Looking back: Apr '25, Week 4 - May '25, Week 2
- Minerva Murasaki
- May 12
- 10 min read
Updated: May 14
It's been a hot minute! It's hard to believe that 3 weeks has flown by in a hectic blur, yet week on week it was difficult to highlight anything! For 2 weeks, I skipped on writing here and instead left a short summary of what I did that week on my Discord server. But now that projects have been closed off, I think it's a good time to look back on it all and refocus for the rest of May. ♪🤔
✨ Work -- Worked on Ari's AWAKE cover music video!
I took a little over 2 weeks to finish this video, mainly because I had other matters to attend to that broke my workflow. (More on that later!)
When Ari first reached out to me for this commission, the initial plan was to push the cover out on Hoshimachi Suisei's birthday -- which happened to be my birthday as well (22 Mar)! However, the illustration was expected to take longer than expected due to issues with payment, so I was mentally ready to do as much as I could within the little time I might have (less than 5 days). But unfortunately the date passed, and the illustration was still not ready -- not the fault of the artist though!
When I finally received all the assets, I was determined to do 2 things:
Do what I can to make the video exciting, and to highlight Ari's vocal performance.
Finish the video as fast as I can, ideally in less than 2 weeks.
Did I achieve what I had set out to do? 🥹 You can be the judge of that...
✨ Discord -- Had a Just Chatting stream to catch up with the Gems.
I felt that it's been quite a long time since I last spoke to them, so I asked for a vote on what they'd to see. I promised to stream once I was freer from evening commitments (the main commitments being FFXIV Savage Raid and Ari's video commission). I'm not much of a yapper, so I felt that I needed something to talk about... but there weren't many votes for a game stream. 🥹 So I thought: What if I prepared a Vtuber Debut presentation?
I spent an afternoon putting together slides. I was in a certain type of mood when I created it, so it was... borderline unhinged, with humor that got lost somewhere along the way. 🤔 But it was done, and it was something, so I went along with it.
I hope the gems were entertained, and learned a thing or 2 about me. 🥹
For longevity, I'll reshare some of the main points from the presentation here!

Future works
I usually get an illustration commissioned for full covers, so it's possible to tell if I have covers lined up from my Skeb profile page.
Discussion
All discussions and chats on all matters concerning Minerva happens on our Discord Community Server. At this point, Discord is the only SNS I actively manage and engage in, because there is honestly a LOT of noise on all other major SNS platforms.
... I was in a certain type of mood when I made this. I went through what the different types of channels are for, and that all the channels under Floorplan are free for everyone to use. I think this slide was quite self-explanatory, so I emphasized that Thread channels are great for chatting with like-minded individuals on a topic -- those who are interested can choose to Follow the thread, and it will appear as a separate text channel under the list! It's very cool.
Analysis
Here, I talked about some of my likes and dislikes... or more specifically, the things I had a strong opinion about. The gems got to do a poll to decide which grid had the things I felt positively about.
The answer: It was kind of a trick question! I feel positively towards the grid on the left, but the grid on the right has things I like, but remind me of specific things that I rage about. I explained the points on the right on stream (i.e. things I don't like). From left to right, top to bottom:
Sword Art Online: I like stories where you/ the protagonist is thrown into an unknown, unfamiliar world. But I hate it when characters change mid-story for no good reason just to fit the plot progression. (JUSTICE FOR SUGUHA'S CHEST!!!)
Moo Deng: I like hippos. Hippos are cool. My favorite plushie is a grey hippo. But !@^% the internet's obsession over Moo Deng and pygmy hippos. They just look like slime blobs. JUSTICE FOR HIPPOPOTAMUSES!
Yazawa Nico: I like 2D Idols. I don't follow many of them anymore but I am usually on the lookout for my next cosplan... eyecandy... idol. But this 1 character was like a third wheel between me and my best girl Ayase Eli. She's always there even though I don't like her, making me dislike her even more. 💔
Pretty coral reef: I love colorful scenery. So I get excited over games with beautiful scenery. But due to a snorkeling experience went wrong, I developed a fear of water. I still panic when I play games where I have to swim and my vision keeps changing between being above and under the water surface. It makes me feel like I'm going to drown. 🙃
Brother's Conflict: I like dating sims and RomComs. But I hate that romance always leads to kissing and anything more sexual than that. I have a strong aversion to anything sexual (even kissing/ lip to lip contact is hard to watch/ uncomfortable) -- to me, being in a relationship is finding a deep mutual understanding with another, and wanting to be physically around the other, maybe sharing a hug or two for comfort and reassurance. If you're wondering, yes I am. 🖤🩶🤍💜
Monster Hunter: I like Monster Hunter! My most hated monster is Bazelgeuse! Keep those bombs away from me!
Final Fantasy XIV: I've played several MMORPGS over the years. But I dislike large damage counters/ numbers. Even more if it's a game with damage numbers filling the screen. Am I supposed to notice the difference between 7 and 8 digits flashing across my screen? Why do I need to know the last significant figure of a 4-8 digit number? I prefer to learn how the game should be played, and trusting the process. (I play Monster Hunter without damage numbers.)
Baldur's Gate 3: I LOVE THIS GAME. I don't like those Origin characters. Also, Astarion's face was cut. 💔
Yakuza/ Like a Dragon: I enjoy the series! I don't enjoy Kasuga Ichiban being the new main protagonist. If Kiryu Kazuma needs to retire, can I play as Han Joongi instead? 🥺💜
I spent way too long raging, so I was keen to move on and not spend more time explaining the grid on the left. 😣 So I'll explain that here! From left to right, top to bottom again:
Simoun: My favorite anime/ imaginary world. 💜 On the surface, it's a girls love/ yuri anime. But it's actually a very beautiful story of how love is just love, sex and the body changes that come with it is a choice based on how you want to live your life, and gender is not a condition to attraction. I loved this anime way before I learned more about myself, so it's a comforting imaginary world to escape into whenever I... return to a dark place.
Mimikyu Ditto (Pokémon): I like ditto. Some speculate that it's a failed clone of Mew. But that doesn't stop it from trying it's best to transform into a clone of something else. The ditto not realizing that a Mimikyu is a little ghost wearing a Pikachu ragdoll and placing it's face where the ragdoll face is at... is SO endearing. 💜💜💜 Also, I like simple smiley faces too. No noses. : )
Hatsune Miku & kz (livetune): Miku is the dream (not forgetting subsequent vocal synths too!). Truly the singer of the people for the people. Also, there's just something about kz's choice of sounds and compositions that I really like. Whenever I need a pick me up, kz it is!
The sky: I love the sky. Seen from Earth, and what lies beyond. It's beautifully transient, and way more vast than what anyone can perceive.
Fall Out Boy: Their lyrics make me curious. The music is catchy, and so are the lyrics, but they always make me wonder if there's something deeper. Their songs are like being at a club: You're having a good time, but once in a while you, suddenly you experience a moment of clarity where the world slows, and you suddenly realize where you are.
Dilophosaurus (ARK): I enjoy survival craft games... And I have an unhealthy obsession over Dilos in ARK. I never have enough of them. They're SO CUTE. Gotta catch them all! I command them like a Zergling rush (Starcraft) against dinos that attack the base!!! Except... they're really very squishy and I mourn the loss of every one... 😭 Man, I'm feeling dizzy recalling the times I found a dilo corpse after a fight... 💔
ASDFMovie: My kind of humor. It's nonsense that's even more nonsensical the more you think about it. That scene's from my favorite clip of all time. ooooooooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrggggggHHHHHHH!!!!!!
No Man's Sky: I love looking space, starry skies, and colorful lights. When I think of visualizations of music, I always see glows and movement (maybe I should have learned to be a VJ...). No Man's Sky gives me time to drown out my thoughts from the humming of my starship (Love Solar Ships!), and look at slow lights. It's very calming. 🌙
Alice (from the Alice in the Country of X series): I love Alice in Wonderland. I keep a PDF of the recovered original text on my phone so that I can re-read the story whenever I want to disrupt my mind with seemingly nonsense. I also played the visual novel Alice in the Country of Hearts. Julius Monrey's my guy. 💜 I deeply appreciate people who are very dedicated to something they choose to work on for themselves -- as long as it is not at the expense of others. No work is too much if it means doing good work, problems are for them to understand and solve, and their success is for themselves to determine and reflect upon. This applies to hobbies too! It makes me want to tenderly care for them and be around them to be motivated to try to do good too.
That was long!
After the presentation, I explained what I liked about using Adobe After Effects to make videos, and showed what my project file for Ari's AWAKE video looked like. Found out that because I was really disorganized this time round, that I had a total of 666 layers. 🤔 Hmm... 😈
Then I streamed a bit of No Man's Sky to calm down, and called it a day!

I was happy to see new faces. 💜 Kinda wished that I could have caught up with others too, but that's alright! I hope they read this blog entry and don't feel left out. 🥹
✨ Life -- Made an emergency visit to the dentist 🥺
Let me get straight to the moral of the story: Please use a toothbrush with soft bristles, don't over brush, and visit the dentist if you feel any kind of persistent sensitivity. I learned quite a few years ago that the quality of the toothpaste makes a big difference to how clean your teeth feel. But 2 months ago, I tried a toothbrush with regular stiffness because I had some lying around at home, and found that it seemed to make my teeth feel even cleaner. I'm quite particular about my teeth feeling squeaky clean because I wear retainers to bed, so I was really happy.
About a month later, I started to feel tingles over a particular molar whenever I brushed over it. I thought that maybe I wasn't cleaning that area well enough, leading to inflammations, so I spent more time brushing that area. Lo and behold, I was greeted with a sharp pain last week that was so unbearable that I immediately booked an appointment with a nearby dentist.
Turns out, I had brushed that tooth so hard that my gums over just that tooth receded so far that I managed to chip the part of my enamel that covered the dentin (tooth bone that covers the root nerves, and is capped by the enamel) near the root. The sharp pain I experienced was because my dentin was completely exposed at the chipped off part. 🥺 The dentist covered the exposed dentin with filling and gave me toothpaste for tooth sensitivity.
It's been a week, and my tooth is still sensitive enough that putting pure toothpaste over it triggers it, so...
Don't be me! Please be gentle with your teeth! Any eventual plaque build up can be cleared out by a visit to the dentist every 6 months to a year! (I usually visit once a year, because my dentists usually tell me that my teeth are so clean that there's no real need to force a visit every 6 months.)
✨ Forever home -- Picked up keys, did defect checks, met the interior designer, picked tiles, and toilet and kitchen furnishings
The title is quite self-explanatory! After a 5 year wait, I finally got the keys to my (hopefully) forever home! Spent quite a bit of time going down to the house to check for defects, reporting them to the building management for repair, and travelling across the island with the interior designer to pick tiles and furnishings that have dimension restrictions due to the layout of the house.
I haven't touched this much grass in a long time, so that was both tiring and refreshing! It made me realize that I really should invest in sunglasses and either a sun hat or parasol though... 🤔
✨ Gaming -- Watched Yuraia finish Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, reached FFXIV M8S, played some Monster Hunter Wilds and Baldur's Gate 3!
I don't know what else to say about Clair Obscur than that it's a really well produced game. I hated that Yuraia kept encountering Fatal Errors that seem to be a common issue, but he managed to finish the game! I think that the concept of Chroma opens up the opportunity to have later titles that aren't necessarily the exact same world, but are stand alone stories using the same core gameplay (similar to Final Fantasy... that the director took inspiration from... 🤔).
Don't think I would play it though! I've learned over the years that I usually prefer to watch JRPGs, especially if there's active time combat involved (attacking/ dodging/ counter/ parry). I would rather a full on fighting game to stay engaged than a story where the flow and immersion is broken up by combat where I suddenly need to be conscious of my IRL movements. 🤔
I have lowered my expectations for my FFXIV Savage Raid static's progress, so any progress at all is a blessing: We finally reached M8S, and yesterday my favorite DPS carry (I mean, dance partner ah hem.) cleared the tier with a Party Finder team and got the weapon. :D Nothing changes for me because I will continue to try to do my best, but I'm thankful -- some progress is better than none!
Found time to hunt the event Rey Dau in MonHunWilds, and progress my Dark Urge run in BG3. I want to finish the run and start a new one though!
~💜~
Hopes for this week
♪ Plan upcoming projects and obtain assets for them before my Envato elements sub. ends.
♪ Practice upcoming song covers
☆ Check out home furnishings at show rooms
☆ FFXIV: It's week 7 of Savage Raid. I hope we get to reach M8S Phase 2, but who knows. 🙃
☆ BG3: Be close to finishing the run. 🤔
Thank you for reading! 🌙🐰
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