magazine I get a lot is Meets Regional, a cuisine magazine that pinpoints popular eateries and restaurants around a certain region for the month like Kobe, Fukuoka, Nara, and other regions in Japan. It always makes my stomach turn to see their delicious meals on display and how it's cooked to perfection.

There are other kinds of magazines I tend to get: Animage (an anime magazine), DUNK SHOOT (basketball), and Nintendo Dream (talking about the latest news on Nintendo). I do have one-timer ones such as Shi-Ba, a magazine strictly talking about the Shiba Inu, an iconic dog breed based in Japan (then again, I might buy another edition...).

Although it's always nice to get the magazines straight to my doorstep, its better that people can see it and connect it to their times of learning Japanese, watching anime, playing their favorite JRPG game. There are even times that I donate my magazines to Japanese people because it's an amazing feeling to connect with someone that have the same passions as yours.

Overall, getting the magazines is great, but connecting with other people with the same love for Japan and anime as you is a feeling you'll never forget.

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That's it for this month's Vibe Check. I sincerely apologize for not posting it earlier because we're backed up on new releases and new features for our brand. However, we do have a special edition for April, so I hope you'll stay tuned for that. Hope you have a good day~