2025 Things Roundup

I am an avid things consumer and also things write down-er so it is actually relatively easy to see what things I saw or did in a year (unless it is a show on the television because I haven't got an app I like for that yet). I have seen a few yearly roundup type posts around and I figured this would be a good chance to revisit some of the stuff I want to recommend or talk about from the year going forward.

I will not be providing any particular in-depth analysis or context unless I think of something good in the moment. I may also forego ratings despite my usual love of them as I think I don't want these things listed to be compared to each other (but don't worry they're all rated on their respective tracking platforms!).

Video Games

Man I love video games. Truly one of the greatest media forms. I played quite a few this year but it was predominantly counter strike which is as good as it always is. This is a list of all the ones I played enough I feel I can leave a comment on my experience with it but that generally means it was one that I liked.

• X-Morph Defense (2017)

Funny tower defense game combined with a twin stick shooter. Had some interesting optimal pathing type mechanics and playing an alien invasion game where you are the invader is pretty novel but the plot wasn't really much to write home about. I don't know if I'd have finished it if I wasn't playing it co-op with soup.

• Stardew Valley (2016)

Farming sim relaxing game. My second attempt at Stardew and this time achieved perfection with all the bells and whistles. Co-op with my lovely partner this time, we didn't try too hard to optimise anything so it was a fairly chill experience and we found our niches we enjoyed pretty quick. We did however use quality of life mods like adding favourite gift info notes or live position updates for the villagers. We also made the movement speed 1.5x because holy SHIT it is so dull to walk around at the base speed.

• Smite 2 (2025)

I hate mobas but after playing this one for a long time I can see a bit of the appeal. I only like playing this in a group of people who are better than me and I am stuck with the 3 characters I know how to play now. I still hate mobas.

• Yakuza 5 Remastered (2019)

Last yakuza game before they got a new engine but it runs alright. 5 protagonists may have been too many as you don't really get much of who the new ones are but it was quite cool that one of them could only do dance battles.

• Yakuza 6 (2016)

New engine and good gameplay and a nice ""end"" (real) to Kiryu's story. There is a section where you have to soothe a baby every 10 steps while walking across town that was agonising but then there's a slow motion cutscene where 5 guys throw the baby between themselves american football style while getting pounded by the mob so it sort of makes up for it.

• Astroneer (2019)

Fairly charming space game. Makes good use of diagetic menus although they can get a bit unweildy at times. It felt cool to be able to go to other planets but the 4th time you had to stuff basic materials into a planet then spend 30 minutes making a fresh base was boring and the 7th time I stopped playing. It also takes like 100 years to dig to the middle of the planet.

• The Witcher 3 (2015)

I actually played this back in 2017 or whatever but I gave it a cheeky replay as it was the anniversary. Very good game and I even did the DLCs this time. The combat is not as bad as I thought it would be given people's usual gripes but I also wouldn't say it was very interesting. I did end up using bombs and oils and stuff so I did feel like spiderman a witcher, and I also went hardcore on the gwent this time. Cyberpunk ticked more boxes for me though.

• Like a Dragon: Gaiden (2023)

Kiryu Side Content video game that isn't called Yakuza any more and I think happens concurrently with Yakuza 7. A nice continuation of Kiryu's story but it sort of made me dislike 8 a bit more because the story was way less impactful than this game. Awesome mechanics because Kiryu can use spy gadgets now and I think I actually cried a bit at the end of the game.

• Hollow Knight: Silksong (2025)

Fun for like 12 hours which is probably a good amount but I lost all my money on the runback to the boss before the citadel (which I think is only at the end of Act 1 of (some number)) and it tilted me enough that I stopped. It had all the atmosphere and stuff I liked from Hollow Knight but it felt more bullshit.

• Ghost of Tsushima (2024)

I LOVE WATCHING NAKED MEN STEP INTO A POND FOR 30 SECONDS FOR A 2% HEALTH INCREASE. This game is sort of peak ubisoft-like. It looks very pretty and has some really cool ways it blends the mechanics into the presentation, like the wind guiding you to your destination, but everything just takes so long. Collectathons should be get to place and pick up thing in a second, not spend 2 minutes constructing a Haiku for a weapon upgrade point or whatever. At the end of every mission there was a nice little scene with you and your horse where you pat him or he eats your hat or whatever but it happens every time!!!!!!! I don't care!!!!!! Combat is whatever and I didn't get far enough to have an opinion on the story. Game Japan.

• Deadlock (2024)

I still hate mobas but this one was a bit more interesting as I now actually understand the 10 minute gooning phase at the start. However, I still don't know how to play them properly (sorry web, I don't know how we always ended up in the same lane). Also only good with friends who are better than you.

• Disco Elysium (2019)

I tried this as a steam deck game but it didn't really stick after an hour or so. No real critique I just wanted to go on record and say I tried.

Books

I seemed to fall off the book train a bit this year, there were quite a few I tried but dropped pretty quick as they didn't grip me immediately. However with the correct motivation I did successfully get through some of them.

• Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami

I've read a lot of Murakami by now but I'd always put this one off as it always seemed to be reviewed as the most tragic and I was worried it would make me feel bad but it was just fairly regular Murakami. Enjoyable story and it felt like it made a little bit more sense than they usually do.

• The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic - Terry Pratchett

Definitely funny books but I think sometimes he does go for quantity over quality of quips. I wasn't actually that invested in the story of either so it took me a little while to get through them even though I felt like I was enjoying it. In the second one the copy I pirated on my kindle was also just missing 40 pages so I got a bit fucked up in the middle there when they started talking to characters who hadn't been introduced.

• Stormlight Archive Series - Brandon Sanderson

I'd actually read the first 3 books of this many moons ago but then the 4th one hadn't come out and when I did pick it up I'd forgotten what had happened and didn't get far through it. I read them all from the start now that all 5 are there and they are epic stories. Sanderson's writing can be a little bit goofy or predictable at times though. I think these 5 books are a palettable amount of his words but any more and I might start feeling queasy.

• Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger

Surprisingly compelling given how annoyingly the narrator speaks. Drastically increased my use of the phrase "horsing around". I thought it would be a lot more tragic and also feature more farms.

• Poppy War Trilogy - R. F. Kuang

Fantasy trilogy with big Chinese history influence. Has some very cool ideas about channeling gods powers through individuals and a compelling main character even though she isn't necessarily a good character. Quite obvious in the parallels to real life sometimes which sort of took you out of the fantasy setting occasionally.

• Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

I actually stopped about halfway through because I got bored but I tried again and it ended up being quite gripping. Didn't go at all how I expected it to and left me feeling quite introspective. I really liked the way the narrator spoke and jumped around the various parts of her history.

• Babel - R. F. Kuang

Chinese boy taken to Oxford University to be a scholar to fuel the magic metal bars powered by language ambiguity. Similarly to the poppy war it has good messages and themes but you get bludgeoned over the head with them to make sure you don't miss it. For example this paraphrased scene with two male and two female students:

"The professor shook my hand, then Ramy's hand, then scurried away..."

You go ah! The professor did not shake the hands of the women! Even the faculty does not respect the idea of female scholars!

"Letty and Victoire's hands remained unshaken".

Yes I already got that!!!

It's a bit of a crazy nitpick as I did enjoy the books but it just kept happening that I'd figure something out and then it would just be stated bluntly to make sure I didn't miss it. "<racist remark from professor>". "Wow that was racist" thought Robin.

Manga

I read way too many manga this year to list and describe them all so I will limit myself to ones that I think are actually somewhat notable. At the end I'll put the full list though. This is also only ones I completed not ongoing ones I am in the midst of reading as I don't think I started any ongoing ones this year (it sucks never read ongoing manga. I am chained to the rock while the eagles peck out my organs at one 12 page chapter every 2 weeks).

• Solo Levelling

I respect the balls to fully change what the protagonist looks like 3 chapters in. Power scaling master who never loses but it was entertaining enough that I finished it. I'd probably call it "slop" though.

• Land of the Lustrous

I was put off by the art style of the anime but the manga was actually sick. Far future gemstone people doing planet maintenance type activities and then space stuff happens. Cool art and the ending was even not too bad for sci-fi.

• Akira

I've seen the film a few times and it was alright but not mind blowing but the manga is way more fleshed out. Great panels too. Definitely read if you liked or didn't like the film. Someone please buy me the 35th anniversary edition of the books from waterstones.

• Chihayafuru

I thought it would be a romance manga but it was actually a sports manga. Introduced me to the card game Karuta which is such a cool game. They have all these poems memorised and then they have to recognise it by the first couple of syllables to uniquely get the card with that poem on it from the board in front of them. After finishing it I watched a few videos of Karuta tournaments, it seems like it would be fun to play.

• Komi Can't Communicate

Admittedly, way too long and way too many characters, but I found it quite cute. The first few chapters has one of my favourite scenes in media in when Tadano and Komi have the conversation on the chalkboard. I read it weekly for a while but dropped it and picked it up this year from the start now that it had finished.

• Tokyo These Days

Retired manga editor rounds up the avengers for one last magazine. A nice insight into aging and time moving on as well as into the workings of the manga industry.

• My Friend Is Having an Affair with My Husband

I read this translated on reddit every day for like 2 months because the chapters are short and the art style is quite simple but the story was actually crazily compelling. I think my enjoyment was definitely amplified by being able to read everyone's comments on it per day and then not having to wait 10 years for the next bit of story to come out.

• Vinland Saga

I tried watching the anime once and didn't really get stuck into it but picked up the manga because everyone and their mum says its the best thing ever and yeah actually it's insanely good. The scope changes and the amount of time it spans is quite vast but you are engrossed in the story the whole time and it has real characters who grow and story messages and everything.

• How Do We Relationship?

Manga about a lesbian couple who then break up but stay friends and how they sort of learn to navigate the relationships in their lives (both romantic and friendships). Very cute at times but also quite thought-provoking at the times of turmoil.

• Golden Kamuy

A lot more compelling than most gag manga I've read although the comedy occasionally took you out of the seriousness. I thought it would be way more convoluted and gruesome at the start but it ends up being quite linear despite the twists and turns. It also seems to represent the Ainu culture pretty well so it was nice to get an insight into that. Very funny.

• Nodame Cantabile

Manga about two Japanese music students who want to get better at music. It was nice reading one about college age students and it was a good exploration of the motivations of getting into music, as well as being a good comedy. It is a shame it didn't have an actual soundtrack.

• Eden: It's an Endless World!

It started off really cool and post-apocalyptic so I thought it'd be a lot more about survival but about a third of the way in it just turned into a sort of regular sci-fi where they live in the futuristic city and there's politics and intrigue and got a lot less interesting. It also sort of ended with the classic weird sci-fi bullshit. Overall pretty good though.

• Dead Dead Demon's DeDeDeDe Destruction

By the Punpun guy, this one was SO cool. Slice of life with a weird uneasy undertone because there's a fuckoff UFO in the sky all of the time over Tokyo and has been for years and they don't know whats gonna happen. It really draws you in and the characters are charming.

• Manhwa Romances - I read like 5 of these in a row so I'll put them all here as they're all the same
  • Seasons of Blossom
  • Match Made in Heaven by Chance
  • My ID is Gangnam Beauty
  • To Love Your Enemy
  • A Guide to Proper Dating
  • A Business Proposal

These were all pretty nice reads although entirely predictable. The sort of thing that feels like eating candy floss. No real stakes or drama but occasionally there's some good exploration of the characters. Seasons of Blossom was the best in terms of theme explored and character depth, and Match Made in Heaven by Chance was the funniest, mostly because of the presentation and the way it delivered the jokes.

• Sanctuary

A lot of panels of guys in suits looking at the camera with a stoic expression. A cool story about two guys trying to reform society from the "top" (government) and the "bottom" (yakuza) although it gets a bit convoluted towards the end and also one of the policewomen falls in love with the yakuza guy off of just the fact he is good at getting away with crimes or something.

• Old Boy

Fellow gets kidnapped and locked in a room for 10 years then is let out with no context and tries to figure out what the flip happened. Quite a weird one but a cool mystery. Apparently there's a pretty good korean film inspired by it too.

• Planetes

Awesome hard sci-fi story. It follows some people in the just post commercialisation of space travel age, where there is a Moon base for scientists and expeditions to visit places beyond Mars. Very grounded and understandable but has some great stories about things like people born on the moon or dealing with staying in contact with family when you are far away and can't travel regularly. Sort of similar to The Expanse series in this regard. It also turned out to be by the Vinland Saga guy.

Anime and TV

This is actually mostly anime but I wanted to also mention that we binged a few taskmaster seasons.

• Taskmaster

Epic comedy game show. People say the earlier seasons are better but honestly I love that it introduces me to new comedians. I think the "hitrate" for people I liked was way lower in the earlier seasons than it is now as well, the chemistry is great. I think we watched like the 5 latest seasons this year.

• Odd Taxi

Taxi driver walrus gets caught up in plots and hijinks but its sort of told by following the people who get in his cab. Has some nice twists and turns and is one of the few shows where it goes from a 7 to an 8 to a 9 in the middle.

• Apothecary Diaries (Season 1 and 2)

Doctor house if he was a young chinese girl who was kidnapped and made to work in the palace. Enjoyable but I don't really get the people calling it "peak". Also the prince guy is SO creepy as the show goes on.

• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 1: Phantom Blood

Had some good moments but ultimately was not actually very engaging. I think the meme value was higher than the entertainment value.

• Dandadan (Season 2)

I've been reading the manga so I know what happens anyway but it's definitely worth watching the anime as the music and animation is insane. It does do the classic anime thing of being completely unrecommendable to non-anime fans though.

Films

• A Real Pain (2024)

It is crazy that Jesse Eisenburg wrote himself as the character that Kieran Culkin ended up playing given how typecast he seems as the character he was in the actual film. A cool exploration of learning about your family history as well as dealing with your current family.

• Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

A cool piece about the life of Geishas as well as WW2 and post WW2 in Japan but it was also sort of weird how she was lusting after a guy like 40 years older than her.

• Roof Culture Asia (2017)

Storror feature-length parkour fragmovie but they also do interviews about how they are getting the footage and avoiding security and stuff. Some clips make your stomach churn a bit but it's got some great shots of the city and it's a nice insight into how the clips were obtained as well.

• The Phoenician Scheme (2025)

A fairly standard Wes Anderson film but the plot was actually pretty comprehensible overall.

• Conclave (2024)

It really saved me from having to google how that pope was elected. Very beautifully filmed and very engrossing for something that takes place pretty much entirely within one building.

• F1: The Movie (2025)

Brad Pitt does some driving but he's too cool to try too hard. Probably would have been less enjoyable if I knew more about F1 and Zimmer's soundtrack was way too fantasy sounding for a car film but it was an enjoyable enough watch.

• Alita: Battle Angel (2019)

I loved the manga of this and the film had some good people in but I think it was way too Young Adult Romance-y and it ended right as it got interesting.

• Blackberry (2023)

Enjoyable biopic but I think they always make it seem more like its real than it actually is and you end up feeling bad for guys and thinking they hate each other and then you read wikipedia and it turns out they're pals and one just left so he could do something more fun.

• The Holdovers (2023)

Student held back over christmas at boarding school has to hang out with a teacher the whole time. Heart-warming, great dialogue, keeps you on your toes. Top tier christmas film.

• A Complete Unknown (2024)

Good music but it's a bit too much of just Bob Dylan doing things. There isn't a massive overarching plot or any character growth or anything. It's neat that the music was all done by the actors though.

• Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc (2025)

INSANE film. The animation is so good. A smidgeon of goonerbait but it was done way better than I was expecting it to be done. Emotional rollercoaster. I could even watch it with family probably.

• Marty Supreme (2025) _{(i have been advised i watched this in 2026 - whoops)}

I love ping pong. I thought it was gonna be more of a sports film than it was but it turns out I just hadn't watched the trailer properly. Timothy Chalamet is so good in this and also he actually plays all the ping pong himself. Knowing it's actually him playing makes the scenes so much cooler. Also the worlds coolest title card. Probably my favourite film of the year but it would have been better if some of the characters didn't get a bit sidelined.

• Spirited Away (2001) and Porco Rosso (1992)

Rewatched two epic ghibli films. Classics with great music. Porco Rosso has a better story though.

• The French Dispatch (2021)

Final Chalamet film of the year. I think also my favourite Wes Anderson film but possibly because it's easier to stomach the stories not making huge amounts of sense when they're so short.

Music

These aren't all songs that came out this year and potentially aren't even songs that I discovered this year - however, they are songs or albums that I listened to a lot this year. I'll do a couple with some words of context and then I'll dump individual tracks that I listened to a lot too.

• Nujabes

I continued my use of the Nujabes discography as passive background noise for most of the year, however the tracks I enjoyed the most have fluctuated. In particular, I found myself starting the playlist on these two tracks quite often:

• Latitude -remix (feat. Five Deez)
• Thank you (feat. Apani B)

Not really sure why but I think I like the lyrics and flow of them both quite a bit.

• Competition Is For Losers - Rizzle Kicks

The rizzlers are close to my heart since I saw them live when I was a youngster and I went to the same high school they did following that, so seeing them come back and release another album after so much time alone made my heart skip a beat. They've got harder hitting commentary in their new material but the songs are still very recognisably their old style as well so it was a nice nostalgia hit. My top tracks are Bad Tattoo, Javelin and Gumdrops.

• Mass of the Fermenting Dregs

I had a couple of songs from these guys in my liked songs playlist before but when some pals were floating the idea of seeing their concert in camden I gave the rest of their discography a proper listen to revise. I had actually only really listened to their new stuff (I like the song Dramatic) but their old stuff is also pretty good (delusionism and Aoi, Koi, Daidaiiro No Hi).

• Vampire Weekend

I always thought they were a John Lewis advert sort of band but after listening to more of their songs and seeing them live they are an incredibly skilled bunch of musicians and it really added an extra dimension to the enjoyment listening to their music afterwards as well. I particularly like their songs Sympathy and Harmony Hall but all of their stuff is pretty listenable. I'd definitely recommend seeing them live if you get the opportunity.

• I Love My Computer - Ninajirachi

I got youtube algorithm'd into the song iPod Touch and it was very catchy so I gave the whole album a listen when it came out. I also saw some quick interviews with Nina about the music creation process and the way she goes out to lakes and samples the sound of her throwing rocks in the water and whatever which was a cool extra layer. Would recommend.

• The EP - The Pill

Another band I saw live who I think were a last minute sub for a band that pulled out in protest. Not the sort of music I'd necessarily show to my mum and the songs are all quite short but they're pretty good. My favourite tracks were POSH and Woman Driver.

Ok, and here is the list of individual tracks I don't really have many words about but found myself listening to often this year:

• Golden - HUNTR/X (KPop Demon Hunters. I haven't seen the film)
• Coming-of-age Story and 赤いワインに涙が・・・- Brandy Senki (Good harmonies)
• Stone Only Rolls Downhill - Ok Go
• Mr. Tambourine Man - The Byrds
• 絶頂讃歌 - Wanuka (It's in japanese, I didn't know the translated name until well after)
• Easy Breezy - Chelmico
• Sunny Baby - The Kooks
• Kids Go Down - Chinese American Bear
• Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want To Come - The Wombats
• idk i just work here - DURRY
• Frieren: Beyond Journey's End OST - Evan Call (Top tracks are For 1000 years and Zoltraak)
• Payaba! - Seycara Orchestral
• He's Fine - The Secret Sisters
• Flowers In The Window - Travis
• Got Me Like Crazy - Christopher James Dececio
• F.U.N.K - bbno$
• IRIS OUT - Kenshi Yonezu
• Common People - Pulp
• Problems - Afterclad, Lili
• White Horses - Wolf Alice
• Rhapsody In Blue / Strike Up The Band - Chihiro Yamanaka

Beer

That's right, I tracked beer as well this year so I can report back on my tops:

• Saucery - Magic Rock Brewing

IPA from near the freeplaycity arcade in Finsbury. Very smooth.

• Big Casino - Dancing Man Brewery

American IPA from a Southampton brewery. Very strong.

• Ripchord - Brewboard

Session IPA from a popup bar in Cambridge that has stayed popped up for quite a while now.

• Soundwave IPA - Siren Craft Brew

Another American IPA I had at the Bottle and Stoat in Southampton. Expensive but tasty.

• Japanese Rice Lager - Mikkeller

Beer Japan (actually from Denmark).

• Volt - Woodforde's Brewery

A final American IPA (sensing a theme here) that they had on tap at my partner's christmas party.

Sneezes

I tracked these as a bit in case I was able to get a good payoff at the next family christmas but unfortunately it didn't hit as hard as I hoped. There were also nothing interesting to pull from this - all the spikes are me being ill, allergic to cats, or moving.

Other Things of Note

I got up to a respectable amount this year as well so I thought I'd list some of the top activities in probably accurate chronological order:

• Built the lego death star in my empty flat before moving in (it took about 15 hours and 6 beers over 3 days)

• Started getting trimonthly vitamin B12 injections
• Sold most of my childhood lego to a guy in the Isle of Wight
• Saw Operation Mincemeat, a musical about a WW2 operation (it was really good)
• Saw some stand-up comedy (Ania Magliano) and then she was on taskmaster!!!!
• Went to Athens using some BA vouchers left over from the 2024 Japan trip

• Started parkour school and learnt how to do a backflip (the video doesn't embed very well because I can't be bothered to do custom css for it)
• Climbed Mt. Snowdon (and went down again which ended up being way harder)

• Went to Portugal with my partner and her family

• Organised a meetup of 30 rhythm gamers (it was not actually much work I just had to say things with authority sometimes and dm 30 people for their pizza order)

• Went seal spotting in wales

• Went to Victorious Music Festival (though no camping)

• Watched the Blast London CS event live (I met 3 klik philip!)

• Watched the Red Roses win the world cup final live (Rugby)

• Saw Mass of the Fermenting Dregs live

• Watched the Chainsaw Man film in the cinema in Ely (so good would recommend)
• Went to a 4 day LAN event and won most dripped out (no prize) and guess how many keycaps in the pc case (won a ducky keyboard)

• Watched the rugby with some old pals (I didn't want to do a second rugby picture as it would be the same as the earlier one, but this one was men's England vs Fiji)
• Went to Copenhagen to see the Witcher 3 Anniversary Concert (surprisingly cheap accomodation and flight! We had missed all the UK dates by the time I found out about it)

• Got evicted (kill all landlords (for legal reasons this is a joke))

Here's to 2026. This is my year for sure!

Appendix

complete 2026 manga list:

1. Basara
2. Holyland
3. Solo Levelling
4. My Little Monster
5. Blue Flag
6. Orb: On the Movements of the Earth
7. The Fable: The Second Contact
8. Slam Dunk
9. Boys Run the Riot
10. Land of the Lustrous
11. Akira
12. Chihayafuru
13. Komi Can't Communicate
14. Lone Wolf and Cub
15. Look Back
16. Bokurano
17. Mujirushi: The Sign of Dreams
18. Shiroyama and Mita-san
19. Tokyo These Days
20. Sunny
21. Tekkonkinkrete
22. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 1: Phantom Blood
23. My Dress Up Darling
24. My Friend Is Having an Affair With My Husband
25. Kaiju No. 8
26. Vinland Saga
27. How Do We Relationship?
28. The Summer You Were There
29. Golden Kamuy
30. Nodame Cantabile
31. Innocent
32. Innocent Rouge
33. Eden: It's an Endless World!
34. Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction
35. No. 5
36. Origin
37. Jagaaaan
38. Seasons of Blossom
39. Match Made in Heaven by Chance
40. My ID Is Gangnam Beauty
41. To Love Your Enemy
42. A Guide to Proper Dating
43. Nick and Lever
44. Happy
45. A Business Proposal
46. Sanctuary
47. Old Boy
48. My Girl
49. Planetes
50. Blade of the Immortal
51. Flowers and Pints