To be honest, I think Dragon Ball Daima is perfect and truly captures the soul of Akira Toriyama's works outside of Z and Super (which.. Super is complicated I know). It made me very happy. I have really been wanting something like this from Dragon Ball for a long time. I've always been curious what's going on elsewhere in the Dragon Ball Universe because so much is implied, and Daima gave me a lot of fun. There are some goofy plot things, but I had so much fun I didn't mind and the show itself seemed to embrace the goofiness.

The combat is some of my favorite I've seen in the series. The combination of magic, ki, and hand-to-hand combat satisifies me. I enjoy a well choreographed fight scene, and while I looove Dragon Ball, sometimes the light beams.. well... it doesn't interest me. Also, I got to see all the characters as WIDDOL BAPOIES. i love kid goku, but i will say i've been putting off consuming all of dragon ball because my favorite character is vegeta and it's hard to know i'll be watching an entire series without him.. but EEE WE GOT LITTLE VEGETA. JUST A BAPIE. I NEVER EXPECTED THIS IN MY WILDEST DREAMS!!!!!!!!! HES JUST A BAPIE. AN AARGGOANT BAPIE WHO FLIES A BIT CROOKED. CRYYY. And the moments between him and Bulma warmed my heart. It's so nice that it's after Majin arc as it provides a lot of context on his attitudes at the time. I feel like every character got to have a good amount of spotlight WHICH WAS SO PLEASANT. I'm so used to Goku stealing the show or Vegeta getting his ass beat or Piccolo just standing there or side characters just being goofy, but everyone had a purpose. It was just so fantastic. I really loved Daima.

I got to the end of Daima and cried actually. The reality of Toriyama's passing hit me like a truck. I love Akira Toriyama's work despite how he draws black people at times, but I was a bit.. out of touch? A lot of recent Dragon Ball content I've been putting off watching, but I'd like to at some point. I also like Dragon Quest which has a lot of Toriyama's soul, so.. it hurts knowing I won't see something by him anymore. It really felt like his final gift.. Also I've never seen GT but props on the SS4 transformation. It was fantastic. One of Goku's best designs. His kind eyes and gentleness is still there despite the overwhelming strength he has in this form. I'm tearing up. Thank you Akira Toriyama. PLEASE BE IN HEAVEN EATING LOTS OF SASHIMI AND KOBE BEEF! FLY HIGH! 3.18.25

I put off watching Look Back forever but did some months ago becuase my girlfriend really loves it. She loves Fujimoto's works in general, but I believe Look Back is her favorite. I really liked it. It made me cry. It felt like a more pessimistic/adult version of Whisper of the Heart.

It was weird. I watched Look Back I think around the time Meat Girl got kind of popular, and I'd never really had a project have any sort of.. attention like that. It felt like I watched it at a good time because I felt kind of weird seeing so many people play it. Seeing people call one of my characters' a crazy bitch to other people wishing there was more in the story that I'd never intended to add. It made me really reflect on what I really want and desire.

I love when people play my games, but I also am so obsessed with improving that I have a hard time viewing any metric as a 'reason to continue.' I've discovered I experience great satisfaction listening to the thoughts of my peers. In fact, it is extremely painful to me when someone tells me they'll play my games and they don't, so I try not to bring up the fact that I make games and I try to just change the subject when people talk about playing them. It's not that I hold grudges- it's just that my work means so much to me that having someone I know say they'll play it feels.. like they are making me a very intimate promise. I'd rather them not do that.

Anyway, Look Back made me think about a lot of my feelings regarding myself and my work and also various interactions I've had with others. People tell me I inspire them, but I kind of just.. didn't believe it. Sometimes I wonder if the people I taught how to draw in the hospital still draw because of me. I doubt it, but it's nice to think about. I hope someone makes some weird esoteric game after playing mine. These feelings are nice... I want to cherish.. the things people say to me. It's so easy to get caught up in everyone being better than you.. to the point of giving up.. I threw away my drawings like Fujimo did and felt horrible as people insulted me. But I'm still here I guess. It's a bit satisfactory. 3.18.25

Well, Uzumaki came out after all these years. I liked it, but it does not live up to the manga at all. It did make me want to reread the manga though.

I have a lot of feelings about the anime. I think the OST was really spectacular. It really is what I imagined the background music of the story Uzumaki to be. I'm actually listening to it right now.

The dip in animation quality from EP1 to the other episodes was disappointing, but I don't really want to rag the animation team because God knows I'd rather animation look bad than people be overworked, and I think "poor" animation can be okay if done well. It's just sometimes things in Uzumaki looked kind of goofy- to the point where I'd sometimes laugh because of how off the animation looked at times. It's a bit disappointing, and I don't completely understand it because the anime was only.. 4 episodes? I want to know the story of the production so bad. Why did the animation drop so hard? Was the budget really tight? What was going on with the staff? I don't know.

The pacing was really rough. I expected them to approach Uzumaki by animating just a few of the stories- not every single one of them. Episode 2 was by far the worst example of this, which is a shame because I love the hair part in Uzumaki. It's so beautiful illustrated in the manga. Episode 2 had so much packed into it. I can think of a few stories that could've been cut which wouldn't have changed the atmosphere of Uzumaki at all. I just wish they'd prioritized telling a slower story rather than jamming as much of the manga in as possible..

I don't think it captures a fraction of the beauty of the manga's story, but I still liked it as someone who loves the manga. I'd be angry if I watched the anime before reading the manga though haha. Oh god. I'd be so mad.

It proved to me that an anime can be done with Junji Ito's works because I think episode 1 really pulled it off, and I think episode 4 could've been close if it had been a bit slower.. Just.. My friend and I were watching it, and it kind of felt like things were just Happening one after the other at breakneck space. I also think even though the anime dropped in quality, there were still a few beautiful things like the backgrounds and the old ruins and the like.. I still liked the art.. Just wish they had a larger team and bigger budget, or... A better director who knows how to work with a smaller budget I guess

10.21.2024