website title reads joeys luna

✨ ANIME ✨

name: a place further than the universe (Sora yori mo Tooi Basho)

SUMMARY: Filled with an overwhelming sense of wonder for the world around her, Mari Tamaki has always dreamt of what lies beyond the reaches of the universe. However, despite harboring such large aspirations on the inside, her fear of the unknown and anxiety over her own possible limitations have always held her back from chasing them. But now, in her second year of high school, Mari is more determined than ever to not let any more of her youth go to waste. Still, her fear continues to prevent her from taking that ambitious step forward—that is, until she has a chance encounter with a girl who has grand dreams of her own.

Spurred by her mother's disappearance, Shirase Kobuchizawa has been working hard to fund her trip to Antarctica. Despite facing doubt and ridicule from virtually everyone, Shirase is determined to embark on this expedition to search for her mother in a place further than the universe itself. Inspired by Shirase's resolve, Mari jumps at the chance to join her. Soon, their efforts attract the attention of the bubbly Hinata Miyake, who is eager to stand out, and Yuzuki Shiraishi, a polite girl from a high class background. Together, they set sail toward the frozen south.

genre: seinen, adventure, comedy, drama | year: 2018 | studios: madhouse | summary from myanimelist


name: my love story!! (Ore Monogatari!!)

summary: With his muscular build and tall stature, Takeo Gouda is no ordinary high school freshman. However, behind Takeo's intimidating appearance lies a pure heart of gold, and he is considered a hero by his male peers for his courage and chivalry.

Unfortunately for Takeo, his appearance does not bode well for his love life. As if his looks were not already enough to scare the opposite sex away, Takeo's cool, handsome best friend and constant companion Makoto Sunakawa easily, and unintentionally, steals the hearts of the female students—including every girl Takeo has ever liked.

One day, when Takeo saves cute Rinko Yamato from being molested, he falls in love with her instantly. Unfortunately, he suspects that she might be interested in Sunakawa. Despite his romantic feelings for Yamato continuing to bloom, Takeo decides to act as her cupid, even as he yearns for his own love story.

genre: shoujo, romantic comedy | year: 2015 | studios: madhouse | summary from myanimelist


name: run with the wind (Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru)

summary: Former ace runner of Sendai Josei High School, Kakeru Kurahara is chased away from a convenience store for shoplifting. Shaking off his pursuer, he runs into Haiji Kiyose, another student from his university. Haiji is impressed by Kakeru's agility and persuades him to live in Chikusei-sou, the run-down apartment where Haiji resides along with eight other students. Having lost his entire apartment deposit at a mahjong parlor, Kakeru accepts the offer reluctantly.

However, Haiji reveals a secret during Kakeru's welcoming party: the apartment is actually the dormitory of the Kansei University Track Club. He unveils his ultimate goal of participating in the Hakone Ekiden—one of the most prominent university marathon relay races in Japan. Unfortunately, all the residents apart from Haiji and Kakeru are complete running novices. Worse still, none of the inhabitants are even remotely interested in being involved with Haiji's ridiculous plan! With only months before the deadline, will the fourth-year student be able to convince them otherwise and realize his elusive dream of running in the Hakone Ekiden?

genre: seinen, sports, drama | year: 2018 | studios: production i.g | summary from myanimelist


name: Nichijou - my ordinary life (nichijou)

Nichijou primarily focuses on the daily antics of a trio of childhood friends—high school girls Mio Naganohara, Yuuko Aioi and Mai Minakami—whose stories soon intertwine with the young genius Hakase Shinonome, her robot caretaker Nano, and their talking cat Sakamoto. With every passing day, the lives of these six, as well as of the many people around them, experience both the calms of normal life and the insanity of the absurd. Walking to school, being bitten by a talking crow, spending time with friends, and watching the principal suplex a deer: they are all in a day's work in the extraordinary everyday lives of those in Nichijou.

genre: shounen, comedy | year: 2011 | studios: kyoto animation | summary from myanimelist


name: powerpuff girls z (Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z)

summary: Based on the American cartoon, "The Powerpuff Girls."

Professor Utonium and his son Ken are studying the strange Chemical X. When a mochi cake falls into the formula, it changes into Chemical Z. Ken fires a ray of Chemical Z at a glacier in Tokyo Bay, however that causes strange black and white lights to scatter. The black lights turn its victims into monsters, with emphasis on a black light hitting a zoo monkey and transforming him into Mojo Jojo.

The white lights, however, aim at three normal girls, Momoko, Miyako, and Kaoru. This gives them the power to transform into superheroes, the Powerpuff Girls Z!

genre: shoujo, action, comedy, sci-fi | year: 2006 | studios: toei animation | summary from myanimelist


name: tokyo mew mew

summary: Ichigo Momomiya expected her date with her crush, Masaya Aoyama, to have a more romantic ending than her falling asleep after she sees a vision of a cat entering her body. Things get even stranger when, the next day, she begins displaying cat-like behaviors such as an intense craving for fish. When Masaya is attacked by a monster, she discovers that she is able to transform into the cat-eared magical girl, Mew Ichigo.

After she saves Masaya, two researchers named Ryou Shirogane and Keiichiro Akasaka approach her and reveal they had injected her with Iriomote Cat DNA in order to create a magical girl that can save the world from aliens. Ichigo is tasked with fighting these monsters, but saving the world proves to be just too much for Ichigo to handle by herself. Fortunately, she learns that there are four other girls just like her, and now, Ichigo must find them quickly before the aliens completely take over the planet.

genre: shoujo, fantasy, romance, sci-fi | year: 2003 and 2022 | studios: Pierrot (2003) and yumeta company (2022) | summary from myanimelist


name: Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun (Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun)

summary: Chiyo Sakura is a cheerful high school girl who has fallen head over heels for the oblivious Umetarou Nozaki. Much to Chiyo's confusion, when she confesses to her beloved Nozaki, he hands her an unfamiliar autograph. As it turns out, the stoic teenage boy is actually a respected shoujo mangaka, publishing under the pen name Sakiko Yumeno! A series of misunderstandings leads to Chiyo becoming one of Nozaki's manga assistants.

Throughout the hilarious events that ensue, she befriends many of her quirky schoolmates, including her seemingly shameless fellow assistant, Mikoto Mikoshiba, and the "Prince of the School," Yuu Kashima. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun follows Chiyo as she strives to help Nozaki with his manga and hopes that he will eventually notice her feelings.

genre: shounen, romantic comedy | year: 2014 | studios: doga kobo | summary from myanimelist


name: cardcaptor sakura

summary:Ten-year-old Sakura Kinomoto is an ordinary fourth-grade student living in Tomoeda until, one day, she stumbles upon a mysterious book of cards titled "The Clow." Pondering over her discovery, she unintentionally causes a magical gust of wind to scatter the cards all over town.

The accident awakens the Beast of the Seal—Keroberos, nicknamed "Kero"—who tells Sakura that she has released the mystical "Clow Cards" created by the sorcerer Clow Reed. Due to each Card's ability to act independently and their incredible power, Clow had sealed them away. Now that they have been set free, the Cards pose great danger to the world, and it is up to Sakura to put an end to them.

Appointing Sakura as the "Cardcaptor" and granting her the Sealed Key, Kero tasks her with finding and recapturing all the Clow Cards. Alongside her best friend Tomoyo Daidouji, and with Kero's guidance, Sakura must learn to balance her new secret duty with the everyday troubles as she takes flight on her magical adventures as Cardcaptor Sakura.

genre: shoujo, fantasy, adventure, drama, romance, comedy | year: 1998 | studios: madhouse | summary from myanimelist


name: sailor moon (Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon)

summary:Usagi Tsukino is an average student and crybaby klutz who constantly scores low on her tests. Unexpectedly, her humdrum life is turned upside down when she saves a cat with a crescent moon on its head from danger. The cat, named Luna, later reveals that their meeting was not an accident: Usagi is destined to become Sailor Moon, a planetary guardian with the power to protect the Earth. Given a special brooch that allows her to transform, she must use her new powers to save the city from evil energy-stealing monsters sent by the malevolent Queen Beryl of the Dark Kingdom.

But getting accustomed to her powers and fighting villains are not the only things she has to worry about. She must find the lost princess of the Moon Kingdom, the other Sailor Guardians, and the Legendary Silver Crystal in order to save the planet from destruction.

genre: shoujo, fantasy, adventure, drama, romance, comedy | year: 1992 | studios: toei animation | summary from myanimelist


name: oddtaxi

summary: Eccentric and blunt, the walrus Hiroshi Odokawa lives a relatively normal life. He drives a taxi for a living, and there he meets several unique individuals: the jobless Taichi Kabasawa who is dead-set on going viral, the mysterious nurse Miho Shirakawa, the struggling comedic duo "Homo Sapiens," and Dobu, a well-known delinquent.

But Odokawa's simple way of life is about to be turned upside down. The case of a missing girl the police have been tracking leads back to him, and now both the yakuza and a duo of corrupt cops are on his tail.

genre: seinen, mystery | year: 2021 | studios: OLM and P.I.C.S. | summary from myanimelist


name: kotaro lives alone (Kotarou wa Hitorigurashi)

summary: One day, manga author Shin Karino is greeted by four-year-old Kotarou Satou, his new next-door neighbor, who gifts him a box of tissues. In Karino's eyes, Kotarou is an odd kid: he speaks in an extremely formal manner, and he lives alone in his apartment—no parents or relatives in sight. But Kotarou neither seems to mind, nor wants to rely on people.

Feeling sympathetic toward Kotarou's circumstances, Karino decides to follow Kotarou to a bathhouse in case something might happen to him and there he comes to understand the little boy is not so different from him. Little by little, Karino—along with the other residents of the apartment complex—grows fond of Kotarou and his antics. At the same time, Kotarou himself might have found something akin to a family in his unique neighbors.

genre: seinen, comedy, slice of life, (tw: both child and partner abuse is discussed in this anime) | year: 2022 | studios: liden films | summary from myanimelist


name: yowamushi pedal

summary: Sakamichi Onoda is a cheerful otaku looking to join his new school's anime club, eager to finally make some friends. Unfortunately, the club has been disbanded and he takes it upon himself to revive it by finding students who are willing to join. Without much luck, Onoda decides to make a round trip to Akihabara on his old, bulky city bicycle, a weekly 90-kilometer ride he has been completing since fourth grade.

This is when he meets fellow first year student, Shunsuke Imaizumi, a determined cyclist who is using the school's steep incline for practice. Surprised by Onoda's ability to climb the hill with his specific type of bicycle, Imaizumi challenges him to a race, with the proposition of joining the anime club should Onoda win. And thus begins the young boy's first foray into the world of high school bicycle racing!

genre: shounen, sports | year: 2013 | studios: tms entertainment | summary from myanimelist

✨ LITERATURE ✨

name: the guy she's interested in isn't a guy at all (Kinninaru Hito ga Otoko Jyanakatta)

summary: A popular Twitter shorts series depicting the love story between a gyaru and her classmate who she mistakes as a guy outside of school, bonding over their mutual love for rock music.

genre: webcomic, yuri, slice of life | year: 2022 | creator: Arai sumiko | summary from various places, they were all the same lol


name: elusive loves: Amores Esquivos

summary: Elusive Loves is a bilingual compilation of love poems from contemporary poet Mirtha Michelle Castro Marmol, author of the best-selling Letters, To The Men I Have Loved. She sets a seasonal stage in which she uses the divisions of the year to dive into the emotional cycle of romantic love. With words, she takes the reader on a passionate journey of the birth and death of infatuation, lust, and love. She has been able to capture the first feelings of love and loss in a raw form that has allowed her to earn the hearts of many loyal readers.

genre: poetry | year: 2015 | author: Mirtha Michelle Castro Marmol | summary from goodreads


name: go fot it, nakamura! (Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!!)

summary: Nakamura has fallen in love-at-first-sight with one of his classmates, Hirose -- but there's a problem: they haven't actually met yet...and Nakamura is a total klutz who might bungle things before they even begin!

genre: josei, comedy, yaoi | year: 2014 | creator: syundei | summary from goodreads


name: the age of miracles

summary: “It’s never the disasters you see coming that finally come to pass—it’s the ones you don’t expect at all,” says Julia, in this spellbinding novel of catastrophe and survival by a superb new writer. Luminous, suspenseful, unforgettable, The Age of Miracles tells the haunting and beautiful story of Julia and her family as they struggle to live in a time of extraordinary change.

On an ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, Julia awakens to discover that something has happened to the rotation of the earth. The days and nights are growing longer and longer; gravity is affected; the birds, the tides, human behavior, and cosmic rhythms are thrown into disarray. In a world that seems filled with danger and loss, Julia also must face surprising developments in herself, and in her personal world: divisions widening between her parents; strange behavior by her friends; the pain and vulnerability of first love; a growing sense of isolation; and a surprising, rebellious new strength. With crystalline prose and the indelible magic of a born storyteller, Karen Thompson Walker paints a breathtaking portrait of people finding ways to go on in an ever-evolving world.

genre: young adult, fiction, dystopia, coming of age | year: 2012 | author: karen thompson walker | summary from goodreads


name: sweat and soap (Ase to Sekken)

summary: In an office romance, there's a fine line between sexy and awkward... and that line is where Asako -- a woman who sweats copiously -- met Koutarou -- a perfume developer who can't get enough of Asako's, er, scent. Don't miss a romcom manga like no other!

Yae's living her dream, working at the toiletry maker Lilia Drop. Little do her coworkers know, the reason she loves the company so much is that she's ashamed of her body odor, and their soap is the only thing that does the trick. So when the company's lead product developer, a perfuming genius, approaches her in the lobby and wonders what "that smell" is, she's terrified... but could it be... that he likes it? And, even more surprising to Yae... does she like him?

The hilarious ups and downs of an office romance at a personal care products company are the subject of this sexy*, strange romp. Sweat and Soap combines the odd-couple chemistry of Wotakoi, the "too real!" workplace comedy of Aggretsuko, and a heavy dollop of office steaminess!

(personal note from me: *i know this might turn people away, but it's not as 'sexy' as this summary makes it out to be and this series is, genuinely, the healthiest romance i've ever seen.)

genre: seinen, romantic comedy, slice of life | year: 2018 | creator: kintetsu yamada | summary from goodreads


name: the husband's secret

summary: Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret—something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive. . . .

Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all—she’s an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia—or each other—but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s secret.

Acclaimed author Liane Moriarty has written a gripping, thought-provoking novel about how well it is really possible to know our spouses—and, ultimately, ourselves.

genre: fiction, mystery thriller | year: 2015 | author: Liane Moriarty | summary from goodreads


name: crumbs

summary: In a very special town, there’s a very unusual bakery where the house specialty is a selection of baked treats hand-crafted to help you make your dreams come true – whether you need inspiration, support or confidence, they’ve got a cake or muffin fresh-made with magic to meet your needs. But for Ray, a quiet young woman with special powers of her own, the order is always the same: a hot tea with a delicious side of romance.

genre: webcomic, fantasy, romance | year: 2019 | author: danie stirling | summary from webtoons


name: everything, everything

summary: My disease is as rare as it is famous. It’s a form of Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, but basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in fifteen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives. New next door neighbors. I look out the window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black t-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly. I want to learn everything about him, and I do. I learn that he is funny and fierce. I learn that his eyes are Atlantic Ocean-blue and that his vice is stealing silverware. I learn that when I talk to him, my whole world opens up, and I feel myself starting to change—starting to want things. To want out of my bubble. To want everything, everything the world has to offer.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

genre: young adult, romance, coming of age | year: 2015 | author: nicola yoon | summary from goodreads


name: stick n poke

summary: Mal Hassan is just a girl living on her mom's farm, but when she is offered a once in a lifetime chance to work with her favorite band, she drops everything to follow them on tour. How could she pass up her one chance to hook up with that hot guitarist? Is this a dream come true or a disaster waiting to happen?

genre: webcomic, romance, drama | year: 2021 | creators: tobi and max | summary from webtoon

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