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Hey! Just checking in. I hope everything is well with you. Is anything interesting going on? How's reading Homunculus going? I've just finished reading all four physical omnibuses of Blade of the Immortal that I own. As far as samurai manga goes, it's a goldie!

Compared to a lot of other people on mal, I’m pretty new to manga. I only just started taking interest in it probably half a year ago. But at the moment, Oyasumi punpun is my top 1, Berserk being my 2nd, and The flowers of Evil, 3rd. Berserk is so masterful in its storytelling but so is Oyasumi Punpun. I rank it higher because it was delivered so nicely in just 13 Tankōbon volumes. Whereas Berserk is Muira’s lifelong project, spanning over 40+ volumes. I hate comparing them but realistically I would say they’re on par in their own ways. Not much to say about The Flowers of Evil, it just really resonated with me ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

That's so cool that you're visiting Japan! I doubt I'll ever get to go, but it would be something I'd like to experience one day. I feel like I would need to at least have a rudimentary understanding of the language before I could travel to another country. I know it probably isn't necessary, but it would just make me feel a little less anxious about it all. Although I've learned a few words and phrases from watching anime, I have absolutely no grasp on how the language even works. Last week I actually memorized how to say "I can't speak Japanese." I used it for a bit of a joke for a friend. I told her that I knew how to speak Japanese, and then to "prove it" used Google Translate on my phone. I said "listen to this" and spoke into the app "Jōdandayo, baka. watashi wa nihongo ga hanasemasen." which shows up as "Just kidding, idiot, I can't speak Japanese." It got a good laugh from her. Then I told her I'll make up for it and used the app to say "Jōdandayo. Ohayōgozaimasu, utsukushi yūjin" which you can translate on your own if you'd like. Hopefully on your phone. It doesn't translate at all on the web version via my computer. It was just a fun little way to flirt. It was all just memorization and it didn't teach me a thing about the language itself haha

I don't want to bother you on your vacation, but I'd like to hear about your trip some day. As always, I'm never looking for any sort of quick or forced reply. Take your time, enjoy your visit. I'm currently obsessed with the albums Romance and Skinty Fia by Fontaines D.C. and Our Love To Admire by Interpol while I'm getting over a bit of a heartbreak. Haven't had one of those in over a decade. It feels different with age. Hopefully you can read that in the voice of Bernard Black so it doesn't sound too depressing.

Yep, mostly every anime has a manga counterpart. Right? It's awesome artwork. I would say I'm drawn to manga with great writing and premise. Though, the art plays a big role in my appeal of course. Great question!

I loved Homonculus!! Lmk how that goes. Im currently reading Blade of the Immortal, it’s a samurai manga, great story with even greater art! Some panels are done in pencil-only, so it creates an awesome “photorealistic” effect ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Sup! You read anything recently?

All is well! Cheers!

Happy Birthday!

Happy New Year, my friend. I lament that we haven't found the time to converse in so long. I have watched the first season of Black Books if it makes you feel any better. It was brilliant. Don't be a stranger unless you're feeling like one. I get it. Don't feel the need to reply. I was thinking about my interactions on here and just wanted to acknowledge you.

Chernobyl is one of my favorite series of all time! It's absolutely terrifying to know that the most dangerous substances known to man are under the control of often petulant, irresponsible, shameless people in positions of power. People who would rather double down on their mistakes rather than admit them, all while putting the entire fate of our planet in jeopardy. What a phenomenal cast! I loved the choice of having all of the actors use their own voices, instead of attempting to make them all use phony Russian accents just for some kind of "added realism." The events speak for themselves.

Unfortunately it seems as if not every world leader has learned from this catastrophe. Anyone who has viewed this series, or has a decent understanding of what took place, was absolutely horrified when news came out in 2022 that nuclear power plants were being commandeered as pieces on a chess board for war, and possibly even targeted for destruction. By the same country who should know better than anyone! Amazing series, thanks for reminding me of it!

Just checking in to see how your recovery has been going. I know it's been a little while, but it has popped into my mind in the past week. I sometimes forget how serious concussion symptoms can be. I think recently any time I hear the term concussion, it makes me wonder if you're doing better.

Have you been able to enjoy watching Monster at all? I was thinking that maybe you might want to put it off until you're in a better state of health. It would be a shame if you tried to watch it with the symptoms that you had told me about. I would worry that it might leave a bad impression if you associate it with a painful life experience.

I just finished watching Land of the Lustrous. It really didn't seem like my kind of show, but I have found so many hidden treasures by going against my preconceived notions. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I think you might like it. It has very deep, very original worldbuilding. It's a concept that I never would have dreamed of, and that could only come from highly artistic anime. The character interactions and development were done extremely well. It's very relaxing most of the time, with occasional sudden moments of chaos. I see it's on your watchlist, so I just wanted to share my experience with it.

I'm also finally reading the Berserk manga. My relationship with Berserk has been a strange one, indeed. The original 1997 anime was one of my introductions to anime as a whole. It genuinely made me realize that this was the medium that I needed to explore. Even the music was completely captivating (other than the opening song, which is the one singular element that felt out of place.) I then watched the "Memorial Edition" of the Golden Age trilogy. It covered the same material, but featured modern CGI animation. I loved every minute of it, only slightly less than the 1997 version. They had slight differences in details, but that made me appreciate both. Then I watched the 2016 version and loved it. I didn't really care for the 2017 sequel series, but overall, I truly loved Berserk. As soon as I discovered this site, I was in for a shock. People absolutely loathed these shows that I had just watched. Some were tolerant of the 1997 version. The Memorial Edition wasn't highly talked about by any means. And people absolutely hated the 2016/2017 series'. I was so confused!

After weeks of reading reviews, and watching YouTube critiques of these shows, it became obvious that I was in the minority for loving most of what I had watched. Getting to the root of the issue, I realized that the largest issue was the CGI presentation of most of these, and the fact that they weren't completely faithful to the manga. I watched enough critiques that I ended up kind of agreeing with the bad CGI factor. I was so new to anime that I had no idea how the community as a whole felt about such things. It genuinely made me feel stupid at first for rating these shows so highly. I suppose I betrayed my initial instincts.

Recently I watched the 3 Golden Age movies, which I had basically already viewed, as they were the source material for Millennial Edition. Which made me finally decide to read the manga. It's funny to me now. I have now watched the same exact story 3 times, and I'm currently reading it once more. The foundational story of Guts, Casca and Griffith presented in all of these different versions now feels like actual mythology to me. It feels as if its a tale or fable as old as time. Now that I'm in the midst of reading it in its original form, I'm happy to know that I'll finally be able to move on to what happens afterwards. Because seriously, I can almost quote certain sections of it word for word after seeing it retold so many times. I will say that one of my biggest takeaways from all of this is that the 1997 anime deserves more respect. It is so faithful to the manga, both in story and artistic style, in my opinion. It will always remain as one of my all time favorites. You obviously enjoyed it as well, which is the only reason I have spent so much time talking about it.

So if you decide to continue with the manga, I'd be interested in your thoughts as you make progress. While reading it, I'm really getting this wild feeling that I'm still in the very early stages of a truly epic tale. It gives me a feeling that I am experiencing a sort of Japanese Game of Thrones (which I absolutely love) or something like that.

Let me know your Berserk experience up until this point, if you're feeling up to it. Your thoughts about the 1997 anime, and if you're purposely avoiding the more recent versions, or just haven't got around to them. If you pick up the manga again, it's also something I'll be curious about. I suppose I'm just getting excited about everything that happens after the story that we all know, and wouldn't mind having someone to discuss it with.

I hope you're feeling better, and that every day is better than the last one. I just had a few topics in mind that made me think to reach out to you.

Well, fuck, several years since I last talked to the guy and I can't find him on social media, I don't know how to track him down haha
Here is the Portuguese version though, I dedicated it to a close friend of mine that was denied shelter by anarchopunks and was later murdered by nazi skins https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/fmpqb2pq1dj3240z18odo/Hist-ria-Skinhead-e-Oi-Carecas-do-Brasil.pdf?e=3&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1CTCsvZMJIQUhBgjNj8gUXsu0zotwNna5JZEo1pxiUCoeRiZiIdIIHgfI_aem_ZmFrZWR1bW15MTZieXRlcw&rlkey=4oa3wa6g5xncsevq9f1w4jynt&dl=0

I guess being in a gang was just cool haha

Yeah, skinhead scene started with Jamaican immigrants and music, it's quite sad that it became a nazi thing.
I have the Portuguese version, it will be hard to translate because it's full of slangs, but I'm gonna message the guy that told me about distributing into in Mexico and going to see if he has the Spanish version.

Are you from Oxnard or around it? I probably only know the bands that are in that Nardcore 80s album, another band I really liked was RKL

Hi again, I hope you're continuing your recovery. It sounds like you have been going through some pretty scary symptoms. You seem to be into many creative avenues, so it's even worse that you have been kept from enjoying them throughout your struggles. I suppose songwriting would be out of the question if it literally tires out your brain. I wonder if you did manage to write songs during this time, that they might turn out unique due to what you're going through. I'm not sure exactly how to explain it, but I mean like how stress and pain might bring out some hidden facet of your mind that isn't normally present. It might be interesting a year from now to look back at anything you've written during this time. Hopefully it wouldn't bring back strong negative memories that you would quickly want to forget. But being able to view your work from this time in the future might be an interesting window to peer through. If you haven't been feeling like yourself, it might be reflected in your projects. Once you're back to normal (I hope that will be possible sooner than later,) perhaps you can look back at this as your "concussion era," and possibly notice something distinct about it. Just a thought. Maybe I'm just trying to find any silver lining I can at a tragic time in your life.

I still haven't watched Black Books yet, but now this topic has become even more humorous to me that your mind went to a Canadian English accent! I will concede that I do live around 20 miles away from the Canadian border. I'm also in one of the few geographical locations where I would actually have to travel south to reach the Canadian border from the bridge (or tunnel, there is an option at the border.) However, the change in accents from one side of the bridge to the other is pretty drastic! Well, only with a few particular words and phrases. I haven't been to Canada in quite a while, but I've really enjoyed the time I've spent vacationing there. I have been to Toronto twice (it's quite a bit further away than the city across our border,) and it's my favorite city I've ever visited. The people are so much nicer, and it just feels so positive overall. It just spoke to me. Nowadays I'm sure it's completely unaffordable to even spend a week there. In a wish fulfillment scenario, where I am completely financially free, I would love to live there. Do you have any places like that in your mind?

Speaking of mechanics on this site, I am also still discovering all of the little tips and tricks. I don't know if you use the mobile app or not, or if you only access via browser, or a combination of the two (like I do.) I've already mentioned that the phone app has that useful feature where you can see how everyone on your friend list has rated any anime or manga. That really does seem exclusive to the app, and I absolutely love having access to that. The app is also very limited in many ways. If you remember, I was telling you about how I watched Monster twice, yet didn't get credit in the "rewatch" category of my list. Apparently, I can use the browser version of the site, which has so many more options, to enter this manually. The browser version also allows you to make comments on every anime on your list. For example, I could almost write a mini review for all of them, and it would show up in a comment category on my list when viewed via browser. I believe that it is limited to a certain number of words, so I don't think it can handle full essay length material. So we can almost write reviews for what we watch, minus the social anxiety factor of having them become public spectacles. I wish I would have known about this earlier! I have always toyed around with the idea of becoming the kind of user that writes reviews. I enjoy writing, although the only time I really get to exercise this is when I'm chatting with my friends, like we do from time to time. I just feel too intimidated to set something in stone for everyone here to see. I would also feel the need to come up with a completely original approach. I would want my own style that is set apart from the standard "Story, Characters, Sound, Enjoyment" template that most people use. I haven't come up with anything yet. Have you ever considered writing reviews here? You strike me as someone who might feel similar to myself, where you feel like you have things to say about certain anime and manga, yet always second guessing and just feel comfortable keeping your thoughts to yourself. The life of the introverts, I suppose!

The one cool feature on the browser version that I wanted to share with you is the ability to block everyone from seeing your updates for as long as you choose. I've chosen to keep a little quiet on the site for the moment, yet I'm still adding to my list. So it makes that "rating dump" thing that we talked about even easier. When you hide your updates, nobody can see them on their timeline from the homepage. I don't know if this was something that you were interested in, but for me, it sort of eases the anxiety of having everyone see that I'm about to rate Sword Art Online a 4 at best haha! I think you know what I'm saying, as far as not having every little thing we do here being broadcast to our entire list of friends. I may turn it back on shortly. I just wanted to become invisible for a few days, and this selectable option allowed me to do so.

I usually don't consider myself to have OCD, but when it comes to my anime list and other lists I make to document certain aspects of my life, it becomes obvious that I indeed do have some of the symptoms! Since 2020 I have documented every single cent I have spent on food, in order to lower my budget. At the end of every year I will actually break the list down and figure out how much I have spent yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily. My best year was 2022, where I spent an average of $29.07 per week on food. Narrowly edging out 2021, where it was $29.11 haha! Last year it jumped up to $32.46 per week, due to inflation, but I'm on pace to have my best year ever for 2024. It sounds so weird and obsessive to most people, but I'm really using this as a tool to assure that I'm never devoting too much of my budget to what I eat. It almost becomes a game, where I'm competing with myself from previous years. It also allows me to get very creative in the kitchen. Learning to do a lot with a little. Needless to say, restaurants and takeout are almost completely out of the question. But this meticulous list obsession has definitely carried over into my anime list. That's the reason why you've heard me talk about adjusting my ratings to get everything perfect and harmonious.

Well, I'm still pulling for you to heal, if it hasn't happened fully yet. I'd be happy to know when you finally get back to doing the things you love, and are passionate about. I'm hoping that this is just a small setback for you, and that soon, you will feel ready for a comeback, and a full recovery. Also, if your projects are things that you would like to share with other people, I'm right here for ya. If not, I understand completely. I value privacy as much as the next introvert. As always, good talking to you, my friend.

Talking about Leftover Crack, I just remembered this Ska remix haha