<< november

media diary - december 2024

[11-16/12/2024] MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 0079

on the last day of november i released a video about the BANDAI WONDERSWAN, in which i focused on bandai's efforts to enter the gaming hardware market. while making the video i was bombarded with series and franchises owned or licensed by the company that are known all over, but as i worked on this video i had minimal time to correctly address them. i couldn't spend time watching & researching everything bandai was involved in in relation to their gigantic merchandising presence, but it still caught my attention and lingered on after i'd finished the video.

numerous factors pointed me in the direction of checking out some KAMEN RIDER -- friend of the site maria put together a crazy good set for the goblin bunker public access audiovisual music stream, using clips from various tokusatsu including SHIN KAMEN RIDER, the movie based on the original series directed by TV's hideaki anno. it was *moving*, and primarily got me thinking that Woah, That Masked Rider Guy Is Cool. i mention this here instead of giving kamen rider its own segment because while i ended up watching about 15 episodes of the original show, i got totally and utterly distracted by GUNDAM.

so many of my friends LOVE gundam, so it was really only a matter of time before i got magnetized into it myself, and what sold me was primarily char aznable. i think about char aznable every day. it is easy to see why someone would obsess over that guy. another friend of the site, juliette necro, talked me into checking it out, and i'll thank her relentlessly because this is one of the most captivating shows i've ever watched.

i watched the entire thing, 43 episodes, in just six days.

this is UNPRECEDENTED for me. as someone who doesn't even watch much TV to begin with, and watches it only on occasion in unorganized bursts, i shocked myself with this. i had nothing else really going on that week, i wanted a break after working on that wonderswan video, but even within my own secluded lifestyle i really just set everything aside in order to see as much of this show as i could before visiting my family for christmas. even though my motivations were solely to watch my dear wife char aznable doing things, i ended up enthralled with gundam's depiction of war, morality and tragedy.

even if there are characters you could, on a surface level, categorize as "good" and "bad", there is clear effort put into the characterization of both sides, the earth federation and the principality of zeon, that demonstrates the complexity of such a widespread conflict. its characters are so humanized that i began to dread any scenes of combat, the horrors of war being at the forefront of all the flashy, overwhelming action. overlayed on top of all that is a bunch of really neat, grounded sci-fi concepts -- gundam made me enjoy and respect science fiction, after being largely disinterested by it as a genre, because of how well-utilised and natural it all feels here in tandem with the storyline. it's not secondary to the narrative, it's

i could go on, but this kind of became an overnight all-timer for me. i was motivated to learn more about mecha shows after rewatching & re-evaluating EVANGELION last month, and GUNDAM is the most influential for a very good reason -- aside from its toyetic robot designs and bandai's eternal merchandising, it's a ridiculously well-written series that undoubtedly connected with many of its viewers. i love so much about it, and i love talking about it with my friends, it's a rare mega-franchise product that i'm actually emotionally invested in and think is cool. though mainly. i am just madly in love with char aznable.

[12/12/2024] GITAROO MAN

since i let december be my designated Break Period i figured i should spend my time playing games i Know i enjoy. rhythm games pop out at me as a genre i'll always be in love with, because unless a game gets it super wrong the act of hitting buttons in rhythm with music is always satisfying. i've gone on about nana on-sha many times in the past, and i stand by the belief that nearly every rhythm game missed the point of parappa the rapper's gameplay, but i still love the direction those imitators took. hitting the right button at the precise right time IS very satisfying, even if it's not exactly liberating.

GITAROO MAN is one of many parappa imitators, copying its whole level structure and absurdist style, but i won't slam it for being a copycat because it's a fine-tuned Monster of a game. its music rules, its artwork pops, and its difficulty is cranked way the hell up. for a fan of the kind of thing parappa did, gitaroo man brings a punishing challenge that kept me alert and attentive, because any slip-up could mean starting over. because of this i've had trouble completing the game in the past -- i recorded a chunk of it for my PSY-S CITY video last year, but i only got up to stage 6 or so before getting my ass kicked. this time, though, i persevered and got through, and now i know the meaning of pain.

this came to me in a continuing arc of reassessing what "game difficulty" even is, and what it means for a game to challenge its players, a topic so large i feed it into every one of my youtube videos because it's such a common discussion fully reliant on how a player engages with a game and its mechanics. while a year ago i would have given up and called the game too hard, this time i refused to let myself down, and even if it meant starting certain stages over and over, and making more mistakes than i'd like to admit, just the fact i got through to the end brought a satisfaction that was worth the struggle. i knew i'd enjoy gitaroo man, and i did!

[22/12/2024-] THEATRHYTHM FINAL BAR LINE

speaking of rhythm games!!!!

as a christmas gift my friend kaley got me money for the nintendo eshop, which i ended up buying two games with -- one of those games i haven't played yet, but the other was THEATRHYTHM FINAL BAR LINE, the final fantasy rhythm game. as a massive fan of rhythm games, and a massive fan of final fantasy (though mainly from an outside perspective because i've really not played enough of those games), and particularly a massive fan of the music from the final fantasy series, this seemed tailor-made for the category of freak that i am. on top of all that, it's a direct sequel (remake?) of the 3DS theatrhythm games, so this thing has 3DS stylings all over it, which i adore dearly as someone who played tons of games on there.

in terms of gameplay, the actual rhythm-button-input is very straightforward and easy -- it sort of combines guitar hero's button layout with the twisty-turny analog stick input seen in gitaroo man (or more accurately trombone champ?!?), but with the twist that you can just press any button and the layout on-screen is only an indicator of the notes you're hitting. the stage maps are also very easy for rhythm game standards, though with optional difficulty settings for each stage that ramps up to an extent that is actually pretty overwhelming. so whether you're a beginner or a pro, there's enough to tear into here, because the game features Literally Hundreds Of Stages and at least three difficulty modes for each. it's a VERY beefy game!!

the music itself is ever-endearing, and going through the quest mode for final fantasies IV through XIII (i'm not finished yet lol) really made me want to go and play each entry, so as an advertisement for existing games in the series it's pretty effective lol. it also manages to be its own lite RPG, with an abundance of characters to level up and mini quests to complete for collectables, in a deep well of fanservice. even if i'm not familiar with every single FF game (i hope to be one day!), the game stands on its own as addicting and satisfying, keeping me hooked as i level up and collect more PNGs of cloud strife. it's a little boneheaded, at times feeling too straightforward, but as a pure brain off head empty video game it's unmatched for me. thanks kaley!!

[22/12/2024] MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 0080: WAR IN THE POCKET

i know i just said a ton about gundam, but this OVA came recommended as a season-appropriate side story that takes place right at the end of the events of gundam 0079. in line with the atmosphere of tragedy this series embodies, WAR IN THE POCKET is ruthlessly heartbreaking. while the original series was about the overall one-year war, this miniseries isolates us in a bubble of ordinary life impacted in both subtle and major ways by the ongoing greater conflict. as a piece of worldbuilding i really respect it, because it only zooms in on one relatively small setting, a region maintained as neutral to the war but affected by it nonetheless. it's a perfect chunk of the themes and tone this series is going for, and it's also devastating and harrowing! yeowch!!!!

[24/12/2024] TOKYO GODFATHERS

continuing with the festivities, i finally got round to watching TOKYO GODFATHERS this christmas (i was Told it's a christmas movie but its really more of a new year's movie lol). despite wide acclaim i'm not familiar with any of SATOSHI KON's work, and didn't watch this movie strictly on the grounds of it being from a good director -- no, i got curious to watch this because of its soundtrack, composed by KEIICHI SUZUKI. that fact alone would probably have been enough for me to enjoy this, but also this movie rules.

while a lot of found family plots tend to follow multiple people forming a bond with each other, this kind of goes in the reverse order, having three main characters who already put up with each other, already have a dynamic, and as they're thrust into situations we learn more about their backgrounds and why they got in this mess -- it makes character development way more meaningful, because rather than just forming a bond these three are able reflect on their own issues and work together because they already have each others' backs. this is only one aspect of why the movie's great, but it's one of the most important parts i think. such a bond is beautiful to me.

the other thing, though, is that it's silly as hell, and that kind of means just as much to me. this isn't just a cute dynamic, these guys are a comedy trio, they're the three god darn stooges, and the expressive animation present all throughout reflects this so well. also one of them is trans. i don't even know how to put into words how nice this movie is. i watched it once and just Knew it's an all-timer because its themes, its characters, its sensitivity, its music, its character growth, its shockingly well-handled representation, i love it all dearly. it does not fuck around. this is the perfect new year's movie.

[25/12/2024-] THE REST OF THE HOLIDAYS

i spent the rest of the year with my family, which meant watching various random movies and TV. this means that aside from things i watched myself (i started watching zeta gundam on the 26th lol) it's all kind of a blurry haze that i'm not able to thoroughly document, but i'll mention that the new DOCTOR WHO christmas special was cheesy and cute.

notably, airing on christmas was the new WALLACE & GROMIT movie, which i have mixed feelings about. for some reason netflix is funding aardman sequels, we got a second chicken run movie this time last year and i wrote about it this time last year but it kind of bothered me how, despite new ideas and obvious artistry, it felt like it was relying a little much on the original instead of fully standing on its own. that same sort of thing happened again with VENGEANCE MOST FOWL, where the entire premise is it being a continuation of THE WRONG TROUSERS moreso than it just being a new film. it's frustrating because there's an abundance of original ideas and well-constructed humor, i liked this a lot, but it's inherently drawing comparisons to its own predecessor and that makes it a little awkward. still a good time, i don't mind if it's a little rough.

i played a bunch of games during this time, including yet more theatrhythm as well as the dragon quest clone in the GAMECENTER CX ds game. i got a better grasp on the kinds of games i play in my own time, when i'm not working on any video projects, but i'll talk more about that next month when i cover THE GREAT ACE ATTORNEY.

2025 will probably have a less structured style of blogging -- i have more of a feeling for writing now than ever before, and i'd like to start writing more about individual topics than putting most of that energy into the media diary. this has been a massive year for me, in terms of checking out a bunch of new things and discovering new interests, and i'd love to be able to write more about all kinds of stuff on here. i can't say for certain yet whether this means there will be another media diary entry next month, but i'll keep blogging, whatever happens!!