CountVonNumenor

Honestly, I feel in the "I no longer care" phase of things, as it's been about a year since I burnt most bridges with watching art online, outside small trips for specific topics and with content blocking options on. Is this just... the acceptance phase?

Thank you for the replies. For the record, I used to play LostWord from May 2021 (release of Global) to March 2024. At the same time, I started playing Azur Lane in May 2023 (my original plan was to start Lantai Collection, but that was not available outside Japan, and i did not want to bother with VPNs or other complications to make the game run in my country - Romania), and I am still playing that game, with no intent of dropping it yet. I have never spent a single drop of real money into them (personal preference of not purchasing stuff in-game), instead trying to donas much as I could with the already given resources - surprisingly, I did more than I expected, and I am satisfied with the results. Therefore, I can't say I don't have any experience with this kind of games. Yes, yes, I know... I have too bigh expectations and disregard the need of the developers to make a profit. They do need the money in order to have the game run, after all.

Well, besides that, I should also talk about the whole Amagami story arc I have been going through since late 2022, which tends to come back every now and then... Until that though, a bit about the (relatively) recently gathered interest in the Godzilla franchise. This is quite a good moment, as the series celebrated 70 years since the original film release not too long ago. It all started in the autumn of 1954... I mean 2023. As I like listening to music, especially military-related music, I ended up stumbling upon the compositions of none other but Akira Ifukube, which I proceeded to listen to for the following weeks. After that, I decided to give a try to the films, so I decided to start with the original 1954 Gojira. I did not expect to enjoy the film as much as I did, so I decided to continue watching the series. That way, I watched the first sequel, the 1955 Godzilla Raids Again, and then I skipped to the 1984 Return of Godzilla. From there, I continued with the Heisei films, which I would say are my favorite overall as a continuity as of yet. Thanks to a friend of mine, I managed to organize two movie nights, in which we ended up watching Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus One. That was my way to introduce him to the series as well (although he feels he's had enough with these films, and there is nothing new that would impress him/would find new or refreshing). Godzilla Minus One is the point where I would like to emphasize something. Instead of talking about the film itself (which I enjoyed a lot, and I would recommend it, perhaps after watching the original 1954 film), I would like to talk about some implications for the new timeline (as we are going to get one more film that most likely will be a sequel to this one, therefore opening a new continuity that is not just one stand-alone film): Given that we will receive a sequel (?) to Godzilla Minus in the future, there was something I've been wondering since I first watched the film - What would the ripple effects of that film be on the development of the Japanese armed forces? As the film is set in 1946-47, there is no JSDF or navy yet, (and as far as we have seen) only a few tanks (destroyed by Godzilla), a plane (also destroyed), and two disarmed destroyers. Unlike the original 1954 film, there is no Oxygen Destroyer in this timeline. The United States cannot get involved due to the increasing tensions with the USSR (after all, we are at the beginning of the Cold War, and the JSDF only came to be in 1950 because of the Korean War), and as nukes are not an option, I wonder what would the Japanese come up with to stop a future attack of a Kaiju of any sort. Small caliber guns did not do anything. Mines had only a marginal effect, and that when blown from inside Goji. Takao was a little more effective at point-blank range, but due to her guns being only 200mm, Godzilla could quickly regenerate again. I wonder how high-caliber battleship guns (350-410 mm / 14-16 inch and above) would have been. It's probably not much better, but still a bit of progress. However, at this point Japan's last battleship (Nagato) was destroyed in the nuclear test that created Godzilla, Takao was lost on her way to Japan, and two of four, albeit disarmed, destroyers were also gone. You can't do all that much with minesweepers. As the Americans cannot intervene directly or transfer forces to Japan, could we perhaps expect the creation of an equivalent of the JSDF in this timeline? I would be curious if we actually saw a new Japanese army, with a focus on firepower, and perhaps a fleet of stronger warships with firepower capabilities comparable to those from the war (if not higher). I do not expect the movie creators to go on the Showa path yet of giving the Japanese Sci-Fi weapons, perhaps a few movies into the future*. For the moment, I do not plan to watch the Monsterverse films, but I might try them after I finish watching the Japanese films. (the original Big Monke vs Lizard) Currently, I have come back to watching the Showa films, and right now I need to watch Ebriah, Horror from the Deep / Godzilla vs The Sea Monster (1966). I need to hold on, the following film will be Son of Godzilla, but at least afterward there is Destroy All Monsters. The films I am most curious about are the two films featuring Mechagodzilla, from 1974 (Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla) and 1975 (Terror of Mechagodzilla). Side note: the 1974 Mechagodzilla jazz theme goes way too hard. *Note: in the Showa films (1954-1975), the first fictional pieces of armament appeared as early as 1955, but those still looked like something that could be built. The first real Sci-fi weapons probably appeared, if we count the other Toho films from the 1950s as part of the Godzilla continuity, in The Mysterians (1958), and made the first proper appearance in a Godzilla film in 1965 (Invasion of Astro-Monster).

IDK how or why, but this evening I came back to Akatsuki Records, after a break of about 1-2 years. Oh wow, now I can remember why I enjoyed them so much back in the day... Listening to one of their Limited Singles from the 2021 album (the song called TICKTACK, linked above), I felt like I went back in time, to the early days of... late 2020/early 2021. Back when I was still new to Touhou, and I was listening to anything new I was discovering. Back when I was listening to the 24/7 ShinRa-Bansho music livestreams as my form of lo-fi while staying under a late curfew and studying for my end-of-high-school exams. COVID had just passed (or was on the way to do so), there was no university at the time, no workplace, yet I was still stuck within the confines of my home and town (both a good and bad thing looking in hindsight). I still had my original drawing tablet, and I was reaching my peak of how active I used to be when it came to creating new drawings and trying out new things; all these while I was listening to music like that of Akatsuki Records and ShinRa-Bansho for inspiration and relaxation. Maybe I should come back to them one day, and catch up with everything I have missed in the past couple of years...

Oh wow, this is awesome. Thank you for covering the events; it's great to see so many new things. DanKagu is back, and Mystia's Izakaya is getting an anime adaptation. I was not expecting any of these. I heard about the manuscript but was unaware of the new Hifuu CD release.

I need to add one more thing to my personal list: Godzilla More on that at some point in the future, when I have a bit of time...

As the title suggests, I've been gone from this forum for a while (*checks notes*... holy cow, it's been a year already?!). I have been a member of this forum since March 2021, and for about a year, I used to be very prolific in terms of writing and leading new threads. However, life decided I had other things to solve (a scholarship abroad, finishing my Bachelor thesis, and now handling my first job and a Mastersdegree at the same time), and I was feeling in a severe burnout with Touhou after two years of intense activity (late 2020 - mid-2022) that made me want a break and explore new things. In this time, I also broke most ties to Touhou content, therefore I am out of touch with what's happening. Last time I was up to date with the news, Touhou 19 came out and I was still playing LostWord. Can anyone help me figure out what has the Touhou community been up to in the last year? Both in terms of official and fan-made works. I have the feeling there is plenty that I missed. Where are we at this point, what have I missed, and what do we expect to get in the near future?

By the way, what is the state of Tohou LW, DanKagu, Arcadia Record and whatever other mobile games have appeared? I stopped playing LostWord in March this year (holy shit, it's been 9 months already), and I have no idea what happened to the rest of the games.

Do not worry, you are absolutely welcome to express your opinion. Honestly, nowadays I am just happy to see my threads still alive, despite the fact my glory days here are mostly over. It's nice to see what new people have to say on these topics

This is certainly a thread I was not expecting to return after such a long time, but whatever...

Honestly, now that I am looking back at this, I can feel the irony... The very things I used to talk against back then are the very things I am playing right now. Since May 2023, I have been playing Azur Lane, and was tempted to play Kancolle as well (the only thing stopping me was the absence of on international release). At some point, I even flirted with the idea of playing Girls' Frontline, but I stopped that afte seeing myself already overwhelmed by two games I was playing at the time (LostWord and AL). To be honest, it is not all that bad. I was suffering from another instance of blindly hating something based on what others say and not having tried it myself. After the experience of playing this kind of games, I can say people have some degree of right to mock them, but at the same time, they may also have some nice gems. For example, I tend to prefer the more conservative, less horny-bait designs from these games. I do not see the appeal of making a character barely wear anything that would count as cover, massive proportions for specific body parts (although there are enough people who seen to like those, just not me), or give them flashy Live2D animation that show all the "jiggling physics" (although I did like the Live2D from the original Touhou DanKagu). Just give me a cool design that does not need to be almost fully naked to be cool or attractive, as well as some good character writing combined with interesting references to the source material, and you gave me a character I can enjoy. On this note, I will just leave you for now with an image of the Azur Lane's iteration of HMS Hood (I would posted an image of Kaoru Tanamachi, but then I remembered Amagami is not a gacha game...):

Schaiße, I have completely forgotten about watching and making the review for the final episode... I sure do have enough unfinished business.

Still open to conversation in any of these suggested threads...

It's been a long time since I have last been truly active on this forum, but I am greatly impressed to see again big threads, with a lot of interesting stuff to read and research put into it. This thread actually reminds me of something I wrote at the end of 2022, when I was a about halfway into my journey for getting into Touhou (link below, along with some bonuses). I would like to reply to multiple of the points made, but that would take me about an hour, so I will try get back to this later (it's already late in the night for me). However, you have earned my respect. The thread I originally mentioned: Bonus threads of potential interest (chronologically, by release date): (a personal topic of interest back then) (from the era of "Count reviews stuff") (another topic of personal interest back then; oh, how the fate has turned since...) (and a thread that is still going, albeit by me reviving it every once in a while; provides good example of evolving perception on a topic by regularly covering it and noticing patterns of approach and way to present the issue) Alright, I will try to come back eventually with the promised reply. Until then, enjoy the lecture =) Edit: I forgot to add one thread that did waves back in the day, both here on the Moriya Shrine forum and on r/touhou, due to how dense I used to be in trying to understand why something was as appealing and prevalent as it is (and I still do not fully know too, especially as I dropped the consumption of such stuff for good, and for my own good)

I was not expecting to see this thread resurge, but uts nice to see some of my older posts alive again