Blog Post

I don't really want to be writing one of those "new year, new blog" posts, but here we are. It's the new year and I just got this code set up.

Life got really weird for me over the past couple of years. I don't want to get into the details but basically I started transitioning and had to get a divorce, and then I got a new job out of state so I moved. I live in the same city as my best friend now which is honestly amazing - we met online - but it's been lonely too. I've never lived alone before and I don't really know how to make friends. My new job is a total disaster and I generally try to act normie at work anyway so I'm not really looking to meet people there. It's not all bad though, I really like my new city and the place I'm renting is amazing. I also have a girlfriend now, but she lives a couple of hours away so we only see each other on weekends.

One of my goals for this year is to write more, so now I'm writing this. I read a lot in grade school so it always felt very important that I become A Writer, but I'm not very imaginative and stopped trying sometime in high school. Self-expression has always been a struggle and I often wonder if my particular autism precludes me from having any creative impulses in general. A couple of years ago I wrote about 50k words of Dorohedoro fanfiction and it was probably the best I'd ever felt about myself, even if the writing itself was nothing special. I haven't been inspired to write since 2023 but I'm really hoping that I can get myself back into the habit. Hence, blog. I'm also lonely as fuck so it's nice to tell somebody how it's going.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, Dorohedoro season 2 was just confirmed for a 2025 release, with Hayashi directing and MAPPA producing again. I don't have strong feelings about MAPPA (unlike others who HATED the CGI in S1) or any other studio really, but I did wonder for a while if another studio was picking it up since they've dropped more mainstream series (namely Yuri on Ice) for not being profitable enough, whatever that means. I'm thrilled Hayashi is still at the helm though - Dorohedoro was never going to be hugely popular, and since MAPPA doesn't care about anything but huge shonen series I'm sure S1 only turned out as well as it did because of his passion for the project. Even though it's a bit of a departure from the manga I LOVED the art direction for S1, particularly the colors and music, and I think that a lot of the merch and promotional events were really fun and creative.

At one point I was planning to take a trip to Japan around the same time S2 releases so that I can track down new merch in person (and maybe go to one of the doujinshi events). If I can get the time off work (and if my house sells) I really want to try, even though I've never traveled solo before. Timing is really the tricky part, I'm not really sure how anime merch releases relate to the airing dates and airfare will be pricy if I don't have enough notice...

Other shit I've been up to:

I joined a private strength gym here back in November after trying to make it work at various commercial gyms for a few months. (I honestly think I would've stuck it out at the YMCA, but the one near my house closed for renovations right after I joined. Yes they still made me pay the full membership rate.) It's expensive, which is what I was trying to avoid, but I missed having an in-person coach. And benching on an actual combo rack. It seems to be paying off already; I got an easy 285x3 squat recently which is the most I've done in a year or so.
I watched Dandadan and I want to bitch about it because everyone I know seems to be into it and I don't have anyone to complain to. I think the author's study of shoujo manga really paid off in the Momo/Okarun dynamic but that's the ONLY thing about the story that works. The rest of the cast is impressively unlikable and the plot is disjointed and directionless. If I were in charge I would've gone for more of an X-Files thing with 2 interconnected mystery plots (occult vs. alien) and really developed the Momo/Okarun relationship but instead it devolves into boring battle shonen with 2 (!) of the least convincing love triangles of all time. Maybe it gets somewhere eventually but after those first 12 episodes I'm unwilling to give it the benefit of the doubt. My main complaint, however, is Seiko's design - so bad it pisses me off every time I see it. Why make a "sexy grandma" character if you don't think older women's bodies are sexy? And what the FUCK is she wearing? I'm not even going to comment on the hair. Bad taste all around. I would've dropped it if my friends hadn't put it on every week.
I've been playing the Fable series for the first time on my old 360. I was never interested in these as a kid because I was offended by the burping/farting emotes (lol), which is a shame because I would have LOOOOVED them. I have a lot of fun with any game that lets you have so much control over the worldstate. I really enjoy the emphasis on industrialization and the passage of time; I was playing some of the A Wonderful Life remake on Switch a few months earlier which has similar themes but I think even the first Fable is more successful with them. I really like that you can play larger (and fat) body types too. Hammer is obviously my favorite character.
I'm really loving Hajime no Ippo... I shouldn't be too surprised since I had a big sports anime phase in high school and this is a classic, but honestly I haven't been enjoying much anime for the past few years. The thing I like about sports anime is that it hits many of the classic feel-good shonen notes (friendship and rivalry, hard work and perseverance, competition, etc.), but with character-driven narratives and real-world sports technique instead of goofy supernatural battles and worldbuilding. (Obviously there are exceptions like TeniPuri and KnB but those aren't necessarily my favorites.) Ippo is very much to my taste as it's very sentimental and nostalgic. I have to say, though, the misogyny can be pretty jarring. I'm usually not too precious about this sort of thing in media but it's shockingly blatant (which I guess is era-typical). Somehow I still love Takamura but I'm not proud of it.

This is the end of the post.