aeronmelon

A few weeks ago, I posted here asking for help to leave Japan under threat that my son would be further abused and that I would be deported or worse. Thanks to a number of you, we got out and we made it to Ireland. I cannot thank all of you enough for your shocking generosity and the promptness of it which let us relocate just in the nick of time. It will never be forgotten.

Right now, we are doing fine. Could be better, but we have shelter and food and the promise that we will be taken care of. The biggest issue now is that due to the influx of refugees in Ireland, it's going to take a long time before we start getting financial aid. I am also waiting for our registration to be completed so I can do things like get a bank account and start looking for work.

We are being fed and given basic toiletries, but there some food & personal items that we have to provide ourselves. And I am flat broke now. Most importantly, we both need warmer clothes (jackets, pants, gloves, hats) and we need more clothes in general. We're wearing the warmest things we owned at the time, and that's enough right now. But Kanto winters don't hold a candle to Ireland. If it gets any colder (or wetter) it won't be responsible to go outside with a three-year-old. And my son is growing out of some of his clothes, so I need to buy larger replacements. He also needs extra food and drinks for when he can't eat whatever is being served to us at this hotel (a surprising amount of spicy food that neither of us can stand). I try to keep a small supply of crackers and fruit for him when he gets cranky between meals, as well as water and juice.

To be clear - we're no longer in imminent danger, and we won't starve or become homeless (fingers crossed). This is for if anyone wants to help us prepare for winter and make things easier for my little guy. Nothing like the amounts I was asking for before, small donations will make a difference. We would greatly appreciate it.

Stupidly, the only way I can receive money at this moment is MoneyGram, even Western Union will not work given the current situation. I realize that really narrows down the number of people who could realistically help, but I have no working bank accounts or electronic services until our registration process is completed. And that could take weeks, it's impossible for anyone to say.

If you have access to a MoneyGram, and want to prevent me from being yelled at because we're out of bananas, PM me and I will give you the necessary information.

Once we are enrolled in financial aid, I will take this post down. Any questions, just ask here or message me. Thank you for your time.

Alma-chan wa Kazoku ni Naritai (Alma-chan Wants to Be a Family!), episode 6

Akujiki Reijou to Kyouketsu Koushaku (Pass the Monster Meat, Milady!), episode 1

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/38772106

between March 1984 and August 1985, an unknown criminal — or maybe a whole group — extorted and terrorized some of Japan’s biggest snack manufacturers. Before long, a simple trip to the candy aisle had become a national act of courage — because one bite could’ve been your last.

The “Glico-Morinaga Case” is one of the strangest, most fascinating, and most unsettling stories to come out of 1980s Japan — a wild mix of kidnapping, ransom demands, mysterious letters, food poisoning and mass panic. And at the center of it all: One shadowy figure, or maybe several, who remain unknown even today, more than 4 decades later!

This… is the story of The Monster with 21 Faces — 1980s Japan’s biggest mystery.

Uploaded to YouTube by ANIKI.

Tono to Inu (The Corgi and the Samurai), episode 1.

A sequel is a great opportunity to capitalize on the potential of an original game. But if a sequel fulfills everything the original set out to do... what more is there to do? Let's explore sequels so good, they kinda ruin their series.

Uploaded to YouTube by i am a dot.

Modern TV shows take longer to come out with fewer episodes. Since the boom of peak TV in the 2010s, every show is trying to be a 10 hour movie, driving up production costs and leaving audiences starving for entertainment at a time they should have a wealth of it. TV shows have forgotten the strengths of the long-format, both in storytelling and in production.

Uploaded to YouTube by Rowan J Coleman.

Post-airwaves TV can be as long or as short as it needs to be, and there are many examples of new streaming series that have some short episodes and some long episodes because that's how long or short they needed to be. I don't think episode runtime or season/series length is a hard indication of how good they are. The amount of money spent per episode often is, though, especially with modern Star Trek.

The least expensive series (Lower Decks & Prodigy) are clearly the best, overall. While the most expensive series (Discovery & Picard) have managed to dig past rock bottom on multiple occasions. My favorite episode of Discovery (Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad) was a bottle episode made at the last minute on a very tight budget to fill the season, and those limitations clearly resulted in a neat little timeloop adventure reminiscent of original Star Trek.

But that's just my opinion.

If you haven't, watch Coleman's lengthy Star Trek Retrospective series. Some of the videos are indeed very long (irony), but they earn their runtimes with how well Coleman sizes up the franchise through the course of them all.

Slight (but necessary) edit of LadyButterfly’s post on c/comicstrips.

Sakamoto Days 2025, episode 11.