I question charging for a manga streaming service that uses unmodified Google Translate "translations." But par for the course, I question it for lack of wisdom more than for lack of morality. | Continue reading
I review The Boy I LIke? -- the English localization of what is effectively a freeware doujin meme visual novel | Continue reading
I wrote a post in November 2023 about having gone more than five years without breaking my Hario coffee glass. All good things must come to an end. | Continue reading
I walked to the Noguchi Museum in Long Island City, Queens, with a friend on March 16, 2024. By ‘walked,’ I […] | Continue reading
Crescent shadows, beams of light, and the Sun seen over my shoulder: A collection of solar eclipse photos from a sidewalk in Brooklyn Heights. | Continue reading
La, the 17-year old co-protagonist of the excellent visual novel True Remembrance, has silver hair. The rest of the cast have seemingly natural and expected hair colors. I study La's unexpected silver mane. | Continue reading
I use the case of an unnaturally intelligent 6-year old visual novel character to describe a specific character-writing flaw in fiction. | Continue reading
I use Retro Dodo's complaints about a dramatic and unexplained decrease in its Google traffic to caution webmasters against relying solely on Google Search to deliver visitors. | Continue reading
A comprehenshive spoiler-lite review of the second season of the Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki anime. | Continue reading
I filtered all headlines and descriptions containing the word "Palworld" from appearing in my RSS and ATOM feed items. I did not know until April 1, 2024, that I also needed to filter "Pal World." | Continue reading
Reviewing the month that was at The New Leaf Journal in March 2024 as we bring the first quarter of the year to a close. | Continue reading
I received a mailing from the NYC Board of Elections about the April 2, 2024 Presidential Primary. I already knew when the primary was but I came away impressed with a pigeon on the mailer. | Continue reading
I go to the grocery store a couple of days a week. The general purpose grocery stores I go to (as […] | Continue reading
The winter 2024 adaptation of A Sign of Affection gave me five articles about anime hair color. Having written so much about it already, I decided to write a full review of the eseason itself, separate from its great hair color topics. | Continue reading
Although I do not use my "smart" TV's operating system and thus cannot buy things from its store, I confidently recommend against buying smart TV games from a smart TV store. | Continue reading
I published an essay about different methods for organizing a collection of RSS/ATOM/JSON feed sources on February 1, 2024. Yukinu, who […] | Continue reading
An unusually detailed computer in episode 11 of Nana, an anime which aired in 2006-2007, set me off on a journey to identify the vintage computer in question. | Continue reading
I question New York City Mayor Eric Adams' describing his city as "the Port-Au-Prince of America" from a political branding perspective. | Continue reading
I question whether Elon Musk can re-brand X into a platform for reading articles when it still carries Twitter's distinct brand and legacy. | Continue reading
I celebrate White Day with Boku no Shokora, an unofficial English translation of an over-the-top doujin visual novel that comes with an entire "White Day Scenario" | Continue reading
I took a rare (and long walk) to Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and checked out the Newtwon Creek Nature Walk. I submit for your enjoyment a photograph of a large orange "DONUT FENDER." | Continue reading
Itsuomi Nagi reveals the reason behind his unusual silver hair color in episode 10 of A Sign of Affection. We learn it is not Itsuomi's call, but the "experiment" of his hair stylist friend. | Continue reading
An interesting essay on proving one's humanity on the internet inspires me to take a slightly different look at what it means to create humane writing and media online. | Continue reading
The commencement of crowd-funding for The Minimal Phone, an e-ink phone with a QWERTY keyboard, prompts me to revisit my similar ideal phone concept. | Continue reading
I commemorate the unexpected dominance of my first two articles about hair color in A Sign of Affection in our February article ranking with a history of my anime/manga/game hair color project. Let's start in 2012... | Continue reading
Microsoft's impending discontinuation of Publisher made me recall my experiences using it as the student editor of my high school paper in the late 2000s. | Continue reading
A short report on a fallen ONE WAY sign on the Columbia Heights hill from Brooklyn Heights to DUMBO. | Continue reading
Having looked at the changing hair color of the two protagonists of A Sign of Affection, Yuki and Itsuomi, I examine the hair color of Itsuomi's high school friends, Shin Iryū and Ema Nakasono. | Continue reading
Reviewing the month that was in new articles at The New Leaf Journal in February 2024 and the triumph of anime hair color in our monthly ranking. | Continue reading
I review Insani's 2008 local treanslation of Satomi Shiba's excellent doujin freeware visual novel, True Remembrance. | Continue reading
I introduce my Pokémon Prismatic Adventures project, wherein I will play through Pokémon Red, turn my play-through into a novel/strategy guide, and serialize the novel here at The New Leaf Journal. | Continue reading
Examining the promotion of "Pinstagram" as a tool for social climbing in school in season two of Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki-kun. | Continue reading
On creating a single-page feed aggregator site for The New Leaf Journal and related projects using WordPress.com's free plan. | Continue reading
Episodes 2 and 5 of A Sign of Affection indirectly established that main characters Yuki Itose and Itsuomi Nagi dye their hair. Episode 7 brought further notes about their hair color and one on Itsuomi's friend, Shin Iryū. | Continue reading
Four Presidents -- Hiram ULYSSES Grant, Stephen GROVER Cleveland, Thomas WOODROW Wilson, and John CALVIN Coolidge -- effectively used their middle names as first names. In this article, I examine each of these interesting presidential name cases. | Continue reading
I recall a creative strategy I used to take down a difficult enemy called the Reaper in Persona 3 FES. Instead of the common approach (using Thunder Reign), I made use of a special move called Infinity. | Continue reading
A full review of EDDA Café, a short, very aesthetic, freeware original English-language visual novel by an Indonesian studio focusing on overcoming regrets related to a tragedy that occurred on a certain Valentine's Day. | Continue reading
I consult original English sources to get to the bottom of the meaning and history of Japan's ai ai gasa ("love umbrella"). | Continue reading
I share an old outline party composition guide that I wrote for Persona 3 FES's The Answer epilogue back in 2011 or 2012. | Continue reading
You can find many free things left outside in Brooklyn, New York. This includes free furniture, free books, and, apparently, free gallons of Poland Spring water. | Continue reading
I am watching an ongoing shoujo romance anime called A Sign of Affection. After I watched the fourth episode, I published […] | Continue reading
I compare my al|together visual novel rankings with the Visual Novel Database average user scores for all 31 pieces.Possibly related posts...The al|together and Insani Visual Novel Translationsal|together Visual Novel Ranking (10-1)al|together Visual Novel Ranking (20-11)al|toget … | Continue reading
Examining overwhelming circumstantial evidence of Yuki Itose's use of hair dye in the first two episodes of the A Sign of Affection anime adaptation.Possibly related posts...Hair Color in Japanese Anime, Manga, and GamesUnderstanding Hair Color in the Kimi ni Todoke Anime SeriesH … | Continue reading
Sharing my system for organizing my personal RSS/ATOM feed collection and discussing other systems seen around the web.Possibly related posts...Feeds and Read-It-Later for Online ReadingAn Introduction to RSS and Other Feed FormatsAgainst Twitter as a Content CuratorRSS as a Face … | Continue reading
January was highlighted by a surprise newsletter share and Hacker News page 1 appearance early in the month, but we also published 17 new articles on many interesting topics.Possibly related posts...The New Leaf Journal Celebrates Its First BirthdayThe Newsletter Leaf Journal at … | Continue reading
I rank the top 10 visual novel translations to emerge from the 31 pieces translated for the 2005, 2006, and 2008 al|together festivals.Possibly related posts...al|together Visual Novel Rank Introal|together Visual Novel Ranking (20-11)al|together Visual Novel Ranking (31-21)The a … | Continue reading
I recently learned about some shopping app called Temu. I contemplated my obliviousness and determined that I owe my lack of knowledge to good internet usage.Possibly related posts...An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe SearchA 2021 List of Alternative Search Engines and Search…Compar … | Continue reading
The second part of my al|together visual novel ranking covers the ten translations I have ranked 20-11.Possibly related posts...al|together Visual Novel Rank Introal|together Visual Novel Ranking (31-21)The al|together and Insani Visual Novel TranslationsRed Shift Visual Novel Re … | Continue reading