Bleach the anime has come to an end. Had the last two episodes been one episode finale special, I would’ve been okay with it but due to the separation, the suspense I felt was deflated. I oddly felt like Game of Thrones fans when the finale actually happened — you thought the finale was gonna pay off whatever happened in the penultimate episode but uh nope, that did not happen. The difference? At least Bleach had a definitive ending with no plot holes — it was simply the arrangement or the fact that both episodes combined would’ve been satisfying as one anime finale special.I
’ve also been playing Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse as well as Final Fantasy Resonance and on both counts, I love. Belmont’s Curse felt like it just erased the bad taste in my mouth that remained from everything prior to SOTN. Resonance feels like everything that makes a 2D Final Fantasy awesome in a HD2D format. The stories don’t reinvent the wheel and the gameplay mechanics aren’t groundbreaking but they remind us of why we love these kind of games. In a world arguing about MMO, live service, gacha, Soulslike fatigue (yup I went there) and FPS games, single player games that remember why we loved gaming growing up came through.
I finished writing the last chapter for Drafts. The stage is set for the next adventure of Emmanuel Lucifer. I was able to wrap the last chapter to where it creates the setup. I had debated how we position the conclusion in a way that helps serve the next adventure of Emmanuel Lucifer post-FireFrei but thankfully, the spark activated and I was able to accomplish what I set out to do. I take pride in knowing that I was able to write a whole novel’s worth of story in one year while having finished one that took 6 years. For FireFrei, just the cover art and editing the art for the last chapter. For Drafts, create art for the cover and the chapter titles — nothing more or less. It helped that reading Hirohiko Araki’s book on crafting manga served as coaching in terms of how to progress the story forward. When building a protagonist, if a setback happens, there better be a major progression bump that it serves. I had a moment in FireFrei’s writing where I hit said moment but thankfully, I had found that means. In Drafts, while the story is based on wonder and exploration, it was important to have an end goal behind it. I also didn’t want it to be removed from Emmanuel Lucifer’s story but rather enriched the shared world — and I found exactly that.
One constant that exists is my nods to things I’ve come to love throughout my life — video games, anime/manga, wrestling, mythology at times as well as my life journey itself. All these things have me imaginative scenarios that aren’t always cut off from reality yet not so grounded that it was depressing either. Not everyone can travel the world. Not everyone will ever be wealthy in currency but if I can tap into my imagination and worlds I’ve explored in make believe, there’s a certain kind of optimistic view I’m able to have despite a burning world…if that makes sense.