*sigh* Where do we begin?
I don't think it needs to be said that 2024 had a lot of problems going down the line. But I thought I could have been ready to handled it. I thought to myself, "I can totally go off the chart with where I'm going, it should totally work!" Instead, I was left with an demon that would torment me down the line. A demon that would ultimately reflect on my life and the decisions that I made. A demon that would tell me to "stop running away and face the truth". You don't realize how hard it was for me to feel this way. Even now, it's hard to do this alone.
So when 2024 began, I started not with my family downstairs watching the ball drop, but with several friends that decided to hang out in the most elaborate place that VRChat has made…and also to disappoint us with this cheese gimmick.
The first few weeks of January was notorious for a number of reasons. For one, it was the peak of my Jackbox activities, which I have mentioned had flourished thanks to the constant game nights held on Akfamilycord and /r/RhythmHeaven's Discord server and me hosting Jackbox on GlitchyPSI's server. However, game nights on Akfamilycord stopped being a bi-weekly thing, /r/RhythmHeaven's Discord was hatching on to different things for game night, and I was getting burnt out and tired from hosting Jackbox. I was also losing a bit of confidence in winning Jackbox games, which is something you're not supposed to think about; Jackbox games are typically not a thing you should go out of your way to win, but I was playing a ton of games at that point, and the pressure kinda gave in for me.
In contrast, I found myself enjoying Lethal Company as I explored planets with a couple of friends, trying to take back goods only to be massacred by Eyeless Dogs. Okay, yeah sure that last part isn't how most days typically ended, but it was how everyone's life working for the company went. I mostly coordinated with others from the screen, alerting them about any goods or enemies to be wary of. And if we didn't meet quota, well, so goes our days living for the company. I had fun playing with Summ and the others, but right after March there were barely any interest by the others to play this game, ultimately killing my mood of ever playing this game any further. Which sucks, because Lethal Company is such a cool game to play through.
I also didn't mention this in my last year in review summary, but I did play The Elephant Collection before the year began, mostly because I was purely interested in this collection of flash games. I kinda figured though that I might have played some of these games in my childhood, but still it was an amazing time to look back on games that were available before Flash came to a sudden halt.
However, it would only a couple weeks into 2024 where things started to fall apart, when one of my dogs died from ingestion of garbage that I had failed to throw out. For a couple of days, I just didn't feel like myself, I just felt like I was responsible for her death, responsible for everything. I know it's cliche to use media to cope with something like this, but after witnessing Towel's marathon of Ghibli movies and his likeness towards a certain film (and having watched The Boy and the Heron last year), I felt like watching Whisper of the Heart. I don't think I was ready for this film. Whisper of the Heart is a romance story about Shizuku and Seiji, but there's more to this story than just a struggle for a girl trying to impress a boy. It's about the struggle of creativity to try to fizzle out the outside world. It took the entire year to debate on whether or not this film hit the spot, but after thinking about it, this was the best film I saw this entire year. Not that any other films disappointed me, they were really good, but Whisper of the Heart stood out to me as a story that taught the value of creating art, and how we should always keep our life in check, because, god forbid it sucks closing everyone out of your life just to work on a novel.
But with Whisper of the Heart came the door opening. After watching every Studio Ghibli movie in their English dub, I also watched them in their Japanese sub, and I started to watch other anime films not by Studio Ghibli, from CoMix Wave Media to Studio Chizu (or Mamoru Hosoda's catalog) and much, much more.
But of course, there was a looming question going in my mind with all this anime going around: was it okay to watch Digimon again? You might be surprised how much I was close, this close, to going full binge-watching the entire Digimon anime but on every corner, it'd be averted as I head towards a different fanbase for which I was interested.
And as expected, I ended up playing a very perplexing, yet absolutely amazing puzzle game Patrick's Parabox, drawing weird shit in Gartic Phone, winning Push the Button for the first time, and playing Minecraft. Once again, @blizzblu's server came back online for me and the others to toy around with, and once again, as I am writing this, the server went back offline. But while I enjoyed reconstructing my home into an elaborate base on the server, I firmly found myself enjoying standard singleplayer Minecraft survival instead. I was out of my way, building an elaborate structure, beating the game, and conquering the ancient city, all the while I was preparing for the Tricky Trials update.
It was also during this time I became conscience of Minecraft's music choices at the time. I enjoyed Minecraft's newer music especially from Lena Raine and Aaron Cherof (especially because of Creator and Precipice), but knowing that C418 has an unreleased third album still sucks given that their dispute is still ongoing, even to Minecraft's 15th year.
And y'know, Minecraft kinda dropped the ball for celebrating their 15th year. Most of the stuff announced were either merch, stuff for Bedrock, or cape cosmetics. The final announcement being a real-life "Minecraft experience" was disappointing. Oh wait, they did announce a Netflix animated show of Minecraft…urm…that's cool. Can't wait for next year's disaster...
In spite of my issues with how Minecraft was treated by Microsoft and Mojang, I was busy watching Minecraft YouTubers such as PhoenixSC, Luke TheNotable, Legundo, and RTGame. Then there was the Naked & Afraid SMP, hosted by rekrap2, Loony, SB737, ClownPierce, Wunba, Mogswamp, NotNotBrock, Yeah Jaron, and minimuka that I really enjoyed. And hey, I sorta did make Minecraft YouTuber history as well by participating in YourMCAdmin's Tricky Trials music video.
Alas, an unfortunate inventory glitch in my singleplayer world followed by what was another vacation, this time to the United Kingdom and Ireland, ended my Minecraft era as swiftly as possible.
During this time though, I spent a lot of time contemplating on my future, if I was willing to commit or fluke out due to stress over the future of my country. I gave a nod to my parents about this, but they weren't interested and wouldn't tire me out about getting my classes. I drowned by problems by watching all of Hazbin Hotel with the lads at /r/RhythmHeaven's Discord, but it still would persist. By the time I came home unforunately not finding Summ, Pix, or Towel, there were still plenty of this talk about college and classes until I had to sort it out by the end of July.
So, in a manner that someone would only imagine their worst nightmares would have, I watched a lot…and a lot of films over the summer into September. Most were Pixar films I had seen before or have never seen. Sprinkles of live-action films were also abundant. For the interest of your sanity, I will redirect you to this Letterboxd list for that mess.
A majority of these movies though were from Mamoru Hosoda, so I had to ask myself again: was it okay to watch Digimon again? I wasn't sure.
I blinded my mind for so long. I tried opening up to a friend of mines that didn't go well. My frustration in Jackbox still persisted, especially when The Jackbox Naughty Pack released and I had a bad time playing Let Me Finish. And I was just…worried about how the future would go. Wanting to leave before the bad things came. I waited with a bated breath, pondering if watching Digimon was even a good idea.
Like, damn man, I haven't seen Digimon for about 10 years from now. During that period I was sorta fucking around the franchise, often with dumb comparisons with Pokémon. I drew Veemon over and over again, without knowing the character at heart. I see fanart of Digimon, most of the time; I have interacted with Wikimon in the past. If you have watched my 2019 and 2020 year in review videos, I had featured Digimon before. So was it fate that I would rind back up the Digimon train, or was it a leap of faith?
I thought about it. I thought everything there was to know about watching Digimon. Listened to "Vapor Trail" by Yumi Arai from The Wind Rises while I contemplated. And then...I look the leap into another world...
To be honest though, I have never watched Digimon Adventure in the original Japanese language. I have heard of it and what might have changed, but my overall experience with the anime was mostly through the dubbed version by Fox Kids and Saban. And y'know, that dub I grew up with, but I feel like I appreciate Digimon way better under its original Japanese version than I would've had I stuck my ground with the English dub. Digimon Adventure was a serene, and yet impactful journey following the seven-turned eight DigiDestined kids trying to survive in a world that wants to kill. I related to Yamato the most, but especially because he had to deal with grief of being separated apart from his loved one, or worse witnessing his friends killed by the big bad guy. However, everyone else had their guns on the table, especially Taichi and Agumon.
In terms of arcs, the journey towards the Eighth Child was really special when the group has to return to Japan and fight the Digimon that have actually invaded the country. Episodes 37 to 39 I fondly remember the most because they were the only episodes I had owned (in their dubbed version), and ones I hold at heart. But I won't forget episode 33 with Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon, nor episode 21 directed by Mamoru Hosoda. Plenty of memorable moments, and I especially will forever be bittersweet by that ending. What a way to cap the anime off. Here's hoping 02 doesn't upset me next year.
And so with Digimon Adventure over came the floodgates for another animated TV series I neglected to watch. 10 year ago, I was on an airplane heading straight for Tokyo for a connecting flight towards Manila, when I looked at my in-flight entertainment to see an episode of this Disney animated show I don't think I have ever seen before. I couldn't bother to pick up however, especially not long after I picked another Disney show Phineas & Ferb. It was not a mistake to pick up that show though, it was a mistake to miss out on Gravity Falls. Holy crap why did I miss out on this show?
Gravity Falls is a phenomenal animated TV show about two twins, Dipper and Mabel, who couldn't have been more different from each other. Spending a summer together under the con-man Grunkle Stan, Dipper mostly fucks around trying to solve a mystery and getting a girl or two, while Mabel horses around. But even with this substance difference, the two siblings still bond for each other, and their friends and family. Especially in the second season where the stakes couldn't be that high for the family. I'm aware some may know most of the mysterious involved, but I will abstain for your enjoyment. Please, if you do watch the show, enjoy it. But remember, there is no one you can trust. :3
And well, that was October. Now it's on to November, where the things I did was Webfishing, a bit of Little Shop of Horrors, some episodes of Over the Garden Wall, I enjoyed Pokémon Concierge and ATLYSS…urm…wait I might have missed some stuff…
...right I took a break...because of him.
Now do you see WHY I was paranoid about this year?
To be honest, I already saw another Trump presidency coming, the shit with Joe Biden earlier this year kinda cemented my fears before it had begun. But given the situation months ago, I thought things would be different. I guess not. Nevertheless, I never really heard the election results until way…way later in the month. Instead before the results poured in, I took a break.
I finished up Over the Garden Wall, a fantastic mini-series that delves into really heavy topics while building quite a world from various historial periods. I watched many movies, the one that stood out to me the most was Memories of Murder, which left me on the edge of the seat…all the time. I mentioned Webfishing and me spending most days finishing my journal for every fish, but I also played the Portal 2 mod Portal Stories: Mel and A Short Hike. I spent my time on Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, which released a year ago, and thankfully my knowledge on Scott Pilgrim from the movie paid off given that knowing the plot points of the movie at least gave me an idea for what the show was gonna pull on me. But was all of this enough to keep me from worrying about everything going around me? After watching Look Back, a movie about appreciating the life choices we made in spite of the terrible paths we take, I realized how much I've ran away from my problems instead of facing it head on, and how…awful it is to stage this fight alone.
So I came back. I feel like taking a mental break instead of watching the election results in real time like I did eight years ago probably saved myself and my sanity, but it wasn't right either to cope. Still better to be with friends than struggle alone against a dictator.
So…with only a couple of weeks left until hell breaks loose, I took the opportunity to finish several games achivements, with The Elephant Collection, going back to Later Alligator, completing Portal 2's Cooperative Testing Initiative with several friends while also capping it achivement-wise. Given my huge Digimon binge earlier, I took the time to watch the mini-series Pokémon Concierge, which I really enjoyed and probably the best Pokémon-related thing I've seen.
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp was ending service right around the time I ended my break, so I made sure to give my regards to the game before it shut down and purchased its successor Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete and played it to death. I was also gifted ATLYSS and Balatro, the latter following several wins at The Game Awards 2024, and though I only spend limited time for both, I enjoyed both games nevertheless for what they represented. Speaking of The Game Awards, they actually awarded the games properly instead of a full sweep. I for sure was happy that Astro Bot won Game of the Year over…Black Myth: Wukong.
And…that's about it for 2024…but something has changed within me. And something is not the same. Honestly though, I think I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game. Yes, while I did spend most of December re-watching movies I saw this year, I couldn't help myself…and decided to watch Wicked just five days before this year ended. Was it a good movie? Yes. And I'm excited for the second part of this Stephen Schwartz classic, standing along The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Prince of Egypt.
But yeah for real, that is pretty much it for 2024. The world has regressed over the years, and I feel like this might be the last time before we get into some serious shit that could either end the world or lead us to a path of oppression. Hence why, in spite of my anxiety, I wish everyone the best to fight for what we want, not what they want. "The wind has risen", they say. "We must try to live." Even if The Wind Rises might not be my favorite movie this year, that quote will stick with me as these next years or so pass by. I need to sort myself out too, so I can succeed and be freed from this mess I made. It will be a tough road for me for sure, but I'll hold hope that I can one day have peace of mind.
One more thing however, this will be the end for these year in review video montages that I have made for these last couple of years. I've thought of this, and having to routinely go through hundreds of gaming footage and movies to select what clips I want to feature is tiring. I realize too that I've grown ambitious with what I want to showcase this year, not to mention my need to record gaming footage inflates my hard drives further and making me unable to properly allocate resources to more necessary things. And it's all the fault of these videos that are meant to be short and fit Twitter's then 2 minute and 20 second video limit. Now that I'm on Bluesky however, it's hard to justify me making such a video when I have huge limitations applied to me. So yes, this is an end of an era. I'm more than happy to continue the tradition of writing my thoughts and posting an end-of-year art, but in terms of video to celebrate the end-of-the-year? I'm done. This was a stupid thing I started back in 2018 because I felt bored one day and wanted to recollect my thoughts in a bunch of music clips sprinkled with video footage. It used to be fun but trying to pull this together now? Worth it, but this ain't fun.
That's not to say I won't post a video to remark on the end of the year like this. But until I figure out what's the best thing to post without resorting to what I did in the past, it's just going to be omitted. I would want to not stress myself when it comes to trying to sort out hundreds of video files.
I do want to thank those who made this year special for me.
Hopefully we don't die or lose our rights in between this year and the next. But yeah…see you tomorrow.
romaincrisis
vaporwave
dailybridgerton
gracieabrams
origamiaround
