December Update
Hey, friends! The end of the year is here, which is why now is a perfect time to do a quick recap and talk about what to expect from this blog in 2026. There are a lot of exciting things ahead, so happy new year, pretend like you’re not surprised to see this notification, then pretend as if you’re hearing me jingle the bells to set the festive mood. And let’s not waste time.
2025
First of all, thank you everyone for joining me this year, reading and engaging with the posts. It’s incredibly fulfilling to know that words on the page aren’t just dumped into the void where they remain unseen and forgotten, but instead someone somewhere reads them, especially in our modern age of short form visual content. Thank you, every like and notification means a lot.
I took a break for half a year for big IRL changes which stressed me out and didn’t leave much room for show enjoyment and appreciation. There are still some things left to do in January, but hopefully by the end of it everything will be resolved. The idea is to make a stable schedule going forward that can be further expanded on, when I get the hang of it.
In other words, no promises about how January goes as it might be chaotic. From February and onwards the posting should become regular and more diverse — seasonals, older shows, donghua, occasional live-action, games. All admin stuff and short updates (in case there are some hiccups) most likely will go to twitter to avoid cluttering the blog itself. If you want to see those, follow me there.
2026
Okay, so what shows to expect?
Of course, I’m finishing The Apothecary Diaries to prepare for its next season. No worries though, I will continue covering each episode — there is always so much to talk about.
Now, there are shows that I’ve watched a full season of and plan to post about at least once. However, we’ll need to see how it goes, since some of them can be discussed with an overview of my thoughts and impressions, while others I have theories about, there’s much more nuance to cover, themes, ideas — you name it. Anyway, the current list looks like this:
- Clevatess. A lot of good things to discuss! And then the way they handled flashbacks…
- Secrets of the Silent Witch. Theories I have as an anime only, what was good, what felt flat.
- Dr. Stone (2 parts of the last season). This arc felt different from the previous ones, and we need to talk about it.
- Re:Zero (last season as a whole). What it excelled at, what felt strange, what to look forward to.
- May I Ask for One Final Thing? Why this show worked so well.
Another category of seasonal shows that I watched would be the ones that just don’t have enough things in them that I’d like to write about. It doesn’t mean that the shows are necessarily bad — they could very well be solid — I just don’t have that many points of interest to highlight.
Therefore, either we skip them completely and move on to more exciting things, or I combine them into a single mashup post to briefly go over my thoughts.
Let me know if that’s something you’d be interested to read. I can see value in both of those options. Cause it’s either trying to understand what didn’t work and why (at least for me) and, perhaps, seeing other perspectives (for example, if those things worked for you and you’d like to explain why in the comments); or we just focus on what’s been more engaging and put all the time and effort into that.
Next, a movie I watched twice and can finally formulate complete sentences about:
We absolutely need to talk about the changes in art style and directing, the plot, the themes — all of that.
Get The Subtext Vault’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Next, shows that I’m in the middle of watching and want to talk about but need to wrap up the season first:
- Gnosia. Things done well, things I have gripes about.
- Takopi’s Original Sin. Admittedly, I am taking it super slow to appreciate each episode more.
- Orb: On the Movements of the Earth. The constant danger looming over characters is killing me, but I’ll be strong and finish it soon.
- Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle. How polarizing the cast is, personal impressions, production issues. And right when I’m writing this, the staff announces a delay of season’s finale until Spring 2026.
- Disney Twisted-Wonderland The Animation. What works, what’s doesn’t, why, and what its fandom on the internet can’t stop praising the in-game (there is a gacha game and its manga adaptation, and the show adapts the manga) universe for.
Donghua
My current obsession that definitely needs more praise and recognition:
China was been killing it lately, and this franchise in particular has had a very interesting journey. Of course, the animation, the plot, the details, the character arcs, the structure of the season itself — there is a mountain of things that deserves a spotlight and in-depth conversation. But…
Before all of that, it’s essential for me to finish To Be Hero (2016) and To Be Heroine (2018).
Still, expect a series of posts about these donghua in the foreseeable future. I’ll do my best to mix and match those with posts about other shows, so that the whole blog doesn’t turn into one show only discussions.
Live-action
On the live-action side of things, the show that I’m most interested in talking out would be
- Pluribus
It’s fascinating how many conversations this show is sparkling, how thought provoking it could be. And yet, how many viewers find it boring at the same time. I’d love to analyze not just the narrative and the characters, but the show reception as well.
Games
With gaming, I’ve been pretty consistent playing just several comfort games over and over again. But what I would like to do is to take a step back and try something new. However, I don’t want to overwhelm myself and add another game to the usual rotation. Plus, it shouldn’t feel like a chore if I’m not in the mood for a specific type of a game.
So what we’re going to do is make a biweekly segment for indie games that can be played in one sitting. Who knows, might as well find hidden gems in there.
My “indie for a day” category on Steam already has more than 200 games in it. And everything about these games is different from one another. Can be a horror VN or a platformer, a puzzle game or a cozy sandbox, an intriguing mystery or old-school point & click. We’ll play it by ear, so expect the unexpected.
There is also an option to talk about Expedition 33 in-depth. However, due to game’s popularity and the awards won, it feels like everyone on the internet has already discussed everything there is to discuss, made numerous videos or wrote essays, which means that every little detail has been highlighted and theorized about. Of course, it’s just algorithms being overwhelming, creating this illusion by bombarding the feed with all the content about it. Yet the feeling is very real, so until I find a unique angle to approach this, better watch some dedicated youtube channels instead.
And finally, Winter Anime Season 2026 is upon us, and it is absolutely stacked. Look forward to the next post, which is going to cover all the shows that I would like to check out.
