A 2016 UPDATE ABOUT ME, YOU AND THE FUTURE OF THE BLOG!

It has been a long, long time since my last post. In fact, it has been about 6 months since I've posted anything or uploaded any videos. Not to bring things down too much and I don't want to get too personal with my own drama (mostly because my life is pretty good), but I feel it will help to share a little bit with my readers (hey, thanks for checking out my article!).

I am writing this off the top of my head and I might do a video about it later...

I am not exactly sure when it started, but I would guess that about six month ago, I experienced the most overwhelming mix of anxiety and depression that I have ever experienced in my life. It started out with a feeling of unease and doubt that developed into helplessness and exhaustion (physical, mental and emotional) by Christmas and by Valentine's Day I was drowning in self-loathing, anger and an inability to enjoy anything like I normally would. It was about that point that I had several panic attacks and had to examine the root causes of these feelings.

For weeks, I went through the motions and fought the good fight. I even had good days. But the bad days were a trudge. I didn't enjoy movies or video games like I usually did. The new movies I had been anticipating for months underwhelmed me and I didn't turn on my consoles for weeks. For every ounce of creative effort I put in, it felt like I was only producing at a fraction of my normal quality and quantity. It is why I just stopped blogging without a word of explanation. Every week I felt like even my favorite tasks were exhausting. By the time Sundays rolled around for my weekly table top gaming session, I was too drained to properly GM with the same gusto that I usually enjoyed. Every conversation and activity that I usually relished was instead accompanied by this bitterness that came out in the form of complaining.Eventually, my friends and family could tell that something was off.  I couldn't sleep. I couldn't be productive. I couldn't even be. I was depressed.

Sometimes I felt happy but most of the time I was angry, sad, or just tired

I was in pain. I was numb. I was filled with angst and ennui. I jokingly called it "punk ennui" but the joke was that it was killing me.

After winter passed (and perhaps winter was partly to blame), I started feeling better and I'm glad to say that for the last couple weeks, I've begun to feel like myself again.

I can play. I can write. I can...

CROW!!!

Before I finish the subject, I want to add something:

Depression and anxiety affects us all. For many, the struggle is chronic or even daily. My biggest takeaway from the experience is that when people suffer from this negativity, they don't always communicate it. It took a while for people to realize I wasn't well. I didn't want to admit it to myself or them. I wanted to maintain control or some semblance of control.

But I didn't really start to get better until I started talking it out with trusted friends and family. Their advice, their company and especially their patience helped me dig myself out of the ditch. Anxiety and depression almost always have physical, mental and emotional elements. For me, I believe that my work hours mixed with the weather contributed heavily to my issues but confronting some of the problems, with the love and support of others, really helped me out.

My advice when dealing with depression or those with depression is to strive for the same virtue I usually champion. Patience.

Listen to people, try to understand them, give them the benefit of the doubt, give them your forgiveness and give them your time.

A little kindness goes a long way.

Heh.

So, now that I'm back to being me, what have I been up to? I am working my retail job for the time being but mentally prepping for a change. I am going to Universal and Disney next month. I have been gming Force and Destiny (a Star Wars RPG) and working on a homebrew sci-fi game setting codenamed "Hyperdrive" with my friends Kyle and Sarah. My own 5e Cleric Geth Dawnbreaker hit level 20 and we're approaching end-game in that campaign and I started playing my first evil player character, a catfolk with dwarfism and a naruto-worthy sad backstory. I'm having a blast playing through Fallout 4, so I can get to the rest of my backlog (Twilight Princess and Phantom Pain are next!) and I'm heavily anticipating Overwatch. I am still playing the crap out of League of Legends, collecting Amiibos, love Pokemon and Nintendo, binging on Netflix and watching anime. I'm currently watching The X-Files, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Himouto! Umaru-Chan:

Which may or may not be related to a new weekly blog format about my attempts to reenter and go deeper into the anime fandom this year...

Anyways, I have returned.

MUSIC MON! LET'S GET ANIME AS FAKKU! #1

"HAPPY MATERIAL!" (MAGISTER NEGI MAGI COVER W/ DRIA-DONO)

Sometimes you gotta scrape the bottom of the barrel to share and create content and, in this case, I found a hole in the bottom of the barrel and decided to dip my fingers into the anime can below (which is, also, filled with gooey caramel. Go figure).

Anywho, let's start with something light and sweet and fun with a little collab between some voice actors/singers/entertainers from youtube from anime that I've never watched. Because why not.

EVANGELION: A CRUEL ANGEL'S THESIS (ENGLISH COVER BY SAPPHIRE)

And move right into a cover of the anime that everyone who wantys to get into anime or wants to call themselves an anime fan/expert should probably watch, Hideaki Anno's ambitious to the point of madness, Neon Genesis: Evangelion.

I don't love Neon Genesis. I'm not even sure I like Neon Genesis. But the anime's reverberations throughout the anime fan community and medium can still be felt today. The anime mixes intellectually dark and brooding themes of religion, gender, and puberty into something that is often uncomfortable to watch but, thanks to the beautiful animation and style, is something worth experiencing.

Many big names in anime started out on this project and, like I said, you can see it's influence everywhere. If you haven't, check it out. The dub is pretty good (even if Shinji is a whiny brat, so what? Can you really blame him? Really?!).

FAKKU- HENTAI DUDE FT. GF RETRO + JOSIP ON DECK

And now for something completely shallow and potentially divisive with the latest release from the perviest senpai MC on youtube, Hentai Dude.

Dude's name speaks for itself.

So, now that checking out some slightly too otaku stuff is out of the way, let's get pseudo intellectual for a second, again, and personal:

"Never knows best" doesn't mean anything. That's a lie. Maybe the guy who wrote it didn't know what it meant. That's fine. He just thought it sounded cool because he didn't speak much English or maybe he was being intentionally vague and it didn't mean anything. That's fine. It still meant something to me when I was thirteen years old, staying up late, and watching anime on cable.

It doesn't take much to figure out why I was watching anime, because I watched it for all the reasons that a young teen anime fan watches anime. I watched it because I still liked cartoons, but wants to be mature. I watched it because the anime girls caught my interest. I watched it because, at thirteen, I was starting to get cynical as all hell.

I'm not sure what "Never Knows Best" means yet. But I do know what FLCL meant to me. It meant that feeling like you wanna grow up, like your between childhood and adulthood, and like you want to understand how to balance all these weird feelings against the childhood identity. It means learning to take responsibility but also it means realizing you'll never know everything. You think being an adult means trying to be cool or it means serious business. It doesn't.

At this point I'm rambling, but you might be able to dig the profound or presumptious message I'm trying to get across in the wishy-washy fooly-cooly sort of way that I am.

Sometimes, you just need a little crazy. A little Haruko.

Sometime I'll revisit this again when I'm feeling wistful.

WORD OF THE DAY! 1/2/15! (MINI SATSUKI KIRYUIN NENDOROID REVIEW)!

fascism [fash-iz-uhm]
noun
1. A governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

EX. In my opinion, the intellectual impetus for the relationship between people & clothing, in the world of Kill La Kill, is the conceptualization of fashion as fascism.

The anime begins with a teacher expounding upon the history of Nazi Germany. This is interrupted by a student trying to steal a "Goku Uniform" which is a literal and figurative symbol of authority as it grants power and prestige in this world. He is quickly subjugated by the school's disciplinary chief, Gamagoori, and, later that episode, we see the student prostrated above the entrance of the school as a symbol to all that resistance to the status quo is, indeed, futile. 

The show follows up this introduction by establishing the structure of the society built around the Honnouji Academy; on the island, the closer to the school at the top, the better you're standing and wealth. Your family's standing and wealth are directly proportional to the Goku school uniforms worn by the children of the household with most having no stars and therefore being the bottom rung of this society. Above them are one star uniforms, which belong to anyone who conforms to the school's regimentation of clubs. Above them are the club captains who wear two star uniforms that are custom attuned to accent their natural abilities for combat from the gardening club to the tennis club. Above them are the three stars, which are the Elite Four of the school and oversee the four branches of clubs/activities/etc. And above even them is Satsuki Kiryuin the School President and fearless, ambitious, and seemingly cruel leader of this little dictatorship. Power is everything in this society and no one has more power than Satsuki.

The messed up part? Honnouji Academy is a microcosm of the effects of the Kiryuin's textile brand, which clothes the majority of the world, and plans to cover the world in their fascism. I mean fashion! I mean, seriously, Honnouji Academy even goes to war and conquers other schools as part of their ultimate plan. What is their final plan? Well...

At least that sounds clever, right? Right? Nudge nudge? Wut wut. The point, I suppose, is that for an anime that might turn away many viewers with the revealing outfits and over-the-top style is actually worth a few moments of consideration thanks to some deeper themes. Anywho...

...without further ado, let's get to the figure review!

If you wanna check out my other Kill la Kill Nendoroid review, CLICK HERE. I will be keeping things short and sweet since most things I said in that review remain true for this delightful figure.

PACKAGING

Sparkling, in white and blue, with those judgmental eyes looking up at you is this fantastic piece of packaging that somehow manages to surpass the packaging for my Mako and Ryuko figurines. Just like the other boxes, I will probably keep these around for display alongside the figures, since the boxes have such a high level of detail. They even have portholes in the sides!

The only downside is that the banner piece with her name that comes with the figure might be missed as it is hidden between a flap and the back of the box.

QUALITY

Much like the Ryuko and Mako figures, the sculpt for Satsuki is top notch and, due to the detail required to captures the intricacies of her junketsu, the paint is an even higher standard. It helps that the character has such a contrasting design to her heroic counterpart but her uniform, with the pauldrons on her shoulders and the zig zag details on her hips, you can really appreciate the amount of attention that went into capturing this dynamic character.

POSE-ABILITY AND FUNCTIONALITY

This, unfortunately, is where the figure loses some points against the others in this trio; Satsuki, in theory, has all of the same functionality as Mako and Ryuko but falls short thanks to a creative decision and a limitation of the design.

She comes with less pieces than he counterparts and this means it feels like she can't do a lot of the same poses. The trade-off, which comes in creativity, is she comes with some really fun set pieces that I'll talk about in the next section.

The limitation of her design, on the other hand, is more damning; her long hair and bust get in the way of posing her. In fact, it is a much bigger pain to get her into a pose due to the fact that her arms pop off easier than the other figures, her head has less movement due to the hair, and the piece holding her up is difficult to pose as it gets pinned between her back and hair.

So, in this way, she loses out to the simpler and more flexible designs of her counterparts.

CREATIVITY

In the Ryuko and Mako designs they capture Ryuko by giving her a ton of flexibility and pieces to help create a ton of action packed poses and, in Mako, they give her a lot of goofy accessories to give her the rubbery animation comedic hijinks she deserves. Satsuki, on the other hand, is only silly in just how serious she can be.

So, to accent her serious and over the top dramatic flair, they gave her a few special accessories: she got her sword and her sword's sheath, a banner to display behind her with her name in kanji, and lastly they actually gave her the steps that come down from her tower at the school. This allows you to create an adorable version of some of the more dramatic moments of the show and sets her apart from the other two figures in a clever way. I only feel they might've sacrificed some other attention to detail for this addition.

VALUE

Lemme just quote the other article.

"At about $50 a pop these figures are a big step in price and quality over my other figures that usually are in the line of $10-20 but they look better than just about any anime figure I've ever seen in a Hot Topic or at my local otaku shop (and some of the otaku shop figures are hundreds of dollars).

Nendoroid is a fantastic line for a fan of the chibi and small figures, like myself, and I plan to purchase more in the future. I'm definitely getting the Satsuki Kiryuin figure to complete this set but I would flip my lid if they made a Jojo's Bizarre Adventure style Mako figure or something from FLCL."

And really I followed through with what I said!

CONCLUSION?

The Satsuki Kiryuin figure was worth the wait, even if I feel like posing her as much (or as little as some see it) as the other figures is a bit of a pain, and I feel like she completes my desk by sitting a top my computer tower.

I can't think of a better way to cap off Kill la Kill since it has easily become one of my favorite anime series of all time. (Maybe with another figure review in the future?)

And so, with a soft and bittersweet sigh, I say goodbye to 2014 and hello to 2015. I feel like there will be a lot of anime and figures on the horizon. Thank you.

MIXED BAG. KILL LA KILL NENDORIOD FIGURES REVIEW!

I FRICKIN' LOVE

THE CRAP OUT OF

KILL LA KILL!

It is an anime that, every time me and my friend Zach Stanifer finished watching a subbed episode, we'd simultaneously look at each other and say "soooooo goooooood!"

Now, many people might right this anime off at first sight as a cheesecake magical girl show for guys to gawk at. And, while the protagonist is quite attractive and the outfits quite skimpy, but that's just a skin deep look. At the core the show is about amazing over the top action...

 

...and top notch physical comedy!

 

And this makes sense. After all, the anime is made by veteran writers and artists that worked on Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL, and Gurren Lagann.

 IS KILL LA KILL A WARNING ABOUT WEARABLE TECH?

While essentially a tale of friendship and revenge, the execution and ideas flying around are what set this anime apart:

Ryuko Matoi is a new student enrolling at Honnouji Academ to seek revenge on his killer. The primary suspect is Satsuki Kiryuin, the school president and heir to a fashion empire. We quickly discover that this fashion empire has fairly fascist ideals, world-domination schemes, and that their passion for fashion kills. Satsuki and her cronies are equipped with special uniforms that give them incredible power. When Ryuko stumbles upon an experimental uniform made by her late father, she must use it to takedown her opponents and discover the truth behind her father's murder.

Her best friend in the series is Mako Mankanshoku, the other figure I'm reviewing, and serves as the comedic relief of the series to contrast the angst of our protagonist.

The themes of the show include the relationship between people and clothing, fascism (as fashion), friendship, rivalry, resolve, etc.

It is insane, beautiful, and hilarious.

If you're interested in watching it yourself, check it out HERE on Crunchyroll.

I like the anime so much I decided to buy some rather pricey but incredible Japanese Nendoroid figures of the show main protagonists (and eventually the villain) to help add some girl power to figure collection, fulfill some otaku needs, and generally just have too much fun with toys.

The format I'm going to use is rating the figures based on packaging, quality, pose-ability/functionality, creativity, and value.

So, without further ado, let's get to the figure review!