#Digimon Adventure tri. 5

[mikyapixie]

HAPPY 53rd BIRTHDAY TO TALENTED COLLEEN O’SHAUGHNESSEY!!!

[battlep1ke]

[smallhatlogan]

My niece has been watching the Digimon Adventure 1999 dub and what’s really striking me about it is how often I am doing something else and walk past her as she’s watching it and then I am suddenly sitting down and watching it and getting legitimately invested

[digimonarchive]

Digimon in all animated media - Anime, Movies and OVA

1st pic = Digimon Adventure anime (Japan: March 7, 1999 - March 26, 2000; USA: August 14, 1999 - June 24, 2000)

2nd pic = Digimon Adenture 02 anime (Japan: April 2, 2000 - March 25, 2001; USA: August 19, 2000 - May 19, 2001)

3rd pic = Digimon Tamers anime (Japan: April 1, 2001 - March 31, 2002; USA: September 1, 2001 - June 8, 2002)

4th pic = Digimon Frontier anime (Japan: April 7, 2002 - March 30, 2003; USA: September 9, 2002 - July 14, 2003)

5th pic = Digimon Savers / Data Squad anime (Japan: April 2, 2006 – March 25, 2007; USA: October 1, 2007 - November 2, 2008)

6th pic = Digimon Xros Wars / Fusion anime (Japan: July 6, 2010 - March 25, 2012; USA: September 7, 2013 - August 16, 2015)

7th pic = Digimon Xros Wars: The Evil Death Generals and the Seven Kingdoms anime (a.k.a Digimon Xros Wars part 2) (Japan: April 3, 2011 - September 25, 2011; USA: March 8, 2015 - August 16, 2015) **

8th pic = Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time anime (a.k.a Digimon Xros Wars Hunters or Digimon Xros Wars part 3) (Japan: October 2, 2011 - March 25, 2012) ***

9th pic = Digimon Adventure Tri OVA (Japan: November 21, 2015 - May 5, 2018; USA: September 15, 2016 - September 20, 2018)

10th pic = Digimon Universe Appli Monsters anime (a.k.a Appmon) (Japan: October 1, 2016 - September 30, 2017)

11th pic = Digimon Adventure: (a.k.a Digimon Adventure 2020 or Digimon Adventure reboot) (Japan: April 5, 2020 - September 26, 2021; USA: November 19, 2022 - April 13, 2023)

12th pic = Digimon Ghost Game (Japan: October 3, 2021 - March 26, 2023)

13th pic = Digimon Adventure (Movie) short film (Japan: March 6, 1999; USA: October 6, 2000 as the first segment part of Digimon The Movie)

14th pic = Digimon Adventure: Our War Game! movie (Japan: March 4, 2000; USA: October 6 2000 as the second segment part of Digimon The Movie)

15th pic = Digimon Adventure 02: Vol. 1: Digimon Hurricane Landing!/Vol. 2: Transcendent Evolution! The Golden Digimentals movie (a.k.a Digimon Adventure 02 Vol 1 and 2) (Japan: July 8, 2000; USA: October 6, 2000 as the third segment part of Digimon The Movie) ****

16th pic = Digimon Adventure 02: Diablomon Strikes Back / Digimon: Revenge of Diaboromon movie (Japan: March 3, 2001; USA: August 5, 2005)

17th pic = Digimon Tamers: The Adventurers' Battle / Digimon: Battle of Adventurers movie (Japan: July 14, 2001; USA: October 16, 2005)

18th pic = Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express / Digimon: Runaway Locomon movie (Japan: March 2, 2002; USA: October 2, 2005)

19th pic = Digimon Frontier: Revival of the Ancient Digimon!! / Digimon: Island of Lost Digimon movie (Japan: July 20, 2002; USA: October 23, 2005)

20th pic = Digital Monster X-evolution movie (Japan: January 3, 2005; USA: August 1, 2020)

21st pic = Digimon Savers The Movie: Ultimate Power! Activate Burst Mode!! movie (Japan: December 9, 2006)

22nd pic = Digimon Adventure 3D: Digimon Grandprix! short film OVA (Japan: July 20, 2000)

23rd pic = Digimon Savers 3D: The Digital World in Imminent Danger! short film OVA (Japan: July 8, 2006)

24th pic = Digimon Adventure 20th Anniversary Memorial Story Project OVA short films (Japan: November 22 2019 - December 25, 2020)

25th pic = Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna movie (Japan: February 21, 2020; USA: September 29, 2020)

26th pic = Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning movie (Japan: October 5, 2023; USA: November 8, 2023)

** This is the 2nd part of Digimon Xros Wars saga with Taiki, Kiriha and Nene on their adventure while Akari and Zenjirou are left out.

*** This is the 3rd part of Digimon Xros Wars saga with Tagiru, Yuu and Taiki as the protagonists. This 3rd part has the overly long title so we fans prefer to call it 'Digimon Xros Wars: Hunters' or 'Digimon Young Hunters'.

**** Yes, this movie has an overly long title. I had a hard time deciding whether to highlight it in bold or not.

Happy Digimon Day!

[theresattrpgforthat]

Is there a TTRPG that allows for the “Youths Having Fun Being Fantastic” “genre” of works like Persona 5 and Codename: Kids Next Door combined with the aesthetic of Digimon: Cyber Sleuth and early Bakugan? I’m sorry if I sent this one before, I forgor :(

THEME: Fun, Fantastic Youths.

Hello there, so I had to do a little bit of research to see what kind of tied these pieces of media together. What I looked for was games about kids with something special about them, a lighthearted tone, and an anime art style. I tried to focus on games that were set in the modern day, but not everything in this list matches that qualification.

Shepherds, by AirkSeablade.

Shepherds is a tabletop RPG about young members of a League of professional do-gooders, who strive to protect the peace and safety of ordinary people.  These young Shepherds will forge bonds of trust with each other, grow and mature as people, and possibly foil some evil plots along the way.

Shepherds puts us into a fantasy history where technology is starting to change the world around you. Your characters are young members of a special organization, with special training or abilities to help them protect the people around them. The author describes the genre as “hopeful fantasy”, inspired by the “Tales of _” video games and the Trails/Kiseki video game line.

System-wise, the game is Powered by the Apocalypse, which means that you only need 2d6 to play, and your characters will draw from a series of Moves in order to find out what happens next, with various categories for action scenes, relationship-building, moving through various in-game processes, and using magic.

The Magical Land of Yeld, by Yeldstuff.

Somewhere there is a door to a magical land. A land of secrets and treasure. Of exploration and adventure. Where children can become heroes, discover their inner strength and stand against monsters and magic. And once you enter, the only thing you have to fear is that you can never go home!

The Magical Land of Yeld is a multi-session tabletop roleplaying game focusing on adventure, hero building and shared storytelling. Like the classic console games we love, adventures in Yeld are designed to allow you to explore colorful and strange lands, seek out secret dungeons and temples and challenge powerful boss monsters as your characters grow to unlock new skills and discover more powerful weapons and treasure.

The main features of The Magical Land of Yeld that I think connect to your request is the fact that you are playing children, and that your children have magical abilities. However, the setting is decidedly fantastic, rather than taking place in the modern day - although if you like the secret worlds of Persona, you might find the isekai themes in this game to be adjacent to what you’re looking for. Similar to Kids Next Door, there’s always a threat of no longer being a child - although instead of turning into an adult, you’re in danger of turning into a monster. If you want a game with cartoon-ish threats but high stakes, you might like The Magical Land of Yeld.

Oddity High, by Derek Ehlmann.

You're a high school student that's probably nowhere close to being ordinary. Whether you’re dealing with aliens, psychics, ghosts, demons, eldritch gods or sentient cats is up to you - but whatever it is, you’re in the thick of it. Fortunately, by happenstance or by design, you’ve got a gang of like-minded, equally-abnormal friends at your side - and with their help, you’ve got a fighting chance at surviving it. Just don’t forget that you’re also going to need to survive high school, as well.

Oddity High is powered by the Apocalypse Engine, the system used by legendary and award-winning games such as Dungeon World, Monster of the Week, The Sprawl, Urban Shadows, Fellowship, and many, many more.

The Persona games are one of the many inspirations behind this game, about teenagers with abnormal powers. You combine your high-school type playbook with another, stranger playbook called your Other-Life playbook. Many of these playbooks are nods to various tropes in anime, such as masked superheroes, kids with the ability to re-write reality, or someone in control of another entity that is vastly more powerful than any human being.

Judging by the references for this game, Oddity High might lean a little more to the serious side than the goofy side, but if you want really larger-than-life anime hi-jinx, you might want to check out this game.

Clash! Shounen Battle Roleplay, by Sabrina Hawthorne.

CLASH! Shonen Battle Roleplay is a Tabletop Roleplaying Game about dramatic fights and the dramatic emotions those fights represent. It’s a game inspired by classic anime & manga like One Piece, Bleach and Naruto. Play as big, bombastic characters with all sorts of cool powers, facing off against pirates, monsters, and other powerful people just like you.

Shounen manga feels very fitting for games and media like Bakugan, Digimon, and Persona 5, which is why CLASH might have something of what you’re looking for. Your characters will all have cool powers and you’ll be constantly jumping into fight scenes, sinking your emotions and beliefs into the conflict. This is a game meant to be colourful and bold, with an emphasis on teamwork and being heroic.

Right now the game is in play-test, so there isn’t really any art to accompany the game. However, the game is pay-what-you-want while it’s in play-test, so you can check it out for free to see if the themes of the game resonate with what you’re looking for.

Cosmic Ray Kids, by Hedgemaze Press.

Cosmic Ray Kids is a single-page (front and back) atomic-age adventure roleplaying game for all ages. Play as superpowered youngsters who fight the forces of evil with heroics and heart! If you like The Powerpuff Girls, Fantastic Four, or Teen Titans Go!, you’ll love Cosmic Ray Kids!

Cosmic Ray Kids emulates the goofy, over-the-top mood of Saturday morning cartoons, with simple rules and a push-your-luck system that always has you trying to balance how much you want to risk. This is a great game for villains as goofy and gonzo as Father or The Delightful Kids From Down The Lane from Kids Next Door. It’s not necessarily styled in the same way as Persona 5 or Bakugan as - written, but I think it’s a light enough game that you could create your own setting that matches closer to what you’re looking for.

You might also want to check out….

Vibe Check, by Ostrichmonkey Games.

Powered by Cereal, by bismuth.

Teenagers with Attitude, by CardboardHyperfix.

Under the Neighbourhood, by Quest Friends.

[jamesthedigidestined]

TaiKouvember 2024, Day 6: Light 

(Sequel to Day 5: Hope, although mostly unneeded to enjoy this.) 

“So, that’s why you’re a wreck today?” Hikari giggles, gently rubbing Gatomon’s belly as the feline Digimon purrs warmly. 

“Yes! It was horrible, Hikari; you need to put Takeru on a leash or something!” Taichi exclaims, wiping his face down in an attempt to take the tension off. 

“Onii-chan, I can barely contain a few children; an adult is well out of my league. Not to mention I tried that already and he liked it.” She gives Taichi a playful smirk, taking great joy in the pained reaction from her older brother. 

“I don’t understand what’s so wrong anyway. You humans overcomplicate everything.” Gatomon shakes her head, clueless and frankly uncaring of the gravity of Takeru’s intrusions. 

“I concur, humans truly are mysterious creatures.” Tentomon says, leaning into Taichi’s side in an attempt to comfort him. Grateful for the touch, Taichi begins to scratch under the big bug’s chin. 

“On another note, Onii-chan, Gatomon would like to spend some time with you. The little softie.” The young woman beams at her Digimon, who only raises her chin and looks away in response. 

“Yes, well, I hear Tentomon particularly enjoys your salmon, so I feel inclined to try some myself.” Gatomon tries to deflect, huffing as Hikari pets her. 

“The salmon was good last night!” Tentomon asserts, raising his claw up to accentuate his point. 

“Oh! Uh, sure? We’ll pick some up on the way home,” Taichi tilts his head, somewhat confused but not disliking another Digimon around, asking, “How long will you be staying?”

“Just for a few days.” Gatomon replies simply, leaning into the affection as she, partly, gives up the tough cat act. 

“I have a school trip, which is just overnight, but a few friends and I will be touring for another night. So take good care of her while I’m gone, or I won’t forgive you!” Hikari takes on a more serious expression, pouting at her brother. 

“Of course! I’ll pamper her even more than you do!” Taichi laughs as a waitress comes by. They give her their orders and eat peacefully, casually talking in between bites. School, friends, gossip, previous adventures, a little bit of everything, until their lunch breaks end. 

“What a shame, Onii-chan; I have to go pack. Again, take care of Gatomon! And Gatomon? Feel free to tease Onii-chan as much as you want!” She laughs, kissing the two Digimon’s heads and her brother’s cheek before squeezing him as tight as she can in a hug, which he returns. The three of them then waved her off as she parted. 

“Alright , Gatomon, Tentomon, let’s run some errands before we head home.” Taichi recommends paying for the meal before sliding out of the seat. 

“I have no objections.

“Let’s pick up a treat for Koushirou-han!”

“Hmm, good idea. They’ve been rather stressed, right?” Taichi grins and pats the heads of his companions, leading them off on their new adventure. 

After a rather uneventful but pleasant time, Taichi returns with some groceries and Digimon in tow. Tentomon immediately goes for Koushirou’s office as Gatomon checks the place out. 

“Looks nice, not as dingy as your old apartment.” Gatomon observes, quick to lay down, and starfish lazily. 

“Well, when your partner makes so much, it’s easy to upgrade.” Taichi smiles warmly, proud of Koushirou’s accomplishments. 

“Hmm, and what about you?” Gatomon questions, sitting up now that the topic has piqued her interest.

“Well, I’m focusing more on school, and...”

“Hey, don’t feel ashamed, Taichi. You put your all into what you need to, and that’s what’s important.” 

“Koushirou said the same thing, but...”

“‘But’ nothing; listen to them. They’ve never been wrong before.” Gatomon counters, giving Taichi a stern but caring look. 

With a sigh Taichi nods and agrees, acknowledging how great Koushirou is for shouldering so much. It’s at this moment that he’s reminded of the wrapped package in his hand. It’s a simple box, wrapped in dinosaur wrapping paper, but hopefully Koushirou would enjoy it all the same. Debating on when to gift it, Taichi decides to set it in a drawer and, hopefully, remember to gift it later. 

After checking the time, Taichi decides to pop in to Koushirou’s office, softly knocking so as to not scare his love as he enters the room. 

“Yes, Taichi-san?” Koushirou smiles up at him, their soft eyes and sweet lips drawing Taichi in to plant some kisses. He begins to get greedy, kissing deeper before Koushirou softly pushes Taichi away. 

“You know my one rule,” they say simply, pointing to a curled up Tentomon taking a nap, “no funny business in front of the Digimon.” 

Taichi nods and sighs, keeping his hands mostly to himself while giving his partner tamer affection, resulting in a firm shoulder massage.

“Still working even on a Sunday?” Taichi questions, looking over to the screen but just seeing garbled-looking lines of text and graphs. No wonder Tentomon fell asleep.

“Someone found a zero-day in our SSL protocol implementation, so I’m patching and pentesting our services just to be sure we’re no longer at risk.”

“This couldn't result in another Diaboromon, can it…?”

“If it could, do you think I’d be so casual? I’d have called up every Chosen in the world to be on standby as we get Daisuke-kun and Ichijouji-kun to handle it.” They respond practically, eliciting a nod and sigh from Taichi. Koushirou, sensing their partner’s emotions, firmly holds his hands in their own, massaging them. 

“You’re still doing your best, Tai; please don’t forget that.” Koushirou says tenderly, smiling up at their partner once again. Taichi returns that smile, still unsure but happy to be believed in. However, Koushirou must soon get back to work, and Taichi leaves to study before starting dinner. 

While it was a difficult task, Taichi did successfully get Gatomon to let them have salmon tomorrow, as they already had it yesterday. Instead, today, given the cooler weather, Taichi decided he’d prepare sukiyaki, or hot pot beef and veggies. However, Koushirou wasn’t there at his usual time, which was just after 5 PM. Taichi makes his way to the office quickly, worry building as he opens the door to reveal... Kou, just sleeping in their chair.

Taichi lets out an audible sigh and softly prods the genius awake, kissing their forehead as they wake up. 

“Rise and shine, beautiful; it’s time for dinner!”

“Mhhh… I haven’t even had breakfast yet though…?”

Taichi just laughs again and kisses them on the lips, handing Koushirou their water to help wake them up. And now, with a groggy Koushirou in tow, it was time to eat together. 

Koushirou casually greets Gatomon, who returns the greeting. After interrogating Kou on how they weren’t surprised, he was informed that Hikari texted them last night. With a pout, he accepts the answer, earning him a peck on the cheek and a thank you for the meal. Now shining brightly, he prays with them before they all dig into the food in their own unique ways. 

Taichi was voracious and saved his favorites for last; Koushirou was meticulously melding their flavors together, while Tentomon enjoyed playing with his food as Gatomon was unable to hide their enjoyment as they ate, devouring the food happily.

Soon, with dinner finished, the two Digimon go to play, Tentomon leading Gatomon to their server. 

Now, with the two lovers alone, Taichi can’t help but cling to his other half. In response, Koushirou laughs and returns the embrace, saying nothing as Taichi explores their waist casually. 

“I’ve missed you today.” Taichi breathes out, feeling his scalp being massaged as he’s held closer. 

“It was hardly even 12 hours since we last had sex; you can’t be serious." They laugh, shy and flattered at Taichi’s insatiability, saying, “At least survive until we’re in bed, okay?” Koushirou bargains, kissing his bottom jaw before softly splitting off. 

“Fiiineee, but instead we’re cuddling on the couch with a blanket on.” Taichi says, the implications clear to the two of them. Quickly they get cozy on the couch and find a good movie, snuggled close and getting very familiar as they watch the film. 

Sooner than they’d like, however, the movie ends, and as they slowly untangle from their mess of limbs, Taichi remembers the gift. Quickly standing, he walks over to the drawer and reveals the box, handing it to Koushirou. 

“What is this?” They say, beginning to slowly undo the wrapping. 

“It’s a gift for all the hard work you do; I bought it using my own money, so it may not be too great, but I hope you still enjoy it.” Taichi says, rocking on his heels as Koushirou goes faster, careful not to make a mess but wanting to quickly see what it is. Soon, all that is left is a brown box. 

Slowly, the brown box is opened to reveal a gorgeous gold necklace with a large onyx, a deep purple contrasted with bright white streaks. Koushirou immediately starts to tear up, grinning softly. Taichi immediately holds his partner, massaging their back as they squeeze tightly. 

“An onyx… It represents the birth constellation of Leo, right? Which just so happens to be the first month of August…?” They say through sniffles, overwhelmed somewhat as Taichi confirms, congratulating his love for their quick thinking. 

“Say, Tai… I suddenly feel a bit tired... Would you like to go to bed…?” Koushirou says, leaning on their love with a deep, meaningful look in their eye, and Taichi doesn’t need to be asked twice, crazy hat addicts be damned. 

@taikouvember

[seventeenlovesthree]

Loved your thoughts on the new digimon adventure pv and Yamatos concept art. I also thought he may have returned to his passion, music, thus the long hair like he had at his "prime" as a musician. But do you have a thought why Taichi looks so angry? Dont get me wrong he looks stunning in this art style (also love how Yamato wears a turtleneck and Taichi presents us his collarbones xD) but in the last picture he looks quite angry. Of course it could be more determined Taichi face? Idk, my first reaction was uh oh why is my boy angry, what did Toei do to him now :(

The fun part about this Yamato being Kakudou's "vision" of him is even better if you think about how Yamato becoming an astronaut was out of pure necessity - and not planned by Yamato in the slightest. Kakudou had posted that part of the lore earlier this year, so the staff of Tri/Kizuna may not even have been aware of it when they made him contemplate "going to space" or walking by a spaceship (or having Takeru comment on it in one of the 02TB dramas). Basically, Kakudou's Yamato would probably have continued going down the rockstar route until him getting into space became necessary...

I stumbled over a wonderful series of Japanese analysis videos today covering a BUNCH of really interesting topics, including the epilogue and Yamato's reasoning behind becoming an astronaut, so I'm highly recommending watching these with auto translation on!

(Other notable topics contain "the top 5 character combinations that get along best", a shipping analysis, the number of times the characters almost died or how much time passes during Adventure - which are all relevant to my personal interest and I am sharing a lot of these views, so this is a great reference guide for me!)

As for Taichi... There are three possible answers I could come up with here:

This is just concept art; Kizuna had plenty of concept art featuring expressions that NEVER even appeared in Kizuna, which is still an absolute SHAME.

Kakudou actually includes the events of Tri/Kizuna/The Beginning in his PV, meaning that this will probably be about Taichi and Yamato being thrown into a critical situation that requires them to fight again (and getting their partners back in the process).

Kakudou is cooking up something entirely new in his personal timeline, which ignores the events of Tri/Kizuna/The Beginning; in a scenario in which Taichi never lost Agumon, it is described in Kakudou's notes that there were a lot of critical aspects until they could all get to their happy end during the epilogue (which is also super nicely outlined in the video above! For example, people using Digimon for war/other evil purposes as the number of people with Digimon increases steadily, thus disrupting the peace that ambassador!Taichi is trying to maintain). So again, Taichi may be required to fight and get super serious...

Here I have the info from a screenshot I took from With The Will back when the lore dropped, so this may explain a little why Taichi fighting might be necessary (ignore to part that is coloured, I just found it funny that Yamato is really getting into space after all).

[otakween]

Digimon Girls Festival (Image Songs)

It's been awhile since I've done a post about "audio-only" Digimon media. Digimon has so many of these!! If you're curious this site seems like a good place to see all the info about the albums out there. Digimon-Basic is where you're going to want to go if you want to download the albums, but most of them are on YouTube too. I gotta say, this fandom is nothing if not super well documented! I'm impressed.

Loving the cover art for this (why do they all look like they're going to different parties though?) As you can see, this is a collection of image songs for all of the girls from Adventure, 02, and Tamers. No Frontier, unfortunately :'( With most anime, characters get 1-2 image songs, with Digimon they get like 5 for some reason (spread across different albums).

Image Songs

Ruki Makino - My Style (Listen here subbed)

A very fitting song for Ruki in terms of the edgy rock n roll style and her singing about wanting to stay true to herself. I found her singing about wanting wings to be pretty random though. I feel like they just stick that in anime songs cuz it sounds cool lol (I think one or two of the other image songs talked about wanting wings).

Favorite line was "I don't want to imitate anyone, I want to be me." I feel like what Ruki is struggling with is that she does care what people think of her a lot (hence her angsty facade) but really wants to break free of that and be her true self.

The lyrics were kinda poorly translated grammatically, but I've tried to translate Japanese song lyrics before...it's super hard. I feel like some things just end up sounding dumb in English and it might be better to go the localization route instead of direct translation (if this were an official thing).

Miyako Inoue - Yamato Nadeshiko Panic (Listen here subbed)

Damn, it's a good thing I know what a yamato nadeshiko is or else this song would seem pretty weird. The subber decided to translate yamato nadeshiko as "japanese woman" which...sort of makes sense but it leaves out so much context. To be fair...it's a tricky one (as I said in the previous bullet, translaton is hard!)

Anyways, this song wasn't super interesting. It was basically Miyako singing about how she wants to be an elegant, "ideal" woman. Low key trad wife vibes lol Nothing wrong with wanting to be a good wife/partner, it's just not something I relate to 😅

I feel like I never fully got a grasp on Miyako's character. The only thing I remember is that she was a fangirl and kinda boy crazy. There was an episode about how she's really outspoken I think?

Sora Takenouchi - Sky-Blue Wind (Listen here subbed)

It seems like a lot of these songs are about not being honest with yourself. It's all very Japanese lol. Sora is singing about putting on a brave face for the sake of her friends. I guess that's fitting since we did see her run away when she was upset in the anime.

She sings that she "likes her role" as the optimistic one...reminds me of Ted Lasso and Waymond from Everything Everywhere All At Once. I can't tell if this kind of outlook is admirable or deeply unhealthy.

Shaochung Lee - My Future (Listen here subbed)

This one was disappointing because I liked Shaochung. It was a super unimaginative song about Shaochung wanting to grow up. Like...I guess that makes sense, but it's a very obvious and lazy choice (with her being the youngest). Maybe she could have sung about her relationship with her brother or Lopmon/Terriermon?

I did think the "I can't see the after-10pm world" line was pretty cute/clever

Hikari Yagami - Reflection (Listen here subbed)

According to fandom wikis, this is a response to the Takeru song Focus which I wrote about here. I still feel weird about these two songs. Why would they depict Takeru and Hikari as a couple when that wasn't in the source material (imo)? I don't remember the 02 epilogue saying anything about them being together! Maybe the image songs aren't canon lol

There's something funny about Hikari calling Takeru's eyes beautiful when I just picture them as generic anime eyes. I guess blue eyes would be something to sing about in Japan. (I actually think Hikari's light brown eyes are prettier).

Juri Katou - The Color of Someday (Listen here subbed)

Sheeesh this one was dark (I mean...to be expected). It sounded to me like Juri was singing about being depressed and anxious, unsure how to live a "normal" life. The color in the title refers to that "normal" future that she wants to achieve.

A lot of the song seemed to be about masking and being afraid to show any vulnerabilities to the world. She also says she doesn't understand what love is or how to love (probably cuz of her crappy parents).

Looking back on it, I kinda wish they had foreshadowed Juri's darker side better in Tamers. She started out as such a goofy, comic relief character that her breakdown felt less real to me (also, I cared less because my brain had already categorized her as "generic background comic relief girl."). If they had shown a tiny hint of a crack in her facade sooner, it probably would have made her more interesting.

Good morning/Goodnight Calls

(These should be easy to find, they're in the same playlist as the videos above)

I don't really know what the point of these are, going to be honest. The album contains random voice lines (around 20 seconds each) of the girls saying good morning and goodnight. It reminds me of those Vtuber voice packs. Personally, I'm a big fan of Japanese oddities like this, but they seem very niche.

I thought the appeal would be to pretend that the characters are talking to me, but in the first voice clip Ruki is addressing her grandma...guess I could pretend to be her grandma lmao

Okay, Sora's wake up/goodnight call literally sounds like waifu bait (very breathy)...which is strange considering she's an elementary schooler. Who was this made for?

Some of these would make decent alarm sounds, if you're into that sorta thing. I think it would get very annoying very fast to have an anime girl yelling at me first thing haha

Sora and Miyako's were so vague and general that they could have been from any series. No mention of digimon or anything like that.

Why is Mimi showing up now but didn't get an image song? Wasn't she the singer of the group!? (Her voice lines were very shrill, my ears are bleeding lol)

Hearing cheerful!Juri after listening to her song feels...uncomfortable

I wonder if these were just improv'd on the spot. I want more backstory.

[dreamieparadise]

OC-tober 2024

Day 5☆. Re-designed OC

@mimiruku tagging you because ofc!

This is a long story, so it'll be under the cut...!

Anyway, so basically, my first long-standing OC was named "Julie." I was a little kid when I created her! Think single digits. I believe 7 years old? Her "face claim" was none other than Rei Hino from Sailor Moon [added quotations because I didn't know that term back then]! Whenever I doodled Julie, it was straight up just Rei. Julie was my stand-in! I suppose a self insert but not quite? The fandom I used her for was none other than Digimon Adventure. I had made all sorts of stories with Julie and the cast! I, like most darker skinned children, wanted to have pale skin and straight hair like Julie! She was my inspiration, my ideal form. So kind, serene and loved. She has so much forgiveness in her heart! But eventually I wanted to see someone that represented me truly. So over the years she transformed, she had my traits...my skin tone...my features...she was more "me"! There are still factors of myself I wrestle with so it's not a perfect representation but even so, she helped me love myself more. This continued until she became "Momina Luqman." More messy, less curated but so perfect to me.

However, Jojo did say I should bring back Julie so I'm thinking of doing that? I have an original universe but I'm still deciding if I'll insert her there or if maybe she'll be a khr oc? Here are things about Julie that I've created so far! [Things have been tweaked since childhood.]

Facts About Julie:

Asian American

5'7''

A figure skater

Slender, long necked, freckled face, purple eyes and black hair.

Julie is kind, serene, graceful and has a soothing disposition. She is someone who is modest and can be prudish but tries her best not to judge. She has a heart that always tries to forgive, is hardworking and tries to maintain a specific image. Julie is someone who is aware she falls into the standard of beauty in some ways and yet lacks in other ways...these "imperfections" bother her. She would rather have fit neatly into the standard but tries her best to work with her appearance. [WIP]

Animal association: swan

If she is a khr oc I would like her weapon to be a fan.

Differences between Julie and Momina:

Julie is tall, slender and graceful. Momina is shorter, chubby/curvy and clumsy.

Momina is an angry person...Julie is far from that.

Julie forgives easier than Momina. Momina can seemingly forgive but her heart is often full of resentment and anger. True forgiveness is hard! It almost feels impossible.

Julie is healthy and always has been! Momina is sickly and has been since birth.

There is def more but this is long and I want to continue working on Julie! I hope I can continue showing aspects of both characters.

[digi-lov]

how do u even start getting into Digimon?? there so much stuff, i dont even know where to begin. like, there is like a hundred shows??? do i start with the first one that came out??

Idk man it just happened??

No, but seriously, don't worry about it! There aren't even that many shows if you ask me. I'll put a list below the cut! I'll list all movies too, so it'll look like more than it really is. Also the dates are the japanese air dates.

Obviously starting with the first season, Digimon Adventure is an easy pick, it also has the most sequels and movies.

But aside from the Adventure related media, all other Digimon Seasons are completely self-contained, and you can just go and watch any! They also all explore "Digimon" and the Digital World in different ways. I personally loved them all.

For the anime I also highly recommend watching the Japanese original. I'm sorry for anyone who grew up with it, but I can barely stand watching the English Dub at all. If you know German though, the German Dub is really good. I still prefer the Japanese original, but the German Dub is at least a translation and not a fan fiction.

The same basically goes for the games. You can just pick any of them up! Also, all Digimon games kind of do their own thing in terms of gameplay and mechanics. There's similarities too, but usually each have their own vibe. A lot of the DS titles do work very similar though!

Anime:

Adventure: Digimon Adventure (Movie) (1999) • Digimon Adventure (Season 1) (1999-2000) Digimon Adventure: Our War Game (Movie) (2000) • Digimon Adventure 02 (Season 2) (2000-2001) Digimon Adventure 02: Hurricane Touchdown!! Supreme Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals (Movie) (2000) Digimon Adventure 02: Diaboromon Strikes Back (Movie) (2001) • Digimon Adventure tri. (6 Movies or 24 Episodes) (2015-2018) Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna (Movie) (2020) Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning (Movie) (2023) [Digimon Adventure: (Reboot) (2020)]

Tamers: • Digimon Tamers (Season 3) (2001-2002) Digimon Tamers: The Adventures' Battle (Movie) (2001) Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express (Movie) (2002)

Frontier: • Digimon Frontier (Season 4) (2002-2003) Digimon Frontier: Revival of the Ancient Digimon (Movie) (2002)

Savers/Data Squad: • Digimon Savers / Data Squad (Season 5) (2006-2007) Digimon Savers The Movie: Ultimate Power! Activate Burst Mode!! (Movie) (2006)

Xros Wars/Fusion: • Digimon Xros Wars / Fusion (2010-2012)

Appmon: • Digimon Universe Appli Monsters (2016-2017)

Ghost Game: • Digimon Ghost Game (2021-2023)

Games: Generally known Games in bold, more obscure or never released in the West in small I also left out most Phone and Smart Phone games since they're shut down

· Digital Monster Ver. S: Digimon Tamers (1998) (Sega Saturn) • Digimon World (1999) (PS1) · Digital Monster Ver. WonderSwan (1999) (WonderSwan) · Digimon World: Digital Card Battle (1999) (PS1) · Digimon Adventure: Anode Tamer & Cathode Tamer (1999/2000) (WonderSwan) · Digimon Adventure 02: Digital Partner (2000) (WonderSwan) · Pocket Digimon World (2000) (PS1) > Pocket Digimon World: Wind Battle Disc (2000) (PS1) > Pocket Digimon World: Cool & Nature Battle Disc (2001) (PS1) • Digimon World 2 (2000) (PS1) · Digimon Adventure 02: Tag Tamers (2000) (WonderSwan) · Digimon Adventure 02: D1 Tamers (2000) (WonderSwan Color) · Digimon World: Digital Card Arena (2000) (PS1) · Digimon Tamers: Digimon Medley (2001) (WonderSwan Color) • Digimon Tamers: Battle Spirit (2001) (WonderSwan Color / GBA) > Digimon Tamers: Battle Spirit Ver. 1.5 (2002) (WonderSwan Color) > Digimon Frontier: Battle Spirit / Battle Spirit 2 (2002) (WonderSwan Color / GBA) • Digimon Tamers: Battle Evolution / Rumble Arena (2001) (PS1) · Digimon Tamers: Brave Tamer (2001) (WonderSwan Color) • Digimon World 3 / 2003 (2002) (PS1) · Digimon Racing (2004) (GBA) • Digimon Battle Chronicle / Rumble Arena 2 (2004) (PS2 / GCN) • Digimon World X / World 4 (2005) (PS2 / GCN) • Digimon Story / Digimon World DS (2006) (DS) · Digimon Savers: Another Mission / Digimon World Data Squad (2006) (PS2) • Digimon Story: Sunburst & Moonlight / Digimon World Dawn & Dusk (2007) (DS) · Digimon Championship / Digimon World Championship (2008) (DS) · Digimon Masters (2009) (PC) [Korea only] · Digimon Story: Lost Evolution (2010) (DS) [Japan only; Fan Translation exists] · Digimon Story: Super Xros Wars Blue & Red (2011) (DS) • Digimon World Re:Digitize (2012) (PSP) > Digimon World Re:Digitize Decode (2013) (3DS) [Japan only; Fan translation exists] · Digimon Adventure (2013) (PSP) [Japan only; Fan translation exists] • Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (2015) (PSV, PS4, Switch, PC) • Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth Hacker's Memory (2015) (PSV, PS4, Switch, PC) • Digimon World -next 0rder- (2016) (PSV, PS4, Switch, PC) · Digimon Universe Appli Monsters (2016) (3DS) · Digimon New Century (2021) (Smart Phone) [China only] • Digimon Survive (2022) (PS4, Switch, PC, XBO)

[bobtheacorn]

2024 Writing Roundup

tagged by @goodlucktai !

Words Posted:

round abouts 25k! i actually worked on AND published more than i did last year! so that's kind of exciting! 2023 was..... ROUGH buddy! 2024 was kinder 😊💜

Additional Words Written:

*gestures vaguely* at least twice that. probably

Fandoms:

Digimon

Rise of the TMNT

Usagi Yojimbo

Sonic the Hedgehog 

Highest kudos + Highest Hit One-Shot:

warmly in the dark taking the W for both!! by like, a LOT lmao not Technically a one-shot but idc

New Things I Tried:

I don't know that i was particularly adventurous this year, at least writing wise. I wrote the same sort of fics for the same sort of characters that i'm always obsessed with lmao Apart from starting (or at least working on) some ambitious (lengthy) projects, I stayed pretty much firmly in my wheel house. But i did spend genuinely most of the year prepping for and then actively moving to a new state so. That's a new thing!

Fic I Spent The Most Time On:

GOD the fic i spent THE MOST TIME ON was that. Goddamn. Leosagi fic…. that still isn't done. When I started splitting it into multiple docs and then into multiple folders to even keep the timeline straight, when I started actively feeling like this guy

any time i worked on it - i set it down lmao. Girl it's not that deep. You are thinking too hard abt all of this. It is a silly self indulgent fanfic you are writing FOR FUN it do not need to be so goddamn pedantic. Sometimes u just gotta let stuff cook a lil longer in your brain before u try and get 'em out and that's fine

Fic I Spent The Least Time On:

meager and infinite, bro the way i sat down and wrote that straight out in like an hour. actually insane to me lmao I'm surprised that i managed to do that with a couple of fics this year, where when i actually had the TIME to just sit and write, i cruised 'em out in just a couple of days! So that's been nice! 💜

Favourite Thing I Wrote:

Soft spot in my heart for pop. I got really nostalgic abt digimon (like I do every 5-10 years lmao) and there was actually a lot of new stuff that came out right around the time my brother and I rewatched it (or stuff had already come out that we got to catch up on)! I feel like Tai got waaayyyy to much attention in Adventure 2020 but damn if he don't live in my mind rent free. my fav guy.

Favourite Thing(s) I Read:

I have so many ao3 subscription emails that i haven't even opened 💀

I know i read You should TOTALLY kill that guy, my liege by waywardwitchcat at least five times bc it's so funny and insane i'm for real obsessed w it aslkdjaslk it just GIVES! it gives Everything so casually, the comfort kinkfic of all time lmao

also (not fanfic related but) I listened to the audiobook for This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone and oh my god Oh my GODDDD if you haven't read it, do it; if you can listen to the audiobook, specifically, DO IT.

Writing Goals for 2025:

Think I wanna try and hit at least 200/400 words a day. I want to buckle down on FINISHING STUFF, and i want to actively try to set aside Actual Time to Write.

New Works:

Pop sequel, project Aster, the "apparently witches hold grudges" series, and oh my GOD the Mariko fic I wrote 5k for and then FORGOT EXISTED until i was just now browsing through my folders 💀💀💀 the brain fog is REAL. anyway, those are where im gonna be putting the brunt of my efforts unless something hits me sideways!

Tagging: @plothooksinc @radishhqueen @sroloc--elbisivni @crows-murder if yall wanna 💜

[pupmon1]

*thinks too much about Digimon and ISAT*

What if I gave Siffrin a BlackGatomon that digivolves into Cyberdramon during act 5. Everyone mistakes it for just an off-color Gatomon, and Siffrin likes it that way. It used to be an impmon, but no one needs to know that...

Loop's Hackmon used to be a normal Gatomon but, alas, when Loop hopped realities it's data got a little fucky.

Bonnie should have a Motimon that digivolves into a Gotsumon...as a treat. It does it when Bonbon is in danger. Or tries to. It can't in-game because it's upset Frin, and BG, got hurt because it couldn't protect Bonnie.

Obviously Odile is getting a Socerimon, look at her. They just go together. He doesn't think staying in Vaugarde is a good idea, but, like his partner, leaving it up to a bunch of rookies is going to cause him indigestion. He's the only one who can freely digivolve into his ultimate form, Wisemon, and back again.

Isa gets a Dorumon. A scrappy little guy who plays into the 'head first into adventure' persona perhaps a bit too much. They used to be a Ryudamon, but they changed as Isa did, and that's okay.

I'm torn on Mira. On one hand, I could give her a Kudamon, it would match the whole holy vibe but I'm not the biggest fan of it on a design front. I don't think it matches the rest of Mira. I think, if I'm giving anything like that to anyone it would be to Euphrasie. No...hmm... Oh I know! I'm going to give her a Patamon! Quite literally the face of an angel, but she doesn't digivolve into Angemon, instead she can warp digivolve into a Piximon. If she went by stages her champion form would be a Unimon, but Mira gets so revved up, especially during that last king fight, she just skips it.

[izzyizumi]

{D I G I M O N} Adventure ~ Ep. 24 {Original J.P.N Version} + KOUSHIRO & MOTIMON x 0801 COUNT-DOWN

"You look like a {small} {B A B Y} 'Mon {that you Are} when you're held like that {by Koushiro}!" - Tsunomon

Digimon Partners Official Twitter, (dm_partners on Twitter) is beginning a countdown for 0801’s Adventure PV 2k24!

Today, Koushiro and "Motimon" {Mochimon} are previewed! {This art originally revealed/shown Jul. 26th, 2k24 for 080124} What is interesting about this one is the art is clearly referenced from Adventure #24, but the scene is supposed to be showing the mains meeting their partners during the events of Ep. 01.

In my personal view, this is Fitting for Koushiro regardless. Before people claim this makes Koushiro "out of character", I'd like to point out Koushiro's genuine care and concern towards Mochimon above, even when Koushiro was very likely achy and waking up from passed-out condition in Adv 24.

Koushiro is showing compassion towards Mochimon in this "new"-old scene because Koushiro is and always was caring and compassionate, even if Koushiro doesn't always show it well at first. (+This is 5 whole episodes before we even learn Koushiro's backstory about Koushiro being CANON A D O P T E D.)

Personally, my favorite interactions between them was actually also from the (if condensed) official Novel version, (also written by Hiroyuki Kakudou and Koushiro's main script-writer, Hiro Masaki, who also contributed at least 1/3rd of the amount) and even there, by the time they began walking, Koushiro was actively asking Mochimon "all sorts" of "{Q U E S T I O N S}" about the Digital World and the true nature of those living there.

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[weaselandfriends]

The Making Of: Cleveland Quixotic

I. Context

After I finished Chicago in 2019, a powerful and persistent fatigue gripped me: the fabled "burnout." The next two years would be the least productive of my literate life. As one day ebbed into the next, I wondered if I would ever be able to write again. I thought of Andrew Hussie, who, after years of feverish activity on Homestuck, seemed now capable of only short spurts of creation, heavily assisted by amanuenses.

It wasn't an issue of knowing what to write. I had been developing the idea for Cockatiel x Chameleon since 2015. I knew its plot, characters, scenes, themes. But when I tried to manifest it into reality I felt drained. What I managed to scrawl was junk, far below my standards. Goaded by a lurking terror of infinite lassitude, I forced myself to blurt 60,000 words of an initial draft; loathing it, I scrapped it entirely.

That was when I got the idea to write a "fun" story.

My vision for Cockatiel x Chameleon was technically complex and emotionally demanding. Maybe something simpler, a straightforward adventure, would be a stepping stone to recovery. I thought back to Fargo, which I had written (unlike most of my works) with relative ease and minimal forethought. How could I emulate that experience? What made Fargo so easy compared to Chicago and Cockatiel x Chameleon?

After reflection, I concluded that Fargo was, at its core, a revenge story. Revenge stories are older than dinosaur dirt. They are fundamental to human experience, easily understood, all structure inherent in their premise. The hero, wronged, seeks revenge on the villain. From that sentence alone you understand the protagonist's motivation and the plot's direction: trending inexorably toward final confrontation. With such a powerful core, it'd been easy to add details and complications to Fargo as they popped into my head, without warping the story's innate trajectory.

If I wanted another "easy" writing experience, I decided, I needed a similar type of story. Something with a clear premise that removes the burden of planning. A "template plot," where beginning/middle/end is fundamentally present and the writer merely adds their own spin. It took little time to think of such a story type. After all, it had been ubiquitous in Japanese media for the past decade. Not only was it popular with readers, it was appealing to amateur authors; many of its biggest examples originated as web fiction.

I decided I would write an isekai.

II. The Isekai Genre

A person from the real world is transported to a fantasy world.

Not quite as old as the revenge story. Nonetheless, this narrative concept has existed for over 100 years. The premise immediately informs the challenges the protagonist will encounter. They will adapt to a world they know little about, introduce knowledge from modern Earth society, and rise in power and prominence. Toss in a Demon King hellbent on world domination and you get a clear narrative climax. The details can be changed nearly any way without issue.

(Or so I thought.)

In retrospect, I myself was being transported to a new world. If we ignore The Chronicles of Narnia or The Pagemaster or Digimon Adventure and focus solely on the contemporary isekai genre (say 2012 on), which is what I intended to emulate, my experience extended to only the following titles:

1. Sword Art Online

2. Log Horizon

3. No Game No Life

4. The Saga of Tanya the Evil (or Youjo Senki)

5. KonoSuba

This is not only a pitiful sample size, but a specifically poor representation of the genre. Sword Art Online and Log Horizon exist in their own subgenre—trapped in a video game—and have many oddities unseen in more traditional isekai. No Game No Life and Tanya the Evil are "real" isekais, but both have unique worlds that eschew most traditional fantasy elements (especially in Tanya's case). And KonoSuba is a parody.

Nonetheless, I felt that, via cultural osmosis, I "understood" the isekai genre. Based on a few video essays I once watched that roasted dreck like Trapped in Another World with a Smartphone, and reverse engineering KonoSuba's parody, I conceived an impression of isekai as wish fulfillment: A loser gets another chance at life, often with some boon to ensure they don't muck it up this time. They become the hero, triumph with their strength and modern intelligence, and meet lots of attractive women.

I smirked. Heh, I thought. What if I made an isekai... that wasn't wish fulfillment! Truly novel. Let us take the premise of KonoSuba—a benevolent god gives a loser a second chance in a fantasy world—and turn it on its head. Instead of a benevolent god, what if the main character was sent by... a devil? The loser protagonist makes a Faustian bargain to become a hero. They get exactly what they wish for, except they're still a loser at heart, and inevitably bungle everything due to their own social incompetence.

That was the flashpoint. Ideas came together quickly, exactly as I hoped. Soon I had a narrative. It went like this:

III. The Original Idea

Our protagonist is a bumbling failure who lives with his mother. One day he sees an advertisement for a devil's wish-granting service. Being a fan of isekai anime, he goes to the devil and wishes to be sent to another world, one where he'll be the most powerful person. The devil, a sleek and professional businesswoman, agrees to the unusual wish, but pushes the work of actually creating the world to an overstressed, chain-smoking intern. The intern cobbles the world together in a matter of hours and our protagonist embarks on his journey.

He arrives to find the human kingdom besieged by the Demon King's army. The humans are outnumbered; total defeat is imminent. Just as he wished, though, the protagonist possesses incredible power. He charges into the fray, destroys the demon army singlehandedly in instants, and slays the Demon King himself soon after. The protagonist enters the human kingdom hailed as a hero.

Soon, the Human King emerges from his castle to express his immense gratitude. He offers the hero anything, including his daughter's hand in marriage. The hero takes one look at the princess―named either Mayfair or Viviendre, I wasn't sure which―sees she is exceedingly beautiful, and eagerly agrees. He's gotten exactly what he always wanted!

Unbeknownst to him, the king is a schemer. Advised by two strange beings—the rotund fairy Tetzel and the living plant Tintoretto—the king believes the hero is too popular; the people would side with him if he sought the throne. The king offers his daughter not in goodwill but to tie the hero to his side. His ultimate goal is to control the hero's power to imperialistically expand his kingdom.

Meanwhile, the princess has her own schemes. She's a lesbian and has zero intention of sleeping with the hero. In a comic scene, she gives the hero excuse after excuse why they can't sleep in the same bed despite being married; the hero naively buys it. Eventually he catches on, but while he's upset by the situation, he's too morally upstanding to do anything but accept it. (This would be a recurring theme: The hero could use his strength to force people to do what he wanted, but constantly shirks from doing so because he refuses to act in a way unbecoming of a hero. His morality and desires exist in a constant state of push and pull.)

Eventually, the hero and his wife compete for the affections of various female characters, with the wife always winning. Temporary the elf was part of this subplot: A dimwitted ambassador to be competitively wooed. To keep the hero sated, his wife buys him a female slave to use "as he likes." The hero, possessed of modern anti-slavery sensibilities, is appalled. He instantly frees the slave girl and enters a crusade to abolish slavery in the kingdom. Unfortunately, because he is not particularly smart, when he debates the slaveowners over the evils of slavery they routinely trounce him (using many arguments real-world slaveowners once used). Again, he could use his incredible power to kill the slaveowners, but they're law-abiding members of society. Murdering them would be "immoral" in the hero's eyes despite his staunch belief in the immorality of their actions.

Around this time, the hero finally uses his power for something good and sends gold back home to his financially poor mother. Unfortunately, this charitable act also goes awry when his sister, an IRS agent, thinks his disappearance is a ploy to evade taxes. She gathers a posse: her coworker boyfriend, his two friends (I called them Aaron Van Zandt and Allen Van Langevelde, envisioning an American Psycho vibe), and a private detective. Using security camera footage they track the protagonist's last known movements to a dingy apartment building, where they find the overworked devil intern who created the world and force him to send them there too.

They roll out in a huge SUV: Five people plus the hapless intern, armed with guns and equipment. The king, not wishing to lose the hero, decides he must intercept them before the hero learns of their existence. In a big setpiece-style scene reminiscent of Children of Men, a horde of knights ambush the SUV on a forest road. Arrows fly through the front windshield, killing the boyfriend (passenger seat) with an arrow to the neck and wounding Aaron Van Zandt (driver). The SUV crashes into a tree and the sister flees on foot, followed by Allen Van Langevelde, who has barely spoken before then but who now reveals themselves to be a badass marksman as they dispatch knight after knight with efficient hunting rifle shots. The private detective is wounded in the leg and forced to remain behind, while the devil intern cowers in the backseat. Aaron Van Zandt limps out of the driver's seat and attempts to follow Van Langevelde, but a knight on horseback rushes past him and knocks him down a steep incline, where he smashes his head on a rock and seemingly dies.

The knights surround the vehicle. The private detective fights back, but is overwhelmed and killed. The devil intern is captured to be burned at the stake later. The sister and Van Langevelde escape on foot, but without the intern, they can't leave the world. They need to rescue him before he is executed. Meanwhile, Van Zandt, clinging to life, is discovered by fairies and brought to their court.

And then...

IV. The Problem

And then I got stuck.

First, it should be clear by now that I did not actually have a plot. I had a series of incidents, loosely organized. Vaguely I knew the main character would work to overcome his social ineptitude and ultimately truly succeed, accomplishing the character growth his get-rich-quick Faustian bargain could never provide. But nothing came together in a coherent structure. Despite my intention to stick to a template plot, I instantly destroyed the template by killing the Demon King in the first chapter. I still had character conflicts and ideas to pursue, but no actual story.

Plus, the main character being a loser made him—well, a loser. Even if he eventually grew, he still ate shit again and again before vanishing entirely from the big action setpiece.

So my original idea of quickly and easily constructing an isekai plot hit a roadblock. Luckily, it was now 2021. After two idle years my fatigue seeped slowly out of me. Finally I regained my energy; I no longer needed to write a "fun" story. I decided to shelve the isekai, potentially permanently, and worked on Cockatiel x Chameleon in earnest.

This time, the draft of Cockatiel x Chameleon―which would be the final draft―progressed acceptably. It consumed my entire focus and I might not have thought about the isekai at all if not for two hiccups. First, though I now had the mental willpower to technically execute my ideas, the emotionally intense material of Cockatiel x Chameleon still left me sometimes wistfully longing for a story not quite so bleak and harrowing. Second, I revisited the isekai genre.

V. The Isekai Genre, Part 2

The anime analysis YouTuber Ygg Studio (formerly known as Digibro) posted a video called Is Mushoku Tensei The Most Influential Isekai? (History of Isekai) that outlined the isekai genre's chronology in Japanese pop media. Watching the video, I discovered some surprising origins to the "contemporary" isekai genre. Though there were many isekai stories―even popular ones―before, the current isekai craze seemingly began in 2012 on a Japanese webfic site called syosetsu.com, where several popular isekai were written in close temporal proximity to one another.

The main titles of note were Re:Zero and Mushoku Tensei—followed by KonoSuba, which was specifically a parody of Mushoku Tensei, instead of (as I once believed) a general cultural conception of isekai. In fact, it was these three works that created the current cultural conception, establishing many now obligatory tropes.

So, I decided to watch Re:Zero and Mushoku Tensei.

I was shocked! As it turned out, my clever and subversive idea―treating the hero as the loser he was instead of as a wish fulfillment badass―had not only already been done, it was foundational to the genre! Both works feature loser protagonists whose social ineptitude constantly causes problems for them despite their cheat mode powers. Both protagonists are forced to develop as people rather than rely on their advantages, and the development of their relationships with the other characters is a crucial consideration of both works.

As it turned out, Trapped in Another World with a Smartphone (which I also haven't seen) wasn't the beginning and end of the genre. I had underestimated isekai. In retrospect, the languid existence of my 2019 and 2020 led to me ironically attempting the same cheap wish fulfillment of my imagined isekai protagonist. I wanted a "fun," "quick," "easy" story and intended to use isekai for that purpose, the same way an isekai protagonist assumes being sent to another world is an easy way to becoming a hero.

It was time to return to the planning stage. This time, I wouldn't take things for granted.

VI. The Original Idea, Part 2

First, I revisited my protagonist. Originally an afterthought: a punching bag who failed whenever he exhibited any agency. I decided on another direction. My hero wouldn't be a loser by incompetence, but by choice. He would be clever and intelligent, but unwilling to apply himself. He wanted a new world because the original didn't seem worth it; too rigid, too structured, too immune to change. His journey would be discovering it wasn't the world holding him back, but himself. Believing nothing could be changed, he stopped himself from changing. Thus, Jay Waringcrane came into existence.

Earlier ideas were remixed around this new protagonist. I merged the devil boss lady and the devil intern into a single character, a semi-hapless sort for Jay to outwit. That was Perfidia Bal Berith. The hero's sister, whose subplot originally lacked any connection to him, now became a foil to his ideology. She exhibited utter faith in the "real world"—its mechanisms, its processes—and applied herself diligently to maintenance of its status quo. That was Shannon Waringcrane.

Still needed a plot. Since my hero was no longer a social bumbler, I discarded the original beginning where he annihilates the Demon King's army and toyed with a new idea. The human kingdom, besieged by the Demon King's army, becomes aware via prophecy that a hero is about to appear in their world. The king sends a party led by the gallant prince to find the hero and bring him safely to the kingdom. When Jay arrives, he meets the prince and his crew, but they are immediately beset by demons, who kill most of the party and grievously wound the prince. Jay, the dying prince, and the sole other survivor―a taciturn, dark-skinned mage named Viviendre who is secretly the prince's lover―barely escape. The prince succumbs to his wounds shortly afterward, leading to an emotionally-charged moment in which Viviendre laments his death and blames Jay for causing it. Leading to an adversarial relationship between Jay and Viviendre that, after much character development, would eventually turn into romance.

Then Jay would lead the kingdom against the Demon King, constituting the main plot.

This idea improved on the previous in several ways: exciting start, high drama, and a long-term goal. However, as I became more engrossed in this project, I came to dislike the "default fantasy world" I'd used as my setting thus far. When my goal was "quick and easy," the Dragon Quest-inspired medieval fantasy tropes sufficed. Now, they struck me as banal. In particular, a generic "Demon King" villain disinterested me (which was why I summarily disposed of them in the idea's first iteration), so even if it outlined a clear direction, it wasn't a direction that enthralled. I realized that to continue, I needed to do some worldbuilding.

VII. Worldbuilding

I dislike worldbuilding.

I prefer the real world―or the real world distorted by urban fantasy and surrealism―to an entirely fictitious fantasy world. In writing an isekai, I had wanted to maintain the connection between the real world and fantasy world (hence why one of my earliest ideas was for Shannon and her cadre to follow Jay in a modern vehicle with modern weapons). But by relying on stock fantasy tropes, I only exacerbated the core issue. I decided to think deeply about my setting and design it to both stand out and clearly relate to our world.

To determine a deeper connection between fantasy and related, I pondered the historical development of the fantasy genre, from chivalric romance to Tolkien. (I collected my thoughts into this essay.) Tracing this lineage, I considered writing a fantasy world modeled on Arthurian and Carolingian romance. Then I took the idea deeper. Much of the early modern fantasy genre, up to and even to an extent including Tolkien, was rooted in nostalgia for an imagined and idealized past. Many pre-Tolkien fantasy works were born out of Victorian fascination with medieval Europe, as evidenced by the Waverley novels by Sir Walter Scott, the Arthurian poems of Lord Tennyson, and the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The original isekai, Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, parodied this idealized medievalism (Twain blaming Walter Scott specifically for the genteel Southern culture that propagated slavery and rendered the Civil War inevitable).

Then I realized that, 200 years before this nineteenth-century craze, there was another major literary work that parodied excessive love of chivalric romance: Don Quixote.

As soon as I made that connection, everything clicked. Rather than Perfidia whipping up a new fantasy world on demand, she would reuse one she created in the 1600s for a Don Quixote-esque figure. Rather than Spanish, my Don Quixote would be British, a royalist in the English Civil War seeking escapism in face of the collapse of monarchy. Pursuing standard chivalric romance activities, he would overthrow a corrupt Catholic church analog, slay a few dragons, and war against a Pagan nation that he later converted to Christianity.

What happened to this world 400 years after Don Quixote used it as his playground? I imagined the ex-Pagan nation a vassal to the Christian nation, while secretly plotting an uprising. Don Quixote's descendants, legitimate or illegitimate, grasping to maintain control in face of their weakening bloodline. Dragons hunted to extinction. A stasis that prevented sweeping change without the intercession of a true human, yet gripped by slow decay. Prayers cast for a new hero to save them from this stupor.

I also wondered how the Christians of this world reckoned with a Christianity whose foundational text is clearly meant for a different world entirely. While Don Quixote's scion, still ruler, promoted the religion uncritically to maintain their grip on the culture, underground grew a nihilist cult that believed nobody in their world was saved, that Christ died on Earth and thus only cleansed Earth's sins. All of this intermixed with the same historical devolutionary forces that ended feudalism and gave rise to mercantile oligarchy.

That was the world Jay Waringcrane entered. A world rife with thematic potential. Finally, a plot was forming.

VIII. Starting the Story

This last stretch of planning happened quickly. (Evidenced by traces of the earlier idea remaining in Cockatiel x Chameleon, specifically in the brief descriptions of the in-universe isekai from which Temporary the elf hails.) Rather than fight a Demon King, Jay's mission would be more chivalric in nature; he would rescue a princess from the evil wizard who led the heretical cult. Liking my earlier idea about the princess who first seemed like an ordinary damsel but turned out to ulterior motives, I decided for an end-of-arc twist where the princess secretly worked with the cult all along. Thus, Princess Mayfair came into existence. For the evil wizard, I reused one of the original king's advisors, the living plant.

The gallant prince and his secret lover from the second iteration returned as Jay's companions, although I changed the lover from a mage to a ranger. Shannon would still pursue Jay, but I merged Van Zandt and Van Langevelde into a single character named Wendell Noh and cut the private detective entirely, giving the sleuthing job to Shannon's boyfriend, Dalt Swaino. I rearranged the big action setpiece where Shannon's group meets disaster: Instead of fighting knights, they would fight a dragon, and this time, Jay would be involved.

After that, keeping with the chivalric romance aesthetic, I threw some faeries into the mix (I love faeries): the obnoxious Olliebollen, who would play off the more sullen Jay, and Flanz-le-Flore, a mid-arc complication. I also decided to make the cult members monstrous demi-humans with magic powers; the Christian anathema against magic must necessarily make it actively corrupting in this world run on Christian precepts.

On top of these plans, several long-term ideas already bubbled: The eventual introduction of the devil world, Sansaime's pregnancy, Viviendre, a battle with elves, Mayfair uniting the two worlds. The ideas flowed one after another now that I established a solid base. Sketchy outlines of the full story stood limned in the distance. I was ready to write.

I decided the work would be published serially at a one-chapter-per-week pace, identical to Fargo and Chicago. That decision was baked directly into my original desire to write a "fun" story. With a serial work, there is less burden of technical execution; the focus is on a fluid pace with regular updates instead of unimpeachable prose. Furthermore, serial writing lends itself to story speculation as readers comment every week, turning the work into a collaborative experience. Some readers of Chicago have told me that the reviews on fanfiction.net are an integral part of the experience, for instance.

When I post serial works, I first build up a "backlog." Essentially, that means I write several chapters ahead of what I'm posting online. The backlog ensures I can regularly post chapters even if one chapter takes longer to write than usual. (I can generally write a 6,000- to 7,000-word chapter in one week.) For this work, I decided to complete four chapters before posting the first. This generous backlog allowed me to post the entire first arc weekly, without a break prior to the climactic chapter that took two weeks to write.

When establishing the backlog, I also gave myself more time than usual to edit, which allowed me to polish the beginning for a better first impression. I meticulously pruned the first chapter to make the dialogue between Perfidia and Jay as snappy as possible while also minimizing exposition. (Originally, Perfidia explained the Seven Princes and their increased quotas in an internal monologue, since I knew they would become important much later in the story, but I cut it for streamlining purposes.) Additionally, I spent a long time deciding when Chapter 2 would end and Chapter 3 would begin; originally, the scene at the beginning of Chapter 3 was at the end of Chapter 2, but I moved it because it better matched the tone and scope of the third chapter. Olliebollen was originally far more in-your-face obnoxious; I toned them down. Lastly, I added the part in Chapter 4 where Jay remembers being beat up by Shannon's past boyfriend, which not only hinted at a soon-to-be-introduced major character, but gave Jay a reasonable chip on his shoulder to cause friction between him and Makepeace.

With four chapters completed, I was ready to post. Almost. I still needed a title. The entire time I operated only thinking of the story as "my isekai story." Thinking long and hard, I came up with titles such as American Isekai, The Waringcranes, 144k Angels, and—my personal favorite—Hellbrowned, the last of which I was strongly advised not to use by every single person I know.

(Side note: Setting the story in Cleveland had been an easy decision. It's such a funny city, taking Detroit's tragic Rust Belt decay and removing all grandeur. The Jon Bois video The Browns Live in Hell and the famous Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video sum it up neatly. Setting the story in 2017, the same year the Browns infamously went winless, was also a snap decision.)

Finally, I thought back to Don Quixote, the impetus for much of the worldbuilding, and the title revealed itself.

IX. Writing the Story

Because of my fast-paced schedule, I lacked the luxury to make major changes to my plans as I wrote. I started with a plan for the first arc and scattered ideas for the future. As I wrote the first arc, I planned the second, and as I wrote the second, I planned the third.

Room remained for tweaks, though. Each time I write a story, I try to do at least one thing outside my technical repertoire. This time, I wanted more flexibility in my characters. I usually only introduce the bare minimum necessary, and aggressively cut or merge characters to reduce the total number. In Cockatiel x Chameleon, however, some commentators criticized how the Consortium's limited number of characters gave the impression it was as dead and empty as Harper's real life. While that impression doesn't necessarily conflict with the story, it did expose limitations to my economical approach.

I dislike having limitations. (Unfortunately I have many.) Thus, I decided to write more characters whose storylines were not plotted from the onset, characters I would develop spontaneously as the story progressed.

An example is Lalum. I introduced Lalum in Chapter 5 as an enemy with a unique power for Jay to fight. Zero subsequent intent for her at the time. Then I realized her power would interact well with Flanz-le-Flore's, so I kept her around for that fight as well. When Lalum is attacked in the Flanz-le-Flore fight, I was 50/50 on whether she would live or die. However, a friend reading the story really liked her and wanted her to live, and I realized it might streamline the plot if someone was around to point Shannon and her crew in Jay's direction.

Having spared Lalum from death twice, and also conceptualizing more concretely the second arc—including Viviendre's role in it—I decided I had a use for Lalum after all. I conceived of Viviendre and Lalum being foils, envisioning their eventual confrontation in the last arc. Thus, Lalum went from monster-of-the-week to major character. To a lesser extent, characters like Theovora were introduced offhandedly, and while they did not become major characters, I found small uses for them later.

Speaking of Viviendre, that was another challenge for myself. With her, I wrote something I wouldn't normally: A romance. Cockatiel x Chameleon, believe it or not, was originally intended to be a straightforward romance, but I found myself incapable of writing one and pivoted to its current direction. Nestled within the sprawling undertaking of Cleveland Quixotic, the romance between Viviendre and Jay was my attempt to write two people who genuinely liked each other. Their three-chapter mini-arc in the middle of the story moves at a more lax pace than usual, but allowed me to develop a relationship I otherwise wouldn't have been able to.

In general, Cleveland Quixotic is larger than my other works. More characters, more plot threads, more locations, more everything. Though Fargo and Chicago are also large, they operate in a more enclosed and linear space. My thought process with Cleveland Quixotic was to open up and express that feeling of world-spanning storytelling the fantasy genre is so known for. It pushed my limits, but I accomplished that goal more than in any previous work.

The real challenge is, once you go big, how do you reel it back? So many of the isekai I mentioned remain ongoing, proceeding through arc after arc without end in sight. Today's most notable ongoing fantasy literature, George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, is likewise mired in endless expansion the author seems incapable of curtailing. On RoyalRoad, it's easy to find million-word works with early reviews uniformly positive, but recent reviews expressing a new sentiment: "Dropped after nothing happened for the past 200 chapters."

Above all else, I wanted to avoid that trap. My solution resided in the second arc's climax, which I developed midway into writing the first arc. Uniting the two worlds made it natural for all the distinct groups of characters to join up for the finale, tying every plot thread together. As such, I cultivated multiple storylines in the long and less immediately plot-focused second arc, secure in my knowledge of how it all eventually connected.

Even so, at times it grew overwhelming herding so many characters. Many characters wound up less prominent than I initially intended, sacrificed for the good of the overall pacing. Fortunately, few characters wound up utterly vestigial, and those that did were minor. (There's no worse feeling than a character given loads of screentime and dialogue only for them to end up inconsequential when the curtains finally close. Homestuck reeks of it.)

A few miscellaneous changes that occurred while writing:

I intended for Viviendre's brother, the "mad king" of California, to appear in the final arc, wielding ten relics for an epic duel with Jay. Given the large amount of characters already prominent in the story, I cut him.

I intended for Sansaime to die at the end of the second arc and for Avery to live. This was mainly because I wanted Jay and Shannon to have a cathartic moment with Avery in the final arc (Avery still would have died afterward). I realized that, using Pandaemonium, I could have that cathartic moment anyway, and Avery wound up saving Sansaime's life both outside and inside the story.

On the flip side, I originally intended for Mallory to die at the end of the second arc, but decided I wanted her and Mayfair to have a climactic conflict, which could only be done if Mallory were still alive.

I intended to kill off the minor character Gonzago of Meretryce the entire story, probably by having him jump in front of Shannon to take some attack or another. I never found a way to work it in, and I feel like the actual use I got out of him in the climactic fight, though minor, was far more unique. I likewise considered killing Mademerry by having her take an attack for Mayfair, but I prefer her current ending. I did not intend to kill Pythette, but found at the last moment it would be more convenient if she died.

Beyond that, I wrote the story generally according to plan. Leaving aspects of my plans malleable meant I could write quickly without needing absolute certainty in the precision of every line and action. Only in Chapter 45, the climactic chapter with Beelzebub and Moloch, did I sit down and carefully outline what each character would do at each moment in the chapter. (The chapter's seven-minute time limit made such meticulousness essential.) Otherwise, even in other climactic fights, I relied only on general ideas about what should happen and when.

Ultimately, I successfully completed the longest story, with the largest number of characters, I'd ever written. It pushed my limits, but in a way that didn't leave me gasping for air. Instead, I feel ready and eager for my next story. What'll it be? I have an idea and I've already begun research. I hope to start writing it by the end of the year, and publish it by mid-2024. I'll let you know more as things become more concrete.

X. Names

Before I end this post, a few name origins.

Perfidia Bal Berith: As mentioned in the story itself, "Bal Berith" (or Balberith, Baalberith, et cetera) is a false idol mentioned in the Bible. It is also a demon of the Ars Goetia. My familiarity with the name primarily comes from a weapon used in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

Olliebollen is based on oliebollen, a Dutch pastry.

Mayfair is the name of a character in Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya, the first video game I ever played. Her middle name, Lyonesse, is a character from Arthurian legend.

Makepeace came from an attempt to make a name that would pair well with Mayfair. My primary knowledge of the name comes from British author William Makepeace Thackeray. His middle name, Gaheris, is an Arthurian knight.

John Coke's name was modeled on the character Wicks Cherrycoke in Thomas Pynchon's Mason & Dixon. I only found out after I posted the first chapter that John Coke was the actual name of a person involved in the English Civil War notable enough for a Wikipedia page. I was more than happy to pretend this incredible serendipity was actually my plan all along.

Sansaime's name was modeled on the characters Sansloi ("without law"), Sansfoi ("without faith"), and Sansjoi ("without joy") in Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, which was the primary inspiration for the romance elements of Whitecrosse. "Without love" is also a notable phrase in the visual novel Umineko When They Cry.

Whitecrosse's name also comes from The Faerie Queene, being modeled on the Redcrosse Knight, an allegorical representation of England (with its red cross flag).

Many names in Cleveland Quixotic have an "allegorical" sense, being words that suggest a clear, often moral meaning. Charm, Charisma, Mayfair, Makepeace, Mademerry, Theovora ("god eater"), Condemnation, Obedience, Tricia (short for "patrician"), Meretryce ("meretricious"), Mordac ("mordacious"), Malleus ("malleable"), Astrophicus ("space plant"), Viviendre ("life ender"), Perfidia ("perfidy"), and so forth. These allegorical names are a play on The Faerie Queene being an allegory, although many of the names in Cleveland Quixotic are not an accurate representation of their character, indicating the breakdown of allegory and thus clear moral meaning.

California is the name of a location in Amadís de Gaula, Don Quixote's favorite romance.

Dalton Swaino is the real name of a semi-pro League of Legends player.

Wendell Noh's surname comes from a professional League of Legends player. His given name is the name of a character in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.

Kedeshah is a Hebrew word that possibly refers to sacred or temple prostitutes.

Ubiquitous is an ordinary word with a clear meaning, but its abbreviation, Ubik, is a Philip K. Dick novel that was also the name of one of the demons in Berserk.

The Seven Princes, rather than refer to the traditional Ars Goetia representations of the Seven Deadly Sins, are pulled from John Milton's Paradise Lost, which was the primary inspiration for most devil theology.

Flanz-le-Flore is a corruption of Blanchefleur, a name that appears in a few romance legends.

Lalum is an alternate translation of Larum, a character in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.

Pluxie is a feminization of a semi-pro League of Legends player's screen name.

Tintzel is a corruption of the character's original name, mentioned earlier, which was taken from historical corrupt priest Johann Tetzel.

Jreige is the surname of a semi-pro League of Legends player.

Justin "Just" Vance is a play on J.D. Vance, an Ohio politician.

Temporary, one of the earliest names that persisted into the final form of the story, is modeled on the elves in No Game No Life, who have names like "Think" and "Feel."

The other names in the story do not have any particular meaning or genesis.

XI. Conclusion

I believe that covers the generation of Cleveland Quixotic from beginning to end. If I missed anything, or if there's anything you want to know more about, please send me an ask and I'll be certain to answer. Thank you again for reading and stay tuned for my next work!

[digimonarchive]

Taichi Yagami/Tai Kamiya and Agumon on Music CD covers

1st pic = Taichi, Agumon and Greymon in Butter-fly single for Digimon Adventure (NEDA-10001)

2nd pic = Taichi, Agumon and Greymon in Butter-Fly ~Strong Version~ (NECM-12161)

3rd pic = KOJI WADA DIGIMON MEMORIAL BEST-sketch1- (NECA-30335)

4th pic = Best Partner 1 Yagami Taichi and Agumon for Digimon Adventure 02 (NECA-13001)

5th pic = older Taichi, Agumon and Greymon on Butter-Fly Music Library (FEME-5)

6th pic = older Taichi and Agumon in Digimon Adventure Tri version of 'Butter-fly Single' (NECM-10231)

7th pic = older Taichi and Agumon in Aikotoba Single (Type-A/NEZM-90015)

8th pic = KOJI WADA DIGIMON MEMORIAL BEST-sketch2- (NECA-30336)

9th pic = young adult Taichi and Agumon in Kizuna version of Butterfly Single (NEZM-90017)

10th pic = Taichi and Agumon in Mikakunin Hikousen single for Digimon Adventure 2020 the reboot version (COCC-17780)

[themattress]

How Toriyama/Toyotaro salvaged "End of Z"

Let me start this post with a personal confession that may or may not be unpopular: I have very little interest in Dragon Ball DAIMA. I have slightly more than I used to after Akira Toriyama's death since I am naturally curious to see what the last Dragon Ball related material he ever produced is like, but otherwise it still looks like just a different take on Dragon Ball GT, my least favorite Dragon Ball series, except that more characters than just Goku turn young and it's the Demon Realm that's being explored instead of space. It also doesn't help that the head writer, Yuko Kakihara, makes me nervous - she's done fine work as an episodic script writer on anime such as Fresh Pretty Cure, My Bride is a Mermaid, and Pokémon Journeys, and she was fantastic as the head writer of IRODUKU: The World in Color. But in terms of shows closer to what Dragon Ball DAIMA seems like, she was head writer on that god-awful Stitch anime that Disney stupidly allowed to be made. Worse still, she was the writer of Digimon Adventure Tri. So you can understand why I have reservations.

Point is, I consider Dragon Ball DAIMA to be a sideshow, regardless of what its merits may end up being. For me personally, it's the manga/anime trilogy of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super that really counts the most. And as tragic as the circumstances behind the end of Toriyama's involvement on the latter are, I am highly impressed what he and his mangaka protégée Toyotaro were able to accomplish. With three major steps, they have substantially retconned the notoriously underwhelming ending of the original manga series and DBZ anime, known as "End of Z" among fans, in a way that makes a satisfying closure.

The first step was way back in Dragon Ball Online. Toriyama was involved back then in canonically mapping out the future of the Dragon Ball world, long after Goku, his friends and his family have passed away. And a major part of that was how Gohan, Goten, Trunks and Pan affected that world for the better in their adult lives. Gohan in particular has a masterful end to his long struggle between being a fighter and being a scholar by becoming a scholar on ki fighting techniques, publishing a study that makes it widely possible for humans around the world to master ki control and gain flight and energy blasts. It's a perfect outcome for him.

The second step was through Toriyama's involvement in the new movies and Super series. End of Z now cannot happen the way it was presented in the original manga and anime. There are way too many discrepancies, from character appearances, the lack of certain characters who it would make little sense not to be there, and details like "none of Goku's friends saw him for 5 years before then" which have now been completely contradicted. Obviously the 28th Budokai where Goku meets Uub and takes him under his wing for training is still canon, but that event is now free to transpire in a far more plausible and satisfactory way than the famously rushed, haphazard and OOC way in which it was depicted before.

The third and final step was the last collaboration between Toriyama and Toyotaro in the Super manga. The final three chapters they worked on together were an epilogue to the story of the Super Hero film, actually tying its plot together with the side plot featuring Goku and Vegeta on Beerus' planet. Perhaps responding to prevalent criticisms, the movie had already made a major point of showing how the world can still be successfully defended by the Z Fighters even without Goku and Vegeta being there. And in these three chapters, the point is carried even further by having Goku test what the new generation is capable of, a theme that's even reflected in the final chapter's title, "Passing On To The Future". This completely recontextualizes End of Z. Originally made as a laughable attempt to salvage the "Goku passing the torch" direction with Uub in place of Gohan after Toriyama botched it so badly with him, now it makes Uub only the latest in a large field of fighters that includes Gohan. Now it's Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Pan, even Broly of all people, who are being gathered as Earth's next line of defense once Goku and Vegeta finally expire. Uub will join that group. (Oh, and being Namekian, both Piccolo and Dende will still be around to assist, of course.)

So while the narrative of Dragon Ball may have peaked with the Cell Saga, now the Majin Buu Saga -> Battle of Gods Saga -> Resurrection F Saga -> Universe 6 Saga -> Future Trunks / Goku Black Saga -> Universe Survival Saga -> Broly Saga -> Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga -> Granolah the Survivor Saga -> Super Hero Saga -> End of Z together create a worthier follow-up than just the Majin Buu Saga -> End of Z was back in the day. Certainly not perfect, even when leaving the loose ends out of it (so Freeza's just gonna stay loose out there with a new ultimate form?), but feeling much closer to a fully realized ending.

Thank you, Toriyama. You made it up as you went along right to the very end, but as usual, your remarkable creative talent managed to make it all fit together. You are deeply missed.