Book Review: Jepun Negerinya Hiroko by Nh. Dini

Title: Jepun Negerinya Hiroko
Author: Nh. Dini
Length: 355 pages
ISBN# 979-655-957-9
Gramedia Pustaka Utama 2005

Jepun Negerinya Hiroko is a memoir of a French diplomat’s wife during her living in Japan. This memoir took place after Kemayoran, after Dini was proposed by Yves Coffin. She began her life as the diplomat’s wife in Japan. She spent her days in Japan by taking French cooking class, watching her friend’s ikebana class and learning Japanese language with her Japanese friend. Her sociability helped her to get some new friends, including some close friends whom she would need to endure her tough days with her husband. As how the previous memoir was, we were shown many things she observed during the time-frame of this book. She observed the characters of her Japanese friends and the intricate details of Japanese buildings and environment. However, there are significantly less historical events mentioned, compared to her previous memoirs that took place in Indonesia.

Since Dini got engaged and married Yves, she noticed that her husband was either changed or simply not as perfect as she thought. He became stingy and temperamental. Because of his moody trait, they kept changing their household assistant. Each assistant could not bear with his impatience and harsh scoldings, while the ones who could bear it were recalled by their family to get married. Thankfully, Yves was still willing to help with the household chores. The middle to the end of this memoir told us how Yves' photography hobby took more and more portion of their daily life. In contrast, Dini had a hard time keeping up with her writings, of which Yves perceived as an unproductive hobby that could not be monetized. Even Dini had to hide her novel's draft to avoid Yves' anger for bringing "useless thing" during their travels. As tough as it was, Dini gave her best to bear with Yves’ difficult upbringing, for the sake of her baby and her family in Indonesia.

Thankfully, her days in the wonderful Japan were not just all about living with her difficult husband. She got to know some Indonesian, Japanese and French friends who helped her a lot. They helped with her daughter's milk, borrowed each other's clothes and jewelries, and taught her some tricks to deal with her stingy husband.

As mentioned earlier, this memoir captured significantly less historical events compared to the previous memoir. In contrast, there are significantly more descriptions of the places she visited and stayed in Japan, Hong Kong and Vietnam. There are a lot of people introduced in this memoir. Sometimes it could be confusing, and unfortunately Dini tend not to refresh our memory when some characters reappeared after a long while. For example, during their visit to Hong Kong, they stayed at their acquaintances' place. The acquaintances appeared without any introduction, which made me assume that they were already introduced in the earlier chapter. However, there are so many characters that I could not recall when they were introduced!

Because of the detailed descriptions and daily life events that dominate this memoir, sometimes I found myself bored when reading this. However, if we intend to follow her memoirs up to the latest one, this memoir is an important part that shows us the gradual change of Dini and Yves' relationship. This memoir may also tell many new things for readers who are not familiar with Japanese living yet.

Maybe I found myself bored partially because there are not so much things that are new to me as a Japanophile. However, this shows me that the daily life in Japan in the 1960s is not significantly different from the present. Many still hold traditional value, and some out-of-traditional-norm relationships such as premarital domestic partnerships, mistress-keeping and one night stands in love hotels were already seen as not-so-unusual back then. However, I may be biased, considering that Dini is known for her explicit sexual descriptions and openness to taboo topics in her writings since her books were published in the 1990s. Apparently, some of her books were banned because they were considered vulgar in the New Order Era.

I would recommend this book for people who have read Kemayoran and intend to read Dini's later memoirs. This memoir can also be considered as Namaku Hiroko's behind-the-scene, as it was obviously inspired by many events occurred and people Dini met during this memoir's time-frame.

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This review is an entry for 100 Hari Membaca Sastra Indonesia by lustandcoffee.

#TBRTakedown Readathon 2.0

While the High Summer Read-a-Thon is still going on until Sunday, I decided to extend my readathon by participating the #TBRTakedown Readathon 2.0 hosted by Shannon @ leaninglights. This readathon runs from July 25 to 31. I never have any formal TBR list or pile, but I well realize that I have HEAPS of unread books in my shelf. There are five challenges that have been officially set up in this readathon:

1. First book in a Series
2. A Sequel
3. Out of Your Comfort Zone
4. On Your Shelf for Over a Year
5. Most Recently Hauled Book

I am still doing the 100 Days of Reading Indonesian Literature challenge and planning to continue until it ends in October, with the exception of reading for Austen in August. For the sequel challenge, I plan to read Ayu Utami's Maya, the 4th book of the Bilangan Fu series. That book can also be counted in the 4th challenge, as it has been in my shelf since 2013. As for the first book in a series, I plan to read Pramoedya Ananta Toer's Bumi Manusia. It has been translated to English as The Earth of Mankind, just in case you are interested but cannot read in Bahasa Indonesia. Out of my comfort zone, I plan to read Kumpulan Budak Setan, a horror short story anthology that tributes to the legendary Indonesian horror author, Abdullah Harahap. I have not read any of his book, but apparently he is one of the most important literary figures in my country. I think I have not read any mystery/horror/thriller book since I was in high school. I used to read a lot of R.L. Stine's books from the Goosebumps and Fear Street series, but not anymore since I got hooked in the literary world. I just recently purchased Nh. Dini's earlier memoirs and novel from Jualbukusastra, an excellent place that sells Indonesian literary books, including some that are not normally sold in most Indonesian mainstream-ish bookstores. I plan to read the 3rd book of her memoir series, Langit dan Bumi Sahabat Kami.  

Pretty covers!

As usual, I am going to update this post with wrap-up report once this readathon ended. I am looking forward to read a lot and find out how much I read until 31st!

Wrap-Up Report

Although I only managed to read 2 books (again), I really enjoyed this week of reading under the #TBRTakedown 2.0. There were sprints I always missed but still did outside their running time anyway, and they helped a lot to boost my reading time. A progress graphic will be here soon.

My current read when I started this readathon was Maya by Ayu Utami, a sequel and a book that has been in my shelf for more than a year. As how I mentioned on the previous readathon wrap up, this book was a page turner. I did not read much on the first day, but I managed to finish it on the second day. I continued with Pramoedya Ananta Toer's Bumi Manusia,  the first book of the Buru Quartet. I finished it on the last day of this readathon. I intended to continue with Jane Austen's Persuasion to kick-start the Austen in August, but I was already too tired :)) I did not read much on the sixth day either, because I got so tired after work and a long walk that day.

Total pages read: 748
Total books read: 2
Challenges done: 3 of 5 (First in a Series, A Sequel, and On Your Shelf for Over A Year)

Books read:
1. Maya by Ayu Utami
2. Bumi Manusia by Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Did you participate in a readathon recently? What did you read last week?

Book Review: Kemayoran by Nh. Dini

Title: Kemayoran
Author: Nh. Dini
Length: 295 pages
ISBN# 978-979-22-4962-0
Gramedia Pustaka Utama 2009

I have been familiar with Nh. Dini's fame since I was in junior high school (approx. 14-15 years ago). Some excerpts of her works were featured in the linguistic and literature lessons in my school. I have intended to read her books since ever, though somehow this book is actually the first of her books I ever read.

Kemayoran is Dini's memoir as a stewardess. She chose to work after graduated high school instead of becoming a full time university student because she did not want to keep giving financial burden to her family. Despite being welcomed to stay at her uncle's place, she also worked hard to find a room for rent so that she would not be a burden, and so that she could get ready to work along with her colleagues. Besides working as a stewardess, she took French and B-1 History course to become a teacher. I personally admire Dini's hard working attitude and work ethics. The spoiled me is obviously nothing compared to her.

Gaining her superior's favor with her work ethics and passion in reading, she and her team (The Big Five) were promoted to serve the president and his honorary guests from The Soviet Union. Her sociability and intellectual features got her acquainted with many prominent figures she encountered during her work, including Soekarno and his favorite foreign journalist, Bernard Kalb. She also got acquainted with some foreigners, including her future husband. Many reviewers expressed their notice on Dini's sociability and openness to talk about things that were (and still are) taboo with men, such as pre-marital sex and domestic partnership. The way she interacted with her male friend reminded me of what Ayu Utami told in her memoir, Pengakuan Si Parasit Lajang. I did not feel surprised that she decided to stay together with her male friend in a hotel room during a gathering of literary authors and artists, though it must still be considered taboo among Indonesian traditional and religious society, especially during that age.

As a writer, Dini enjoyed people-watching a lot during her work and her break time, besides reading books. This book tells a lot about the people she observed and the life during The Liberal Democracy Period in Indonesia. She described the daily life of the only national airlines' employees in the 50s. She observed the distinct characteristics of different generations of air crew, as well as different ethnic group's habits from her colleagues' behavior. I like how I can learn about the life in the past through historical fictions and autobiographies like this. Dini also wrote her commentaries on some historical events that were occurred during her career as a stewardess, from Soekarno's agreement with Worosilov of the Soviet Union, the rise of some rebel movement such as PRRI; Permesta and Darul Islam, to the rise of Indonesian Communist Party; Lekra (a literary and social movements associated with the Communist Party) and its counterparts from non-communist factions. Her commentaries are usually not explicit to the political aspect, instead they are more to their implications to the people.

This memoir is linked with Dini's four other memoirs from different phases of her life: Sekayu, Sebuah Lorong di Kotaku, Padang Ilalang di Belakang Rumah, and Kuncup Berseri. I have some of her other works in my TBR pile. Some of them are memoirs that took place in the periods after Kemayoran's time-frame, some others are fictions. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. I am looking forward to read a lot more of her works, especially her autobiographical books.

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This review is an entry for 100 Hari Membaca Sastra Indonesia by lustandcoffee.

High Summer Read-a-Thon

Eid Al-Mubarak to everyone who celebrates it! I am still on my Eid holidays since last Friday until next Tuesday, so it has been a perfect time to maximize my reading. I am happy to found that there is another readathon coming up tomorrow. I will participate the High Summer Read-a-Thon and have a lot of fun reading in the next week! This readathon is a part of seasonal readathons held by Seasons of Reading. You can sign up here if you are interested to participate as well. 

Goal

Reflecting from my previous participation in a readathon, I was able to finish a book in two days during the readathon intensity. Therefore, I aim to finish reading 4 books including my current read. In addition, I would like to see whether my reading speed has improved or slowed down. 

Below are the selection of books I am going to read in this readathon. Excluding Maya, they are Goodreads' recommendations based on my recent currently-readings that have been on my TBR pile for *coughs* ages *coughs*. There are some more recommendations, but since I am doing the Indonesian Literature Challenge at the moment, I am focusing on Indonesian literary novels at the moment. 

1. Maya by Ayu Utami
2. Harimau! Harimau! by Mochtar Lubis (This book has been translated to English as Tiger!)
3. Ca-bau-kan by Remy Sylado
4. Gadis Pantai by Pramoedya Ananta Toer (This book has been translated to English as The Girl from the Coast)
5. Bumi Manusia by Pramoedya Ananta Toer (This book has been translated to English as The Earth of Mankind)
6. Arok Dedes by Pramoedya Ananta Toer (This book has been translated to English as Arok of Java: A Novel of Early Indonesia)

During this readathon, I will track the total hours of reading, total pages and books read, and a list of books I have read. A wrap-up report will be in this post at the end of the readathon. I will also post timely progress reports at my twitter.

Wrap-Up Report

I did not read as much as I wanted during this readathon. Below is a graphic that shows my daily progress during the #HSReadathon.

My current read was Nh. Dini's Dari Parangakik ke Kampuchea when I started this readathon. Unexpectedly, this book was a slow read for me. My rate was only about 50 pages a day with the book. On Saturday, I only read 8 pages because I had a date with my boyfriend. I also celebrated our 13th monthiversary on the 21st, hence my reading only 21 pages that day (what a coincidence!). Ironically, my reading amount increased when my Eid holidays was over. That may be because of the reading sprints I started to do that day. I started Maya on Friday night after I finally finished read Parangakik. Maya was not a really easy read either, but it was a big page turner, so I managed to read a lot until I finished it on the last day of the readathon. 

Total Pages Read: 485

Total Book Read: 2

Books Read

1. Dari Parangakik ke Kampuchea by Nh. Dini

2. Maya by Ayu Utami

What did you read last weekend? If you participate this readathon, how did you do?  

Book Review: Burung-Burung Manyar (The Weaverbirds) by Y.B. Mangunwijaya

Title: Burung-Burung Manyar (The Weaverbirds)
Author: Y.B. Mangunwijaya
Pages: 261
ISBN# 979-428-432-7
Penerbit Djambatan 2001

Burung-Burung Manyar is opened with an episode of the Javanese adaptation of Mahabharata. The main story is divided to three sections, each took place in three different periods in Indonesian history: The Late Occupation (1934-1944), The National Revolution (1945-1950), and The Early New Order (1968-1978). Having written more than 20 years ago (1981), the classical Indonesian literature feel is incredibly thick here. There is many Javanese and Dutch terms that are explained on the footnotes. This reprinted edition also contains footnotes that explain old terms in Bahasa Indonesia that are already uncommon nowadays. There is still many old terms left unexplained, though. But then again, if they were explained, this book would consist of mostly footnotes. After a while, I became familiar with the terms and storytelling style. With the classic feel under the historical setting, I felt like time travelling to the periods where the story took place.

The Late Occupation 

The story in this period centers around the Keraton Mangkunegaran. It shows the feudalistic life of Javanese royal society, where women must show her deep submission to her husband. It was opened by the male protagonist's narration, Teto, during his childhood. Then the female protagonist, Atik, was introduced. It was a happy, rather funny childhood of army and royal family. A few chapters later, things turned grim since the Japanese occupation began. The Japanese occupation grew strong hatred towards Japan for Teto. Atik's family also felt the same hatred, but they were also learned the civilized side of Japanese culture outside the fascist military in the World War II through music and movies. They also realized how the Javanese royal's tradition also has its civilized and cruel side.

Indonesia will not be a cruel independent state. - Atik

The National Revolution

After the declaration of Independence Day, Teto became a lieutenant of NICA, whereas Atik became a pro-revolution who adores Soekarno, Sutan Sjahrir and the rest of the Republicans. Despite their growing love, they keep opposing each other's political stance. In Teto's view, Indonesia needs some more time to mature as a nation before they gain its independence. He detests the Republicans who seemed like hypocrites who obeyed the Japanese to gain their own will through political maneuver. In Atik's view, it was more like "now or never". Life free or die hard.

You have to be able to read between the printed lines. Otherwise, you are just a mere captive of the texts. - Atik

In this period, we were introduced to Verbruggen, a Dutch Mayor who proposed Teto's mother in the past (obviously rejected). Having brought Teto to become a lieutenant in significantly short time and took an influence in Teto's character development, he became one of the important characters in this book. He has a foul mouth, but a fair amount of wisdom in contrast. We were also introduced to Karjo and Samsu the Setankopor (The Briefcase Demon) who will be shown again in the next period.

This period was ended in the midst of the devastating result of the two Politionele Acties (Agresi Militer Belanda) that brought both Indonesia and the Dutch military force much grief and loss, as shown on both Teto and Atik's side. Meanwhile, they began to realize how they long for each other. However, the harsh reality kept drifting them apart, much that Atik began to reconsider her long wait for Teto's proposal.

The Early New Order 

There is quite much time skip from the previous period to the last period. After the Roundtable Conference, Teto quitted from NICA and studied Mathematics in Europe to be a computer expert. In addition, he gained a new nationality, which was not mentioned explicitly in the book (though I assume that he became a Dutch). He became the Production Manager of a multinational oil company. In this period, he visited Indonesia for the third time since he got the new nationality. He visited his new best friend, John Brindley, an European Ambassador who keeps pet snakes in his garden. Afterwards, he attended Atik's dissertation defense. Accepting Atik's family's invitation, Teto decided to stay at their place for a while. How will Teto and Atik's relationship develop, after years of separation and opposing ideals?

In this period, Teto seems to already calmed down significantly. He grew up and accepted the loss he has been experienced since ever. He also began to accept the changing era and acknowledged his own mistakes. Like the rejected male weaverbird, he rebuild his nest - his life and dignity - after passing through the phase of anger and denial, where he furiously destroyed his rejected nest (ideals).

Beside showing the societal and political aspects that were occuring in the corresponding periods, Romo Mangun (the author's nickname) also took us back to experience the changing ecological condition of Java in the 40s to the 70s. The scene where Atik fed the birds and watched their behavior told me how diverse the city birds in Java back then. It shows how srigunting, jalak, gelatik, manyar and kutilang were still commonly wild in the cities in the 40s. The diversity gradually decreased and finally the wild weaverbirds became rare in the 70s. Nowadays, there is mostly sparrows and occasionally a few more kinds of city birds roaming in the cities of Java. The other kinds of birds are mostly kept as caged pets today.

That ornithological paragraph reminds me of #BIRDNOAH.

There are many things that I like from this book. I like how I got to refresh my memory on the history of Indonesia through the three periods shown in this book. Even instead of refreshing my memory, I felt more like diving those periods, experiencing the events occurred there from the Republicans and the Dutch armies' side. The narration style, of which I assume adopted the way people talk in the corresponding periods, really helped to live up the atmosphere. I also like how this book shows how people from different sides in this book perceive the three periods that were used as time settings. It taught us to sympathize with those different sides, even if they are commonly seen as the antagonists.

This book ends beautifully, leaving a bittersweet feeling that seemed to be accumulated since the second period. However, it felt a bit odd when I realize how Karjo and Samsu was not furthermore involved in the story. What is the purpose of their presence, other than to describe the society and political issues in their corresponding periods? Overall, I enjoyed reading this book a lot. I would love to recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical literary fictions.

The international edition of this book, The Weaverbirds, was published by Lontar Foundation in 1991. Unfortunately, the edition is already considered rare now. I hope Lontar Foundation will consider to reprint this book in the future so that this book can be accessible to more readers.

Anyway, I have not encountered footnotes in fictions for ages until I began to read this book. Is it because I have not been an avid reader for some time until recently, or it is indeed already uncommon nowadays?

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This review is an entry for 100 Hari Membaca Sastra Indonesia by lustandcoffee.

24 in 48 Readathon

I have intended to start participating readathons since I began to review books and manga for this blog (The reviews are coming on the next Wednesdays. Please be sure to look forward to it!). I thought the first readathon I will be participating is Bout of Books 14 that will take place in August 17-23. However, I found out about the 24 in 48 Readathon earlier today. In this readathon, we aim to read for 24 hours in the 48 hours time frame. Long story short, I signed up the readathon!

I will start mine at 12:01 AM in my timezone, which is GMT+7. I am not sure that I would read as much as I can in readathon-ing manner, since I already have scheduled a date with my boyfriend and dinner with his family on Saturday. I also have some deadlines to meet for my work, which I just remembered after I signed up the readathon (oops!! ;P). However, I am looking forward to do see how much I will be able to read during my far-from-perfect first readathon. That way I may will be able to set some visible goals for the next readathons I will be participating. In other words, I would like to measure my constantly-reading capacity through this readathon.

Goal

As mentioned earlier, the main goal for my participation in this readathon is to see how much I will be able to read during this readathon. Since I am currently reading Nh. Dini's Kemayoran 1956, another goal of mine is simply to finish reading that book. I intended to read Oka Rusmini's Sagra after finishing that one, but I have been enjoying Dini's narration a lot that it may will be difficult to part from it for a while.. *laughs*. So I may going to continue with another work of hers. Alternatively, I may will pick some thinner Indonesian literature books. Below is the pile of books to choose, with the current read on top.

Anyway, my Hoozuki nendoroid just arrived today!

During the ride back home after the date and dinner on Saturday, I plan to read an ebook. As much as I want to continue reading the printed one, unfortunately I lost my booklight. I will read Fransisca Todi's Pelangi untuk Matahariku I just recently got for free at her website. If I manage to finish them, I will continue reading one of the ebooks given by Gagas Media to celebrate their birthday, most likely Valiant Budi's Joker.

I will track the total hours I was reading, the pages I managed to read, and possibly the number of books I finished. At the end of the readathon, I will report the wrap-up in this post that will be updated on Sunday or Monday. I will also post timely progress reports at my twitter.

Wrap-Up Report

As mentioned earlier, I had scheduled a date and dinner with my boyfriend’s family on Saturday. I also fell asleep at least twice or probably three times. Last, I had some works to finish for Monday. Therefore, I could not make the full 24 hours mark in this readathon.

After the readathon, I learned that sleepiness is my major problem on constantly reading. Actually, I previously learned that I would get sleepy more quickly if I read while leaning my back on something. Another factor may be the fasting I have been doing for almost a month, since it is currently fasting month in muslim tradition. I tried to stay awake, but decided to let myself fell asleep after the texts I read began to make no more sense to me. I also learned that in average, it takes a little bit more than two hours for me to read 100 pages. Every 100 pages mark and every book finished would give me a feeling of accomplishment.

During the date on Saturday, I went to the bookstore with my boyfriend to check the latest manga release. Durarara!! was just recently licensed in Indonesia, so we were looking forward to get it. I bought my Durarara!! along with three (!) other books: Romo Mangun’s Burung-Burung Rantau, Nh. Dini’s latest memoir: Dari Ngalian ke Sendowo, and Seno Gumira Ajidarma’s essay collection: Tiada Ojek di Paris. Seno Gumira Ajidarma (SGA) has been my favorite author since I was in junior high school. So I was very excited to get that book. I intended to read the continuation memoir of Nh. Dini after finished reading Kemayoran, but I started reading SGA’s book instead. I finished it during the readathon, then continued with the memoir I intended to read earlier: Jepun Negerinya Hiroko. I mostly read and write commentary notes for my upcoming reviews on the books I read during this readathon.

Statistics

Total hour count: 13
Page count: 603
Book count: 3
Avg. reading speed: 46 pages/hour

Books Read
1. Nh. Dini - Kemayoran 1956
2. Seno Gumira Ajidarma - Tiada Ojek di Paris
3. Nh. Dini - Jepun Negerinya Hiroko (unfinished)

Did you participate this readathon? How was your readathon?

Embracing My Real Name

I admit that I used to hate my real name. It consists of 23 letters, a female Acehnese noble title, the month I was born, my grandma’s name and the combination of my parents’ name. My full name feels like a combination of different elements which I recognize as elements outside myself. I had been wondering whether my disliking my real name was because I subconsciously wish that I would be given a name that is only for me and has nothing to do with everything outside myself. Maybe I longed for an authentic wish to be manifested to my name, considering how some said that a given name equals the name giver’s wish. Also, it is super long that I had trouble filling the name field on the OMR sheets on most of the exams I took since I was in primary school. When my peers had started to work on their multiple choice problems, I would still be filling the circles on my name field. Even the given columns were not enough for my full name. In addition, the nickname my family gave me sound unisexual. Meanwhile, people who knew me by full name would call me by my noble title, “Cut”, which made me feel so weird.

That dreadful OMR name column

Driven by those feelings, I began to made my peers call me by alias that does not have anything to do with my real name, Kikie. It was quite a struggle to make people who already knew my real name to call me Kikie, but somehow I made it. Sometimes I am too lazy to advocate new people around me that I just tried to put up with being called “Cut” (I hated it). I passed many years being known as “Kikie Ise Febriani” by most of my online friends. Sometimes I would just introduce myself as Kikie, that some of my online friends thought that I am a boy (apparently because my writings sound like a boy’s).

One day I found an idea to shorten my name without keep sounding weird. I use this shortened name for my professional data, which is also used in this blog now. At first, I still feel strange for using it on facebook, instead of the usual Kikie Ise Febriani. I remember expressing that strange feeling on my facebook status, and got a long comment from my dad concerning how I was so ungrateful for the name they gave (over-reactive parents do overreact). I began to like the new shortened name based on my real name though, because it sounds pretty and ladyish for me. I liked it even more when people at postcrossing and the infamous Amitav Acharya complimented my “beautiful sanskrit name” (I happened to reach out to him for professional purpose on my previous internship). I also learned that Savitri is one of the characters in Mahabharata who is portrayed as wife whose devotion matched Draupadi. How fascinating, although my religious muslim parents must not intended to give me a Hindi name. It supposed to mean as the combination of their names anyway.

Since working began to take more of my time than studying at the college (and sadly, indulging on my hobbies), I have been using my real name more than my alias. When I started going out with my boyfriend, we decided that he would call me by the nickname my family used to give me (which I used to hate). Most of my coffee shop orders in the past year were made under my real name instead of my alias as well. In contrast, I feel strange whenever people still refer me as Kikie nowadays. Though I do not really mind whether they would call me Kikie or Febri nowadays. But still, no “Cut”s please.

Summer 2015 Anime Watching List

Time does fly. Summer 2015 is here! I still have tons of anime to catch up, but I have checked the upcoming anime list to see if there is anything interesting as well. Excluding the Spring 2015 leftovers, here are the anime series I am going to watch.

1. Charlotte. Despite been avoiding school themes, I am always looking forward to see the latest P.A. Works’ anime. Considering the similarity of elements involved in this anime (school, supernatural, a group of friends), I hope it will be much more enjoyable than Glasslip, though. Glasslip was quite a fail, although Jonathan did help to keep me entertained.
2. Aoharu x Kikanjuu. Probably will involve a lot of bishounens. Apparently it has something to do with survival games and… ero manga? I hope that it will not be yet another cheesy series that only serves eye candies for bishounen-loving audience though. And more about survival games than ero manga. 
3. Chaos Dragon: Sekiryuu Senyaku. The base of this anime sounds interesting, which is a story created by 5 notable figures in anime industry including Gen Urobuchi and Narita Ryohgo. Will the anime be interesting as well? I would give this a try. 
4. Durarara!!x2 Ten. Definitely a must watch. I am curious to see what happened to Izaya. Anyway, the seika-hen arc of the manga is going to be published in Indonesia.
5. Gangsta. Finally, a seinen story to watch this season! I have pretty high expectation from this series, let’s see whether it will live up to the expectation or not.
6. God Eater. I am always skeptical on anime that are adapted from games. I hope I can still get what will going on in this anime, though, despite that I have not played the game yet. Anyway, I joked on how Zapp from Kekkai Sensen will appear in this series after I watched the trailer, as there is one character that looks like him a lot. I heard Zapp’s voice as well, though I am not sure whether it came from that Zapp-lookalike character or not. Someone on twitter said that it did?
7. Working!!! I intend to watch the previous seasons before starting to watch this one. 
8. Hetalia: The World Twinkle. I did not notice that the new season of Hetalia is coming! I kind of disappointed that Hetalia: The Beautiful World was only 20 episodes long. Though I enjoyed the latest season, I admit I did not enjoy it as much as the first season. Besides the hilarious parody, I enjoy this series because I recalled a lot of things I learned at university in this anime (I studied International Relations).
9. Arslan Senki. One of the leftovers from the previous season that I still watch. Up to this day, I have not watched its classic OVA as intended.
10. Ore Monogatari!! Another leftover from the previous season. I usually watch this with my boyfriend every weekend. I really like this kind of shoujo romance with uncommon male protagonist. I have been avoiding shoujo anime these past years (I read Kamisama Hajimemashita and Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji but skipped the anime), but I cannot miss this one. 

As seen from the list above, there is 10 series I am going to watch this season. This may be the smallest number of anime I’m watching in the past 1-2 years. Which is not bad, actually, because that also means I have more time to catch up everything else. I still have to catch up some anime from the previous season

What are you looking forward to watch this season?