#keybladespiritmedia2023

[keybladespirit]

17. The Matrix: Resurrections

I fucking LOVED this movie. So much good stuff in it, perfectly continues a lot of the themes that I liked from the first movie, just overall a really fun experience. Glad I watched it on my birthday.

Originally posted at 8:40 PM, May 31st 2023

[keybladespirit]

Every Piece of Media I Consumed in 2023

Wow! What a year it's been for me watching movies, reading books and manga, and playing video games. I don't know if 50 on the dot is my personal most, but I'm really happy to see just how much I filled out the big stack of TVs that I decided to edit. I'm shocked, like actually SHOCKED that not only was there SO MUCH, but also how much I enjoyed most of it. I even played/watched/read things that came out this year for once. If you want my thoughts on any of it, the full list of links to all of my posts documenting it all throughout the year will be under the ReadMore. So I'll leave you with my 3x3 for the year and if you want details, you know where to look.

Death Stranding

Cyberpunk Edgerunners

Shin Ultraman

Splatoon 2

Parasite

Code Vein

Katana Zero

Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion

Destiny 2: Lightfall

Super Mario 3D Word + Bowser's Fury

Neon White

Bocchi the Rock!

NEO The World Ends With You

Metal Gear Solid

Jojo Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable (Live Action Chapter 1)

Sing a Bit of Harmony

The Matrix: Resurrections

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

I Am A Hero

Jojo Part 6: Stone Ocean

Log Horizon Season 3

Jojo Part 7: Steel Ball Run

Charm Studies

The Twentieth Century World: 1914 to Present

The Mandalorian Season 2

There is No Poverty At the End of Labor (1920)

Pokemon: Path to the Peak

The Million Ryo Pot

The Book of Boba Fett

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Inside Mari

Okaeri Alice

Barbie (2023)

Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse

Adventure Time

Adventure Time: Distant Lands

Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake

Yakuza Kiwami 2

Star Wars Andor

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Death Note

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

Death Note: The Musical

Super Mario Brothers Wonder

Death Note (2006)

Kung Fu Hustle

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Honkai Star Rail

One Piece

Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth

[keybladespirit]

22. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run

THIS WAS GREAT!!!! There's a lot going on in this manga and it got me thinking a lot about how Araki was clearly trying to expanding the definition of what a Jojo story can be. Some highlights:

Lucy Steel is potentially the coolest normie character in the entire franchise up to this point.

I really really like how the villain is very fat-coded early on, but gets less so as it becomes clearer that he's very definitely the bad guy, and it's mainly just just by showing more of his body. It seems really clear that Araki knew what he doing here too because he's drawn in that fat-coded way pretty much anytime the story is communicating something that's actually positive about him.

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap is a really very cool power.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE how Johnny's inability to walk is consistent throughout the story. Anytime he is able to use his legs, it's always explained a way that makes it obviously temporary. It's integrated into the manga in a way that feels like Araki wrote the story with Johnny's disability in mind and that is very very cool.

[keybladespirit]

41. Death Note (Rewatched)

I rewatched this as an opportunity to bond with a new friend who hadn't seen it yet! It was a very fun time and turned out to be even better than my nostalgia addled brain remembered from when I first watched Death Note back in high school.

[keybladespirit]

35. Adventure Time

God what a good show. This show perfectly blends the strengths of episodic and continuous storytelling. I especially liked how later seasons just had little arcs with their own title sequences in the middles. There were a few bits that I thought didn't work well, but the emotional core is resonated with me a lot. Ending is maybe up there among my favorite TV episodes of all time. In a way, it's kind of the modern Last Airbender imo.

[keybladespirit]

34. Spider-man: Across the Spiderverse

This was great! I related quite a lot to most of the stories going on here, and I'm always down for the kind of meta commentary shown here. Gwen's story in particular resonated with me a lot. Honestly can't believe one of my most anticipated sequels in years stuck the landing so hard. Glad this is going to be a trilogy.

[keybladespirit]

32. Okaeri Alice (Welcome Home Alice)

This was great, but also horrifying. Like actually terrifying. Like the premise might sound like it could be a romantic drama or comedy but I think it has is firmly in Romantic Horror. Like, it masterfully played all of my relationship anxieties against me. Each of the three main characters displays one or more of the ways that I'm afraid that I could be a toxic girlfriend and although there's a happy ending, it gets really rough. 10/10 highly recommended, but with content warnings below the cut.

CW: A couple different kinds of rape, sex being used as a means of controlling someone (in a toxic way, not a kink way), sex being used as a means of hurting a third party, self harm, and gender dysphorias of the bodily, emotional, and social kinds.

[keybladespirit]

23. Charm Studies

I LOVE PICROSS!!!!!! This game by @nomnomnamiart was recommended to me by @ghoumyghost! It's good. It's cute. The characters have this really nice picrew-ish aesthetic that the whole game feels built around in a way that I really love! This is probably a very good game for people new to picross puzzles though. These were great, but they never quite hit the heights of picrosses I've done in the past, assumably because this game is made to be short and sweet. It gets about as difficult as a game this long should, imo.

[keybladespirit]

3. Shin Ultraman

Fucking fantastic, as expected from a Hideaki Anno joint. Felt like a perfect follow-up to Shin Godzilla. I love how, like Shin Godzilla before it, this movie focuses very specifically on letting normal human beings solve the most important problems of each act.

Originally posted at 5:25 PM, January 29th 2023

[keybladespirit]

25. The Mandalorian Season 2

I picked this one back up after taking a break from it for a while, but decided to go back because I decided to make a project of watching all the Disney+ Star Wars shows in release order.

This show had so many things that it could have fucked up on massively and yet consistently had just enough restraint to keep from going so hard on the fanservice that it felt corny. It kind of proves to me that even though the Disney canon is in many ways not as good as the Legends canon, it's at the very least a worthy successor to it. I also have some specific thoughts on the season finale, which will come after the read more.

I don't know how they made a season 3 of this because it seems like a perfect ending right here.

Mk3 Dark Troopers have really fantastic sound design. I think even up there with the OG lightsaber and blaster sfx. And it's really cool how their leitmotif seems to be composed with their sfx in mind.

If I had a nickel for every time I've recognized a Star Wars character entirely by their chin, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's funny that it happened twice.

Love that they made Luke fighting the Mk3 Dark Troopers parallel Vader's big scene at the end of Rogue One. It's a very cool way of showing that Luke is following in his father's footsteps, but doing right where Anakin (as Vader) went wrong. Like that's legitimately a really good way of leveraging the soft cinematic universe thing they're going for.

I know it was just a deepfake, but it was legitimately kind of magical seeing young Luke in his RotJ costume again. I think including R2-D2 might have been a tad much, but it was a good moment all the same.

[keybladespirit]

21. Log Horizon Season 3

This show did everything that I value in Log Horizon. The ending arc hit all the points that I felt it needed to and we got a much needed update on a character we haven't seen in a while. I hope S4 happens someday!

Originally posted at 8:14 PM, June 25th 2023

[keybladespirit]

11. Neon White

I expected the frantic speedrunny action. I expected the cool movement system. I expected the charmingly cringy dialogue. I would not in a million years have expected that this game would be everything I loved about Danganronpa too. Might go on my 3x3 for the year.

Originally posted at 10:50 PM, April 5th 2023

[keybladespirit]

9. Destiny 2: Lightfall

I enjoyed this a lot more than most players and, in fact, the hate motivated me to enjoy it even more. I agree with most of the problems people had, they just don't matter as much to me. Strand was a great addition to the game. Nimbus is best thembo.

Also they should have given Nimbus neopronouns instead of singular they/them, but I'll forgive that because their VA did a pretty good job and I respect the willingness to actually give the role to an NB person.

Originally posted at 1:04 PM, March 19th 2023

[keybladespirit]

1. Death Stranding

I got this free from the Epic Store on Christmas Even and liked is even more than I expected! It gave me kinda the same magic as Kingdom Hearts in a lot of ways. Give it a try if you love the story of Kingdom Hearts.

Originally posted at 5:27 PM, January 16th 2023.

[keybladespirit]

50. Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth

This is such a good little metroidvania! I played another game (SMT Synchronicity) by this studio a while back and this one proves to me that they just really "get" what makes this style of game work on a fundamental level. There's some jank in both good and bad ways, but I feel like the fact that I was able to have such a good time without needing any context into the larger Record of Lodoss War franchise is a really good sign. I certainly would have enjoyed the story a lot more if I knew who all these characters were, but the core themes and basic arc of Deedlit's journey hit really well regardless. Highly recommended.

[keybladespirit]

49. One Piece

In December of last year, I resolved to finally catch up on the One Piece manga, and I did! Starting from roughly where I left off in the anime years ago, I read every single chapter in that month.

I'm proud to say that I kept up with it for this whole year and I'm really glad I did! Loving the current arc, very excited to see where it's going next. I hope to have it on the list come the end of next year as well.