As we enter the final third of November 2024, let us take a step back and review the month that was in October. I published 16 new New Leaf Journal articles in October. In terms of visits, we had our best month since February. October falls within the ambit of good New Leaf Journal months. Join me as we recap all of the exciting new posts and events from the 10th month of 2024.
October Leaves
As I noted above, I published 16 new articles in October. We can set aside my September 2024 review, although I recommend reading that if you want to find links to more interesting articles. Below, I will run through my other 15 October 2024 articles, sorted into different topic areas.
Research Articles: On October 17, I wrote a long, well-sourced article titled Halloween in Japan: Through English Sources. Not only can you read my survey of the best English sources on Halloween in Japan, you will find all of the freely available sources linked from my article. On October 20, I published Presidential Election Runners Up With Most Recent DOB, which will need to be updated pursuant to the results of the November election.
Anecdotes: For my first article of the month, I took readers along with me on a walk in Walking Across Hamilton Ave Footbridge 2. As the “2” in the name indicates, this is my second photo post on crossing that short pedestrian bridge. You will find the first linked in the article. That walking article was the first half of a pair. I chronicled where I went after crossing the bridge – but in the form of a new Justin and Justina dialogue, Justin and Justina Ikea Seat Cushion. I ducked back into the 2000s to write about my memories of seeing the strange semi-public adult movie area at the former J&R in Manhattan in The Curious Old J&R X-Rated Movies Area. Finally, I shared two stories from my high school days, with the first being from my 10th grade year in A High Schooler’s 2005 Election Confusion. What is that about? The headline refers to my classmate thinking that a reference to New York City’s 2005 mayoral election concerned the electoral prospects of then-President George W. Bush.
Halloween: On October 2, I published No Bones About Needing the Bones, a photo post on a funny book recommendation note seen at a Brooklyn Barnes & Noble. One week later, I published a photo post on chalk art seen on a stoop in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill. October 27th saw my post on an Inflatable Cat-Bat in Cobble Hill. Finally, on Halloween itself, I published Inflatable Halloween Pumpkins, Ghosts, and Spiders, documenting inflatable Halloween decorations in Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, and Carroll Gardens.
Anime: I reviewed one of my all-time favorite anime series in Living for the Day After Tomorrow – Anime Review. The series first aired in Japan in 2006 and was licensed in North America in 2009. A few days later, I wrote an article titled Anime Network on Demand (TWC) Memories, wherein I recounted how I first found and watched Living for the Day After Tomorrow in June of 2010.
Visual Novels: I reviewed two visual novels in October. First, I reviewed a very short visual novel called Ghost. By very short, I mean it takes about 30 seconds to play through one of its two endings. On Halloween Eve, I reviewed Crystal the Witch, a more conventional visual novel written in Ren’Py.
Miscellaneous: We had two articles which stand apart. On October 16, Victor V. Gurbo published an article on his new music release in Tired and Blue (Home Recordings). Four days earlier, I wrote Trash Can Hero Returns to Scene of Heroism, where I reflected on my having rescued a trash can back in 2020 with 2024 photos of trash cans in the same general area.
Off-Site Posts
I published four issues of our weekly newsletter, The Newsletter Leaf Journal, in October. Every issue includes original writing in the form of 21 links from around the web, weekly article ranking lists, and more. You can see all five issues below:
- Newsletter Leaf Journal CCII 〜 Dandy fireworks
- Newsletter Leaf Journal CCIII 〜 Transmogrifying Issue
- Newsletter Leaf Journal CCIV 〜 Tired & Boo!
- Newsletter Leaf Journal CCV 〜 Boo Leaf Journal
The issues were mailed on October 5, 12, 19, and 26 respectively.
I published 15 short-form posts on our sister site, The Emu Café Social. I will note a few below.
In The Annoying Anna Aveiro in Narenare: Cheer For You!, I offered my take on an annoying anime character from a show I failed to finish (in part because of said annoying character). My post Ai Ai Gasa in Living for the Day After Tomorrow not only follows from my New Leaf Journal review of Living for the Day After Tomorrow, but also my February 2024 research article on ai ai gasa. Speaking of posts related to New Leaf Journal posts, I shared a 2020 story about capybaras in Japan devouring a Halloween Jack-O’-Lantern. I also added to my collection of overheard on the street posts in Like an Olympic Walker.
In the useful tips category, I wrote Archive Today Works on Instagram. I also offered an e-reader recommendation in Recommending the PocketBook Line.
I had two foreign affairs shares. First, I shared a very good article about Israel’s response to Hamas’ October 7, 2023 massacre in October 7 and the National Interest. Stemming from my day-job, I shared a Resource on Tajik-Russia Dual Citizenship.
Finally, for those looking ahead to my upcoming articles, I previewed one ongoing project in Girls Band Cry on Crunchyroll.
Most-Turned Leaves of October 2024 and August-October 2024
I use a WordPress plugin called Koko Analytics to count page views (Koko Analytics works entirely locally – you can read my 2021 review, although it has changed a bit while still maintaining the same basic functionality). Each month, I list our most-visited articles according to Koko Analytics. Below, you will find our 24 most-visited articles of October 2024 and of the three month period from August 1 through October 31.
My October 2022 review of Norton Safe Search celebrated its two-year anniversary with its third consecutive monthly first-place finish, which also gives it its first three-month first-place finish since December 2023.
Much of the top-24 is full of usual suspects, so I will take a moment to highlight some of unusual entries in our October list.
Dragonair Safari in Pokémon Yellow checked in at 7th in what was only its third monthly top-24 appearance. Its previous two top-24 finishes,in May and September, were 14th and 15th respectively, so October marked its highs in all respects. Combined with The Pokémon Special Split in Generation 2 – Statistics and Analysis tying its best 2024 ranking of 4th (set in February), it was a good month for generation 1-2 Pokémon articles.
Examining Whether Defense Wins NBA Championships made its top-24 debut in 12th place after being published on July 9. I have written several NBA articles but this is the first since my post about Shawn Respert playing through cancer to make an impact on our rankings.
In September 2021, my articles on Iroha Isshiki’s hair color in the Oregairu anime and my review of the LoveChoice visual novel checked in at 10th and 13th place respectively on my monthly ranking. That would be the last time either one of them factored in a ranking, although LoveChoice has posted an occasionally decent month outside the rankings. Perhaps against all odds, both of these early 2021 articles (published in January and February of 2021, respectively) achieved their best-ever months in absolute terms. Iroha Isshiki’s Hair is Brown, as Expected? finished 19th and with a few more visits than it had when it finished 10th in September 2021, and my LoveChoice review also posted its best-ever month in absolute terms while finishing 22nd.
We had two additional notable top-24 debuts. My study of Halloween in Japan came in at 20th despite having been published on October 17, 2024. Its success was likely due in part to its appearing as a pingback on one of the source sites I cited to. Coming in at 23rd was my review of the second season of Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki
