[Blog #5] - May 15

Updated: May 15 2026

Everyone:

What do you think about as you fall asleep?

When you lie in bed, after a long day at school, or your grueling, soul-sucking nine-to-whatever-hour job, or for my fellow NEETs, a long day of wasting your oh-so-precious days on this miserable blue earth of ours …

… What do you think about in that brief, or maybe not-so-brief, transitional period after you put your head on the pillow, but before sleep takes you completely?

I remember when I was still in elementary school. Back then, I'd think of all sorts of things. Most common would be me replaying the shows I'd watched that day. Or fantasizing about cool space battles, or fantasy heroes fighting all sorts of monsters. At that point, the concept of worrying about the next day, or the next week, the next year, was completely foreign to me.

Of course, as I got older, the concept of a 'future me' began to emerge.

And with it (as it does for everyone else … or so I imagine), came anxieties.

Anxieties, yes. Sure.

… But also hope.

Hope and desires.

Middle school, high school. My night-time intergalactic battles and daytime anime replays gave way to ruminations about the sort of life I would live when I got older. Living on my own, the kind of apartment I would live in. How I would make a living. My own little social group of friends.

And it's funny, because they were never anything too fantastical.

Maybe it's laughable, or even pitiful; but when left to its own devices, my brain was, I suppose, fairly modest in its imaginings. (… An ambitious organ, that one.)

And this probably sounds sad to admit (but you and me are past such reservations by now, aren't we, non-existent reader?), but this pre-sleep ideation period was probably the part of the day I looked forward to the most.

It was a comfortable retreat.

… Mostly because they were all still possible.

More than the actual fantasies themselves, what comforted me was that they were all still within the realm of potentiality.

I could still get a good job, so the possibility of it comforted me at night.

I could still meet a special someone who was just as naive about the world as I was, and only together would we be able to navigate the rest of our lives and overcome all the obstacles it would bring; so the possibility of it comforted me at night.

They comforted me, and thus I was lured to sleep by them.

… But then, the older I got, the more doors that closed.

The more opportunities lost to me, forever.

Getting 'that' job became more and more unrealistic, so to fantasize about it brought me only distress.

Hanging out with a small tight-knit group of buddies, joking about dumb things and inside jokes only we knew: this became harder to believe in, and so I stopped imagining it.

Meeting my first love, holding my first hand, at an age where people were getting married and having kids, was such an absurd prospect that to fantasize about it was a kind of torture in itself.

… And as a result, the fewer and fewer pre-sleep ideations remained somnolently feasible.

When I was still in school, every year, I would pre-dream about the kind of girl I was going to meet, that summer break.

Well, that summer soon became last summer, which in turn became the summer before last; and as the consecutive summers passed, the more remote that girl of that summer became—until she became an impossibility entirely. (Of course, the more realistic, cynical explanation was that she was an impossibility right from the get-go. … Especially for someone, well, like me.)

And as I began to get more wrinkles, more gray hair, the less I thought about the girl as I lay in bed.

… And eventually, PuchiPura became the only source of pre-sleep comfort.

I'd imagine—well, I still do—that I was also a student at Umehara Middle. (Aged appropriately, obviously.) And that the FAC(T) were my friends, and the mundane, carefree activities we would do.

After school we would roam the streets of Umehara. Stopping by the candy shop, or we would play in the park.

And sometimes they would come to me with their problems, and us being such good friends I'd help them out, and we would spend our happy school lives together.

… Or, alternatively, I also, from time to time, like to imagine that I'm friends with the real-life FAC(T).

The voice actresses, I mean.

No, no. It's nothing weird, I assure you.

Just everyday things, like going out to eat, or even just sitting around, laughing and joking.

When my brain is feeling real fantastical, sometimes I even imagine the Umehara 2D age-regressed version of me, and actual-me me, together with the voice actresses and their 2D counterparts. Twelve of us in total.

The 2D and the 3D us, all together, sitting on the grass of the embankment, watching the sun set. Or sitting in the FAC(T) clubroom in winter, with the kerosene lamp on, eating senbei and watching the New Year comedy shows.

… This is the kinda stuff I think about now, as I drift off to sleep.

And.

There's actually another pre-sleep rumination I have, and—

Well, maybe I shouldn't write it.

(Because this one actually is a bit weird, even I have to admit.)

… You know what?

Screw it, nobody's reading this anyway.

You see, I have this one image in my head, of Miyazawa Misaki, MiMi, sitting alone on a bench, in a park.

And I walk up to her, and sit down next to her, and I tell her what a big fan I am.

And how Midori changed my life.

And how amazing her performance is.

And how it's okay that her career never took off, because I'll be supporting her no matter what she does, and even if she never does anything else, well, I'll still be here, re-watching PuchiPura over and over again, waving my penlight here in my bedroom as I replay her performances again and again.

I tell her I can relate to her, because I too, never became anything.

I'm actually worse, because I never even became a human being.

And then I give her the link to this page, so she can see how many years I've been keeping the memory of PuchiPura alive, and how this is the only thing that's still keeping me going.

And she'll see this blog.

And she'll understand.

… Actually.

Actually!

I have a picture of the exact bench I'm talking about, I can show you!

[ attachment: 20160905_142239.jpg ]

Heh heh … Do you know which bench this is, minna?

Only true Puchi Fans would know.

Because, you see, I've personally done one of the most hardcore things a Puchi Fan can do, and that's …

… visit Umehara.

[ attachment: 20160905_110311.jpg ]

Ta-da!

Well, I've written several entries about this before, so long-time readers (sardonic, dry laugh) will already know about this.

But yes, I did do the anime pilgrimmage to Karasutome Island back in 2016. Almost ten years ago, now.

The town of Umehara in the show is of course, based on Karasutome, though it's not a fact many fans know. (Furthermore, Umehara in the show is not actually an island, so …)

You have to take a ferry to get there, and it takes about two hours to get there from the mainland. Here's some pictures of it. [ Enlarge ]

It's a pretty rural place, which is probably the only reason I was able to make that trip in 2016. (My mental state the way it was at the time, I would definitely not have been to attend something like the 2012 concert, so it was really good that I attended the concert when I did.)

… Which is all to say, Karasutome was pretty deserted when I went there.

[ Enlarge ]

Here's some shots of the main road, and the ryokan I stayed at.

[ Enlarge ]

Ooh, here's something cool. I've compiled a few side-by-side pictures of the settings in the show, and their real-life Karasutome counterparts.

[ attachments: several ]

Pretty neat, huh?

The candy shop in the show is actually really a tobacco shop in real life. I thought that was pretty interesting.

And here's the middle school. [ Enlarge ] It's an abandoned school in real life, and most of it has been torn down now, actually. Just the classroom has been preserved as a sorta tourist attraction. (I say 'sorta' because it's not really advertised as such. There are no PuchiPura advertisements or posters anywhere on the island. At least, none that I saw.)

As you can see, the classroom exists as a sort of shrine to PuchiPura. Fans leave offerings, letters, and even plushies on the desks of their favorite FAC(T) members.

It goes without saying, that I too left gifts for Midori. [ Enlarge ]

Strawberry Bocky, her favorite.

… As well as a letter for her.

[ Enlarge ]

Sealed in a pink envelope.

(Aaand, of course, I won't tell you what I wrote in it. That's between me and Midori. You understand.)

Oh, yeah, here's some pictures of the local shrine, too. [ Enlarge ] As you know, which was featured in a few episodes. Most notably in the New Year's hatsumode episode. (That was a great one, wasn't it? Their kimonos were so good. I always love when the FAC(T) is drawn outside of their uniforms.)

I took a few shots of the ema board. Some really great artists among the Puchi Fans leaving wishes. I really like this chibi Lotte someone drew. [ Enlarge ] (I wish I could draw.)

… And to bring it all back together, here's the bench I was talking about, again, and the park it's in.

[ Enlarge ]

Obviously, this is the same park where so many episodes are set in, I don't have to go on about it.

I'm not going to lie.

I sat on that bench for a long time, that day.

I sat there until the sun set.

… No, it wasn't because I thought MiMi was going to show up out of nowhere.

… That'd be plain ridiculous.

… Right?

This has been PuchiBro, signing off for now.

Until next time.

o7

PS - I hope we get an update about the show, soon.