Zero Lives: 2022/08/01

~ Dance til you're dead ~

Aug 1

Autumn might not be in the air yet, but it’s coming. Or at least so says the tree in my front yard. I’ve only known it for a couple of years, but it’s a bit of an early bloomer. Still, it gives me a bit of hope that this heat will be coming to an end within the next few months.

What I’m Playing

I’m still dabbling with Final Fantasy XIV for the photography aspect. I’d like to think I’m getting better at posing and arranging shots.

I also started Xenoblade Chronicles 3 for work and am thoroughly underwhelmed. It leans super hard into anime tropes, has agonizingly slow combat, and is lousy with cutscenes. I can see how it will take 60-80 hours to complete as I’m forced to watch lengthy mini-movies each time I do something trivial.

What I’m Watching

After being abandoned by my lovely wife, I went ahead and finished off the last three episodes of Kenobi. It wasn’t anything mind-blowing, but it did give me that itch for the Star Wars universe. The final battle was really good, but it makes the lightsaber duels in the original trilogy look that much more out of place.

It was good to see Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen again, but once more, it ultimately made me want to watch Episode 3. That’s the weird thing about Kenobi. It channels all the right things about Star Wars but didn’t generate any hype for itself.

What We Do in the Shadows continues to delight and gives me a good frame of mind when dealing with all of these “vampires” and their nightclubs in the Final Fantasy XIV RP scene. Though I have to be careful not to outright mock them as that would be rude and I don’t want to yuck anyone’s yum. It’s good that people have interests, but I can’t help but look at them differently after watching this show’s antics.

I started watching The Mandalorian over and fuck me if it isn’t some of the absolute best Star Wars content out there. It delivered on the premise that I had wanted for so long, which was a Star Wars western. While it was plagued by Jedi and the Force like everything else in Star Wars, it held it at bay and was never completely overrun.

However, it made me do an impulse buy that I’m still struggling with.

I have several more arriving today and fear that I won’t stop until I’ve collected every variation of Mandalorian character.

What I’m Reading

I realized I was behind on several manga series, so I spent part of yesterday getting caught up on them and starting a new one.

Goblin Slayer is still playing catch-up to the anime and I fear that’s due to the creator starting multiple side-projects like Year One and Dai Katana. It will likely be a long time before we get any fresh content for this series.

Dai Katana serves as the prequel to Goblin Slayer and details the adventures of the Sword Maiden and her companions. Much like the cast of Goblin Slayer, they have wonderful chemistry. It’s slow-moving, for sure, but still an enjoyable ride. The artwork and character design are top-notch, making it one of my favorite to look at for the art alone.

After hearing a lot of good things, I decided to look into Chainsaw Man. After looking into it, I was convinced it was one of the most generic and dumbest concepts I had ever heard of. But because I’m a glutton for punishment, I didn’t let that deter me and dove in. Ultimately, I’m glad I did. It’s very reminiscent of series like Fire Force, but there is a lot of humor. There were several moments in the first issue alone that made me laugh out loud, so that sold me.