Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Orange Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

What can I say except... I'm sorry? This has been an odd week. Not particularly exciting, but not the worst either.  Let's get to it, my crowd.

 Nothing super big happened this week. Some will notice that there were a few days where I wasn't active. One of those days was spent catching up on anime that I've recorded thanks to Toonami. I'm almost fully caught up by now. I noticed that it's hard to multitask when I am watching TV shows. It's easier to draw pictures or something than it is to log on to a message board or any other place I visit. But doing stuff like this is what I wanted, so I do feel more active. Case in point, I am being more productive around my house too. I am cleaning more often and doing my best just to be less lazy. Who knows, maybe some day, I'll be able to squeeze in a regular work out regiment. 

 Did I mention that there's going to be a new Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon? It's going to be a Netflix original called Sonic Prime, and from what I've heard, it's going to have a multidimensional aspect. Multiverse stories really have gotten popular over the years... For now, I'll save my thoughts. I want it to be good, in fact this cartoon has many great opportunities to work with. However, I've wanted other Sonic productions to be good, only to be disappointed. Like all things, I'll wait til a trailer is out, then give my thoughts. It may be a while since Netflix tends to only release trailers when they are really close to debuting their show. Maybe if pictures or other, more concrete spoilers get released, I might share my thoughts on that.

 My computer is really struggling...  There are days where it has a hard time processing data. It slows down, the PC tower makes loud and disturbing humming sounds, etc. If I restart, the computer seems to act a little better, but these slow-down moments are happening more and more often. (Even while typing this all out, my computer crashed, memory dump. The ONLY thing I was running was my browser, and I only had 3 tabs open.) I'm still not in a good place to get a replacement computer right now. If it finally breaks down after all this time, there may be a few days (or weeks) where I'm just offline until I can finally secure a new PC. I'll just ask that everyone pray my computer holds together a little longer. Just a few more weeks, maybe a month or two, and I'll finally have bills settled to the point where I can maybe invest in a new computer.

 Kiramager 41: A Stone Left Unearthed.  What am I suppose to talk about in this episode? The biggest plot point was completely undone during the mid-credits scene. I guess I should be happy that Red and Crunchula had a bonding moment, but with the show almost over, I doubt it’s going to amount to very much. And I’m not trying to be negative about this show, but I would like something a little more than standard. 

 Saber 20: It Ain’t Breezy Being A King.  I honestly kind of enjoyed this episode. Not sure why, maybe I just enjoyed it better compared to Kiramager’s episode. I laughed at Yuri’s forced transformation moment. I like that the other swordsmen are continuing to question things. I think we finally know who is keeping Sophie hostage. Sure, the big scene with Kenzan didn’t really go anywhere, but at least it took a comment from Desast to make him realize that attacking Saber is the same as helping out the villains. Honestly, 1-dimensional characters like Kenzan are always kind of annoying, so it’s good to see some sense slapped into him.

That's it for now, my crowd.  Take care, and find your inspiration.

As a fan of Superman, there was a time when it was hard to find a really good Superman figure with tons of articulation, a good looking head sculpt, etc. In recent years, better action figures have been made, but I think this is the one I'd like to own the most. Even if it's based off a one-off comic/animated movie, I feel like it accomplishes everything I want, minus any bonus accessories that other toys might come with. Sure, this toy makes him look a little extra buff, but that's fine. If there's any DC hero I'd expect to be a muscle donk, it'd be Superman. If I wanted a toy with more realistic proportions, I'd get a toy of Christopher Reeves or Henry Cavill. And I could care less if the cape is cloth or rubber; but most toys with the rubber cape don't come with swappable capes for different looks/effects. At least this one has wires on the edges, meaning even the cape can hold any action pose you want. This is "Medicom Mafex 117 (Batman Hush) Superman Hush ver. Review" by D Amazing.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Orange Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

What's this?! A late Monday Musings entry?!  Yeah, it happens. I'll talk about it soon. Just feel free to read on for now, my crowd. 

 ( 1 / 2 ) Finally, it's movie time!  I saw Fullmetal Alchemist, the live action movie. My thoughts? Mixed; but mostly negative. It’s not bad, but it's clear this movie was made just as a cash grab since the anime and manga sold so well. The major failing of this movie is that it is paced like an action movie. While that might work for action anime; FMA is more about the drama and story than it is the action. So while you will recognize many familiar story beats, they happen so fast that none of it has any weight or gravitas. In the manga and TV series, they really drive home the weight of each situation and why it’s important. Here, if you don’t keep up with every little detail, you’re going to get lost; because they really shoved a lot of story beats in here. Doesn’t help that there are some continuity issues and errors within the film.

 ( 2 / 2 ) It goes without saying that the movie really needed an international cast. The source material is about international characters, so seeing western characters like Ed and Hughes portrayed by Japanese actors is a little hard to get past. A criticism I wouldn’t even mention if the film was ONLY shot in Japan, but it's not. Speaking of hard to get past; I really wish the dub had been a saving grace for this film. I am glad they got Vic and a few others to reprise their roles. For a second, it almost feels like nothing controversial happened with Funimation. However, despite the dub actors trying so hard, it’s clear this is not the same level of professionalism other studios could give. Heck, even the dub occasionally cuts back to the original Japanese dialogue for no clear reason. A random scream and yelling “Ute! (Open fire!)” are not quite the same as yelling “Gojira! (Godzilla!)” for example. Who did Netflix hire to direct the voice actors?! I can only recommend this movie for FMA completionists, nothing more. Probably will say the same for the sequel.

 And now some of you probably want to know why this entry is so late. It's because on top of making room to see a movie, I didn't realize I was going to get so busy during the weekend; which is the biggest reason I ran out of time to post this on Sunday night. Family was coming in with lots of visits, my mother needed some help doing some Christmas shopping, and I decided to get some personal shopping done myself while I was out. Didn't think I'd find anything nice yet cheap, but I guess that's the joy of shopping in a store, you can get ideas you never would on your own. By the time I got home, I had to make time to watch Tokusatsu. By the time I finished that, it was WAY too late for me to keep being online or post anything. So that's why there was a delay. I try not not make a habit of posting late, but sometimes it's out of my control. 

 Saber 12: Golden Opportunity!  It’s hard for me to be too broken up about Espada giving his life and Saber being unable to save him in time (especially since I’m not completely convinced that he’s dead yet). Espada fought Caliber in his pure gold form before, and it didn’t work. Why would it work again? Maybe if he actually brought Kenzan with him, like he was SUPPOSE TO DO, his ‘death’ could have been avoided. But at least we got some story out of it. Saber has his memories back, we get a better understanding of why Espada was so hung up on all of this, and Tassel is out of his mystery location?! Bring on the next episode, please!

 Saber 13: Nighty Knight. This episode was really lame... It just couldn’t live up to the hype from the last episode. Tassel didn’t appear again. No one was smart enough to see the pillars of light match their Rider colors. Saber achieved his Dragonic Knight form via mcguffin rather than a sentimental, story-related reason that would have made more sense (really hoping they explain this better in the coming episodes). I totally called it that Espada was not dead, but we got ANOTHER fake-out death scene (looks like he is going to be the next Caliber). I want to get excited about this, but everything surrounding it was just bad. ...But hey, Dragonic Knight actually manages to look more knightly than the Ryusoulgers and the Advent Riders from Ryuki, so that’s saying something.

 Kiramager 33: It came from the Labradorite!  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am. As I always say, if there is ever a moment where one fails to deliver, chances are the other will be the better show. After watching a story arc that fell flat in Kamen Rider, Sentai had a MUCH better story arc conclusion to come back to. The climactic victory felt narratively cohesive. I still don’t understand why Sayo/Pink temporarily parted with her transformation device, but at least it all worked out in the end.

 Kiramager 34: As Cool as a Crocidolite! I am pleasantly surprised by this episode. I was expecting a filler, but got more out of it than I thought. Garza is stronger after all, something’s up with Yodonna, and they’re finally setting up for the arrival of the ultimate enemy. I am hoping this show has a really satisfying finale.

 December is a weird month for me in terms of movies. Obviously, no one is going to the theater this year. So aside from any gotta-see-it blockbusters, there's really nothing I want to see other than holiday movies. However, with so many streaming services, my Netflix account is looking pretty useless on its own. If it isn't exclusively on Disney Plus, it's definitely only on something else. I'd have HBO Max if they had an app for it that works on my Roku smart TV. Ugh... I may or may now see that CGI Grinch cartoon, unless I can think of something better to see. But my mind is coming up blank, so... Any holiday movie requests? Let me know!

That's it for now, my crowd.  Take care, and let's welcome the frost.

I am SO glad someone finally said it! This needed to be said. It might not be the most important thing to focus on, but when it comes to that awful, soft reboot of the Powerpuff Girls, someone had to say this. I can't think of anyone who has put it more elegantly. This is "Familiar Faces: Ms. Bellum" by FamiliarFacesChannel.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Orange Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

 May clear skies and a radiant sun pave the way for a better future for you all, my crowd. Ready for another end-of-the-week round up?

 The big thing that happened to me personally this week was... Second trip to the doctors!  The first trip was to see a doctor, tell him my problems, and get a plan set in motion. The second trip was to actually get an operation done. And by operation, I mean an abdominal scan (ultrasound), and get some blood drawn for laboratory examination. When I go back to see my main doctor again next week, he'll tell me what the lab results yielded. I am hopeful, but realistic. The pain in my side has not fully dissipated, despite taking medicine. Perhaps there is another issue at large. As long as it can be taken care of via medicines, I will be glad. I really want this next coming visit to be the last.

 In other news, something great has finally happened for my mother. The house next door to her has been unoccupied for a long time, and the people who bought the house have not been there for a long time either. They bought the house with plans to flip it and sell it, but they've been busy tackling a bunch of other houses first. Well now, they are FINALLY getting to the one next door to my mother. They've all ready made great headway by mowing the lawns and clearing out most of the obstacles. They say that they'll be renovating the exterior because the weather's been rather cool lately, but I think it's because they know the interior is extremely filthy...

 Been trying to figure out what I should do with my newly acquired Livejournal account.  These weekly updates would give me the most content, I suppose. However, I don't think anyone wants to go to Livejournal to read that. So maybe I should use it to archive my history and knowledge of Tokusatsu fansubs and official subs? That doesn't seem like it would give me very much to work with, unless I split up all my knowledge into tons of entries. I guess if I never make an audio podcast, I could put all my material on Livejournal instead... Suggestions? Anyone?

 All right, let's look at the next 5 AR worlds that Decade traveled to and see how they compare to the original show!

• FAIZ'S WORLD: I guess this would give us a rough idea of what might have happened Smart Brain has just legally bought out the Ryusei School instead of implemented a secret attack on it. However, in the original show, the backstory around the Ryusei school was kind of a big reveal midway through the series, and I hate when AR Worlds give away major spoilers like this. The original Takumi was not a simp like this one is. If these two episodes could have moved away from the school, or have the Lucky Clover gang be street thugs instead of the popular clique, then I would have rated this in higher regard. However, these episodes give the wrong impression of the original show, so it fails. X
• AGITO'S WORLD: I feel insulted. While this version of Agito may have narrowed down the number of characters, I can forgive making Shouichi both Gills and Agito, since the original show was about humans reaching a new evolution. However, the original Agito was NOT romantically linked to the commander of the G3 team. Thanks for reducing the AR version of Hikawa to a cowardly cameo that quickly runs away when he can't hack it... The original show touched on themes of family, belonging, gods at war, human evolution, etc. Of all the things to cover, they chose one. Failure. X
• DEN-O'S WORD: Since time travel and multiverse travel tend to be synonymous, it can be hard to tell if this really is an AR version of Den-O or the original version. But the canon details seem to tell me it's an AR version, so let's go with that. Regardless, it's the same cast, same acting, and absolutely no creative changes other than Ryuta and Hana being stuck as kids. Success! ✔️
• KABUTO'S WORLD: Finally, I can breathe a sigh of relief. While these episodes also gave away one spoiler from the show, they managed to correctly capture the themes and spirit of the original show. There is also a continuity error that makes you wonder if AR Kabuto really is stuck in Clock-Up or not, but this version of Kabuto was so good, I wouldn't mind if this was the TV show instead. Either way, success! ✔️
• HIBIKI'S WORLD: This one really skirts the line. If you know anything about the original Hibiki show, you know that the change in production staff members really hurt the artistic integrity. It lead to a grudge behind the scenes, and you can feel that grudge in full-effect here. The Oni Riders were never divided this badly against each other, and Asumu never became an Oni. However, many fans of the original show wanted to see Asumu become the next Hibiki anyways, the Great Oni War is a nice call back to the Hibiki movie, and the main Rider turning into a monster does give a subtle nod to something in the original series. In that show, they said that when you become an Oni Rider, you live and die that way. Here, they made it extremely literal, but you could argue that this is what happens when you follow the path of a demon. Tough call, but I'll be generous and call it a success! ✔️

That's all 9 AR Worlds, but I'm not done with Decade just yet. I've got to finish the series, and watch the movies. So next time, I'll talk about the Bonus AR Worlds! There will be some judgments, but not as many.

 Transformers Cyberverse 325: The Matrix of Following?  It starts off with a recap of how Megatron got his Matrix as well as his weird dark eye. Honestly, I expected something different. At the very least, I expected the eye to be a result of merging with a Matrix that didn’t choose him, but I guess battle damage works. Still, there’s just something intense about a stealth mission, and then powering through even when you get caught! And now we’ve got strange looking robots with faces that remind me of the Decepticon symbol.

 Saber 02: Wash ‘em Out!  Once again, this episode was also a huge mess of CGI. However, I am a little more lenient. Like I said before, CGI should be used to create effects that are simply impossible to do in a practical way. Slowly turning an entire city into the burned pages of a book is one example. I suppose they could have made a model of the city, like what Super Sentai has done for their giant robot battles. Still, it would require a lot of computer-generated effects, transposing, and maybe some green screen to make it work. Either way, it might end up looking artificial. So I guess I don’t mind the abundance of CGI here, I just wish it didn’t look like an unfinished test sequence. You know, the mock-up CGI that is made for a Hollywood movie before they polish it up and make it look as real as possible. I suppose the childhood demographic won’t care. As for the story, I had an easier time following it, and it’s nice to see two Riders instantly getting along for a change.

 Kiramager 23: Jewelry Smile!  Amazing how Super Sentai ends up being the less CGI dependent series all of a sudden. Anyways, it seems I was wrong. I thought the Queen returning was because the Kiramagers altered history in the previous episode. Seems that the Queen was always able to store her soul away in her crown jewel, so maybe not much was changed after all. Still, this was a nice episode for Mabusheena and how far she has come. That song of hers was actually very heart warming. I love whenever a Super Sentai season makes one or more of its extra songs as part of the show’s canon, and they did it here. I wish we could have seen the Queen fully restored, but I’m sure that reunion will come later.

That's all for now, my crowd.  Take care, and make the most of your life's story.

Since this is the Orange Edition, that means we end with an interesting video. If you're a fan of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, this video will be right up your ally. If you've never seen the show, you might still find this funny. And don't worry about spoilers, because despite being hilariously accurate, the creator of this video has never seen the anime either. This is "Jojo's Strange Escapade" by Sr Pelo.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

I've been told that I'm bad at directions. Well I take offense to that remark! That's why I'm going to pack my bags and right.  I'll explain below why this weekly summary is late, my crowd.

 So the biggest thing I have to report about the week that just went by is: I got a new keyboard!  My old one died. I was really afraid it was going to be a software thing, thankfully it wasn't. I think the USB plug had burned out or something. It was slightly warped when I pulled it out. Only a select few buttons wouldn't work; like the space bar, the down arrow, or the page down button. I'm currently getting use to this new one. The old one had hand-friendly contours. This new one is just a flat piece of plastic. I'm missing a few keys as I type, but I'll get use to it eventually.

 I noticed my old keyboard acting weird a few days before. Normally, it would start out fine, but whenever I played a certain video game, that's when my keyboard would start glitching out. By Sunday, the glitches were permanent. I am currently afraid to try and play the game again. I hope it isn't having adverse affects on my computer. It's never done that before, but my computer is SUPER old. I never know what it'll do next to remind me how old it is. 

 ...Also, the keyboard is partly the reason I'm posting this late. On Sunday, I spent a few hours seeing if the problem was a software issue. After I decided to go ahead and get a new keyboard, it left little time to do all the other things I planned. By the time I was ready to write this summary, it was late and I had to go to bed.

 Zenkaiger 01: Insert Coin!  And so, another anniversary series begins. Gotta say, after how big Zyuohger and Gokaiger were, this is surprisingly a bit too goof-ball hyperactive in tone. Even the opening sequence feels a tad bit more childish than I’ve come to expect; doesn’t help that the preview window ruined my ability to listen to it completely. I mean, is that REALLY necessary? Do we really need a preview for the episode we are mere seconds away from watching? This show has decided to lean on the multiverse idea instead of trying to force all of Super Sentai into one timeline. I’m fine with that, Super Sentai never truly commits to one idea or the other (maybe in 10 more years, they’ll call them alternate timelines or something). A multiverse has always been a fan theory within the community for a long, long time. I am glad that they took their time setting up this story and how everything works before throwing tons of Super Sentai history at the audience. And just in case anyone thought this season was coming off too childish, they ended it on a cliffhanger, the perfect way to wrap things up for a show with this tone.

 Zenkaiger 02: Double Geared! I love the little things that are making up this series. I love that both the villains and heroes are completely unfamiliar with the tropes of this franchise, and therefore a lot of what they do is awkward yet charming, almost to the point of breaking the fourth wall. Other shows would have blasted through the basics by now, but since they are still learning, it’s like we’re starting over from zero but in a good way. I love how the MOTW was asked about his mushroom puns, a classic example of how other shows would have just rolled with it. I love how Gaon loves the lifeforms on Earth; I half expected him to only like his own kind. I love how the show is taking it’s time and recruiting the core 5 members of the team one at a time; I’ve ALWAYS wanted to see that! I laughed hard when combining forced Gaon and Zyuran to literally kiss and make up. And that Zenkaioh theme... Is that Isao Sasaki and Mitsuko Horie?! WHAT A COMEBACK!! 

 Saber 26: Doomsday Written!  Finally, a perfect justification to have excessive amounts of CGI, with the absolute best use of them too. How else are you going to show multiple timelines, each with the world turning into a wasteland and then meeting its ultimate destruction? I was waiting impatiently for this episode, and the wait paid off. Now I’m in a good place. I’m eager to see the next episode, but I’m not impatient. I see now that the current Master Logos is crazy evil, but I doubt Sabela is much better. Lead astray sure, but far from innocent in all this. And I gotta say, I have a new appreciation for X-Swordsman and Caliber’s design. I do believe that the use of colors on their suits is on purpose, but that’s a bigger discussion. Ask if you want to know my thoughts on that. Last of all, I don’t even care that we’ve learned Tassel’s real name. If we can do without his intros from now on, I’m all in!

 One show at a time... I am almost fully caught up with my Toonami shows. Once I do that, I can actually start watching movies. I just finished SAO Alicization War of Underworld. You know, Alicization was a good season. The first season was good, the others in middle not so much, but this last one was also good. I would have been fine with this being the final season of SAO, even if that last shot of Underworld was rather silly. But there is going to be more after all. I just hope it is good enough to follow in the footsteps of this season. I have managed to finish other things too, but most of what's playing on Toonami right now is still on-going. I'm just trying to get caught up so I can watch the shows in real-time rather than record them for later.

That's all for now, my crowd.  Take care, and go digital.

Kamen Rider Zero-One is a very futuristic show about a super hero fighting evil HumaGears, robots that were suppose to be helping humans in their day-to-day lives but have become corrupted by an evil living virus of sorts. Never in a MILLION years would I have expected to hear a cover of the theme song in traditional Japanese music. In fact, the show itself purposely skipped out on using any feudal Japan cinema sets, even though many Tokusatsu titles have managed to fit that in somehow. And yet, I've heard the cover, and I absolutely love it. This is "REAL x EYES Wagaki Cover" by Sakuramen.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

   Feel free to leave a song request. Your song will eventually be featured in a future Weekly Musings entry!   

Finally, a weekly summary that's one time for once!  Let's talk about it, my crowd. Expect a shorter entry this time around.

 Nothing super big or major happened to me this week we just finished, but for my mother, something big did happen! This was the week she started working at her new position. So far, the work has been much easier and stress free! However, this week was just to help her get trained and adjusted. This coming week will be the real test. She'll get her first taste of doing it alone. I think she's got what it takes. 

 Well, some things DID happen to me, I guess... I'm still SUPER stoked about the amazing gift art that @Windy Breeze made of my pony OC!  Also, because of flash no longer being a thing, I was having trouble making Dreamselfy work. I like that game. It often gives me creative ideas for OCs. Thankfully, I found a downloadable version of the game. Half the prompts are in Japanese, but I can figure it out and make it work for my purposes.

 Zenkaiger 04: Face the 5 Facts!  And with that, all 5 members of the Zenkaigers are assembled. Gotta say, I love Vroom. His curiosity from being shut in all this time and his madlad energy are adorable. Didn't think I would end up liking him at first, but here I am. Love the new insert song, but I have no idea who is singing it. My source says it’s Daiki Ise, but I can tell there is a female voice in there too, and I can tell it’s not Mitsuko Horie. Speaking of, that’s so awesome that Kaito’s parents are named after Isao Sasaki and Mitsuko Horie! Nice little easter egg for dedicated fans. I laughed, I cheered; this season is really leaving me well entertained.

 Saber 28: Sibling Swords!  Well, this episode was mostly filler. The preview lead me to believe there would be more going on, but I guess I was wrong. I like that they laid out the back story to let anyone who was confused or lost catch up, and I am glad that this episode wasn’t all flashbacks either. I prefer flashback episodes that also progress the story a little. This one did so, even if not by much. Also, I find it kind of lame that Sabela has a brother. We all know he is going to show her up and look like the stronger Rider by comparison. Personally, I thought it was just fine with Sabela on her own. No one was asking for big brother to come in and save the day for her.

 No movie this week. I am still building a database of all the movies I've seen so far, and I'm almost done. There were some Tokusatsu movies I wanted to watch, but parts 2 and 3 have not been subbed yet, so that pretty much killed that plan.  But with any luck, I'll be seeing Godzilla VS Kong this coming weekend! 

That's it for now, my crowd.  Take care, and study up.

My list of songs to share is running out. I NEED YOUR HELP, EVERYONE! And since you are all probably tired of mashups by now, that leaves me with no other choice... Traditional Japanese. This is "Nichirin" (Sunflower? Sun Wheel?) by Wagakki Band.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

For those wondering why this is being posted late, it's because it was raining last night, and it took out my internet for a while. Nothing I could do but go to bed and try again tomorrow.  But let's get into it, shall we my crowd?

 The biggest thing about last week was all the trailers that dropped. FNAF, Spider-Man, Pokemon, Rugrats, and more! Looking forward to Rugrats because it looks like they really want this to be just like the original cartoon. Also, we got more previews for the two He-Man cartoons coming to Netflix, so that's at the top of my hype list. But easily the biggest thing is the next gen of MLP.  Someone brought this to my attention, and I have to say... Is Hasbro REALLY trying to compete with their knockoff competitor Filly Funtasia?  Hope not. Either way, long story short, I'm a mix of positive and negative feelings right now, but I am doing my best to keep an open mind.

 The saddest thing that happened last week was that Daft Punk disbanded. Never expected that to happen. But at least the rest of the week was largely positive! I started a project where I collected awesome mashups and burned them to a CD for him. Not only was he not expecting it, but he absolutely loved it too! A perfect success. 

 Kiramager 43: To Paint A Stone Black...  The revelation in this episode wasn’t necessarily bad. I’ve seen other stories in Super Sentai where one of the main villains was being manipulated against their will or brainwashed. I just wish they could have built up to this revelation a bit more. It seems rather cheap that they are revealing this within the last 3 episodes, especially because I was expecting something different. I thought Garza had a legit (though misguided) reason for turning evil. Revealing that he was just brainwashed near the end is kind of cheap and empty, And to prove how pointless it all is, they kill him off too. Even I could have written a better reveal than this. To think we went through all those filler episodes for nothing.

 Kiramager 44: Another Dull Shine. This episode was interesting, but it could have been better. I was surprised to see Emperor Yodon sacrificing Yodonna like that. I know, I shouldn’t have been, but I was surprised none the less.  Everything kept me on the edge of my seat except for one part. I was really hoping that when Garza fused himself with his train, that would basically make him a living Kiramai Stone like the ones the Kiramagers are partnered with. Doing that would at least somewhat make up for the previous episode. But no, the show runners have put their foot down. Garza’s dead, Kiramai Red gets the train. Whatever. Let’s just get to the final episode all ready.

 Kiramager 45: Crystal Clear!  When I saw the preview for this episode, I was scared they were going to bring back the character that deserves it the least, Yodonna. Thankfully, that was not the case. In the end, the heroes got the happy ending they all deserved, perhaps happier than usual. And with a little teaser image of the next Super Sentai, no less! While I can’t say I fully enjoyed how the series ended, I am glad that it’s over, and I’m genuinely happy for these heroes. They deserve some peace. I’ll expand more on my over all thoughts in the series summary, but for now… All’s well that ends well.

 Saber 22: Stone Cold Confused.  It seems really weird that Buster would challenge Saber like this. I thought that he trusted Slash’s judgment. If he defected to join Saber, then that must mean Saber’s on the up-and-up, and therefore Buster should trust him too. Right? I am hoping that Buster was not really trying to attack Saber, just testing his resolve like Slash did previously. Either way, this episode had some confusing direction.

 Saber 23: Flossing on Dragon Bones! Well, this was a surprisingly good episode! Sneaking into the Southern base, finding a mysterious person we’ve never seen before (I assume it’s Master Logos without his cloak on), and top it all off with Saber getting a new power when he accidentally glances at a forbidden book. I was skeptical about how they were going to throw a berserker Rider into this, but they found a way to make it work! However, I was mostly not expecting for this Master Logos person to be a thing. So is he like the king to the knights?  This puts previous episodes in a new light... I may need to keep watching to really get a full picture.

 MY THOUGHTS ON THE KIRAMAGER SERIES OVER ALL: It's hard for me to fully hate this series, even if I didn't care for the latter half of the series. I feel like I'm betraying those who loved it if I say anything negative about it. This series came out just as COVID was beginning to be a thing, and for many, it was just the escapism they needed. It didn't need to be perfect, it just needed to be fun, and Kiramager was a fun distraction for many. Lately I've been saying that a show doesn't necessarily need deep or engaging plot; a simple MOTW formula can work too if the show is fun enough. I feel like I need to count Kiramager as such a show, even if I personally didn't care for it. Not to mention, the main actor playing Juuru/Kiramai Red came down with COVID but managed to overcome it and get healthy again, and I don't want to downplay that amazing feat. The show itself started off great! I loved the music, the poses, the randomness, and sheer unpredictable spirit it had. It was just as refreshing as seeing the first season of Jojo after watching a billion cutesy moe anime. I just expected a lot more from Garza's personal story reveal, and the show didn't quite deliver in the way I had hoped. Instead, they chose to make the series more like just a standard show. So in the end, it could have been more, I wanted it to be more, but it's not. And that's fine, my issues with it are personal criticisms only. It gave people a moment of happiness in dark, confusing times, and I can appreciate that. But I'm glad I finished watching all of it, because now I can watch Zenkaiger as soon as it premiers. 

That's all for now, my crowd.  Take care, and grab that fire on the wall. (Not literally.)

Once upon a time, I played a simple yet funny flash game. Ultimately, there's really no reason to play it, especially now that Flash has been discontinued. But the song that was made for the credits was hilarious, and I sometimes find myself quoting it. Here is "Now you're a hero" by Reachground.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

Let's see what develops.  And while we wait for that to happen, let's review the week gone by, my crowd!

 Nothing major to really speak of right now. Mostly, my family and I are preparing for the up-coming holiday, Thanksgiving. Lots of food being bought and such. My uncle will start working at his new job soon. Not a great time for him to get started what with the spike in Corona Virus activity going around, but he needs to work, he needs to pay bills and all that. But at least this new job will be keeping him closer to him home town, so it won't be as taxing on him as his previous job. 

 WOW! This week exploded with LOTS of news about movies, am I right? LEGO made a Star Wars Holiday Special, and not only does it look better than the real thing, it looks better than the last trilogy we just had. In a move that surprises and confuses me, Wonder Woman 1984 is coming to both theaters and streaming. I wonder if they really think people will risk their lives to see it in theaters... More then that, I actually want to know which will perform better. There's going to be a live action Tom & Jerry movie, with the title characters being slightly CG models that emulate 2D animation as close as possible. In most shots in looks good; but in others, I'm getting uncanny valley vibes. Reminds me of that old live action Rocky & Bullwinkle movie; or like someone made a movie using VR Chat characters. But the movie I am looking forward to seeing most is Batman: Soul of the Dragon. Is it corny? Is it cheesy? Yes; but that's EXACTLY why I want to see it!

 I finished Transformers War for Cybertron S1 recently. It was a good start. I should see if there are any other Netflix shows I need to catch up on. But first, I want to catch up on Toonami shows. I've got a TON of them recorded, and I am super behind... Plus, now is a good time for that. I am considering switching internet services. Considering; not completely decided just yet. It doesn't look like I'd be saving myself much money in terms of monthly bill, but there are some other advantages. Problem is, the business is located outside of my town. That makes it REALLY difficult for me to decide... I like having a local office I can go to if necessary. Tough decisions to make. 

 Saber 10: Stabbing Back!  All right, I’ll admit, I did not see that coming. Calibur is the previous Saber! I am sure some people may have predicted this at some point, but that’s the joy of going in spoiler-free; the surprise plot twists are actually surprising! I was ready to talk about the 3 perfect color combos and the triple Rider Kick action, but this takes the cake. I know it seems like I have a lot to list for these episodes, but usually it’s mostly style over substance. However, this is one of the episodes that actually felt like it had substance. I can’t wait to see what the differences between the two bases are. (Are Buster and Kenzan from the Southern Base?) And may I say... Red, Blue, and Yellow? That’s usually a Sentai combination!

 Kiramager 31: What A Corundum!  Yeah yeah, touching story between mother and son and all that... I think we all know why this episode was made. Corona Virus makes episodes like this a good idea; and I can’t remember the last time Sentai actually had the DX gattai toys appear in the episode as actual toys (the last time I can remember that happening was in ZyuRanger, but surely it happened again after that...). What I find interesting is the subtext. People make jokes like this before, but how is it possible this mother and son combo really DOES NOT RECOGNIZE toys of the giant robots that have been saving Japan for over 30 episodes by now? I can understand if this was the early 90’s or sometime before, because then it might be a matter of missing a news broadcast on TV or on the radio. But with mobile technology; there’s almost no excuse to somehow miss the news about rainbow superheroes and their giant robots fighting against giant monsters.

 Transformers WFCT 05 & 06: Where there is hope...  That’s it for SEIGE, the first part of this trilogy. And what a way to go! Zombies, a virus, a massive race against the clock...! Of course, a lot of the tension was lost when Omega Spreme just shows up out of nowhere. I know they teased his arrival in one episode, but they could have done a better job of building up this sudden appearance. It was a surprise, but not the good kind. It didn’t gel well with the desperate tone the rest of the season had. But now we can get a good idea why the All Spark was never really seen in G1 and such. I think they may have rewritten the story a little bit; it seems different from G1’s first episode. Still, it was gripping and told a great story. Can’t wait for Part II.

That's all for now, my crowd.  Take care, and get ready for a show.

Coffee Scotch Mermaid? You can get active with a shot of coffee, lose yourself with scotch, or get magical with a mermaid! Seriously though, you know you've made something pretty good when other artists want to cover your song. This is Da Pump's cover of "Coffee Scotch Mermaid".

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

 This week has been interesting, to say the least. Not how I expected things to go, but not bad either. For the most part, I am just left at a crossroad...

 The biggest thing that happened this month was that I got a shocking letter in the mail...  Apparently, my health insurance has not been covering all my medical expenses after all. It's covered medicine and regular doctor visits. However, when it comes to lab work and ultrasounds, anything that could be considered an operation, they only pay over half of those expenses. Now I am left with a bill of over $1500 dollars, and I was still expecting approval for one more operation, a CAT Scan. Well, I finally got approval, but the question is... Do I even want to continue? I half expected to pay some bills for all this. A few hundred here or there would have been fine with me. But over $1500?! And all for drawing a few meager viles of blood and scanning one little section of my body? Do I even want to do more? Should this be the end of my medical journey? Should I just accept the medical problems I have? I just wish I had some perspective to help me decide what to do next...

 I've been managing my time better, but what keeps interfering is that I am going over to help with the renovations at my mother's rental property. They are doing so much work over there, and I just want offer as much help as possible.  Thing is, they barely need my help, but you never know! One day, I actually helped haul out an old cast-iron bathtub. Thing weight a ton, but it was rotting away and had to go.

 I got my window fixed!  The neighbor finally put in a replacement. ...And cracked another window next to it while putting it in, but don't worry! He's going to fix that too. Let's just hope this doesn't become a running thing.

 Wow! The weather, am I right? The last few days this week have been wild. Two days were cold in a row, then it warmed back up, and now another cold front is coming in! Please just stay cold, weather. I was really having fun dressing in my cool season clothes!

 NO RISE OF THE TMNT THIS WEEK! Because other things got in the way, I ran out of time to see the remaining episodes I have recorded. Next week for sure! 

 Saber 06: Please, Hide the Ninja!  Frustrating. Simply frustrating! That’s the only word I can use to describe this episode. Something about Saber’s sword getting sealed, and now he has to find a path to some sacred land to fix it, but the villains want that path opened up as well. Zoous killed Blades’ (Blaze?) former master. The new ninja Rider is more annoying than Naruto; he’s like a kid that only knows how to rough house. But if Kenzan is a ninja, does that mean the sacred sword Riders could be ANY kind of swordsman? Does that mean a samurai Kamen Rider could join them later maybe?! Either way, it’s a slow burn of an episode that doesn’t really resolve much. If anything, I feel completely lost, and the ever growing roster of characters isn’t making this show better for me.

 Saber 07: What in Blue Blazes?!This was a much better episode, but still kind of a slow burn. The saving grace is that we didn’t have to hear from Kenzan. They are basically building up these episodes as a multi-episode story arc. Saber went to the sacred land of Avalon, but Calibur followed him. Saber managed to collect the King of Arthur book, but we barely got to see its powers in action. It seems the team has their own version of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. And unlike Saber who can do so whenever he wants, it seems using 3 books really puts a strain on Blades. Really good world building so far!

 Kiramager 27: Peridot Predicament!  Well, this was Green’s episode. I do honestly feel like Yodonna raises the stakes of the show. But outside of that, the real highlight was seeing Ms. Misaki and her daughter again, as well as some flashback footage of GekiRanger. All of those scenes MADE this episode! They could have just left SCRTC as just a random piece of scenery for long-time Super Sentai fans, but the fact they went this far is a real joy. Gekiranger is about 13 years old by now! Most kids in Japan have probably never seen GekiRanger. So it’s nice to see the franchise has not forgotten its history outside of major Super Sentai specials. I wonder if anyone who made Gekiranger is working on Kiramager. Maybe a writer or director? Though, to be honest, the Kiramagers have more in common with the Go-Ongers.

 Kiramager 28: Setting the Sodalite Stage! Blue’s episode! This one was kind of a slow burn, not to mention an exposition dump. Basically, the team managed to recruit a mentor stone, one that looks more metal than stone. Such a grandpa, he is. Worst part of it is that when he finally joined the fight and started showing what he could do, the episode was over! It really did feel like this episode ended too quickly. Hopefully the next one will make up for it.

 One last thing, I have been updating my LiveJournal with more posts. Go check it out! Just finished posting all the notes for every episode of Kamen Rider Decade.

That's it for now, my crowd.  And remember, birthdays are a sacred thing to celebrate.

You want my phone number? Okay, it's 56709. I love citypop, and I love this song! It came out on my birth year, 1984. This is "Telephone" by Junko Ohashi.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

After all there's only [A FEW MORE SLEEPS] til Christmas!  Let me tell you about it, my crowd.

 It's movie time!  This time, I saw the LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special! Thankfully, this movie does exactly what I wanted. It makes the Rey and the rest of her cast more enjoyable, and adds more cohesion so they feel like they genuinely belong in the Star Wars universe. Granted, there wasn’t a high bar to overcome. The original Star Wars Holiday Special was all ready bad and many were disappointed with the Rey trilogy; and there were some things that could only be done in this Lego version of Star Wars rather than the canon universe. Still, it was great! The only thing that was kind of upsetting was the fact that they didn’t get Mark Hamill, a guy who is a famous voice actor, to actually reprise his role. But that’s just nitpicking. This is still a great movie and definitely a major recommendation.

 The other big thing this week was the celebration of my (other) uncle's birthday. He loved the food I made, he enjoyed our presents, and he genuinely enjoyed our time together because my cousin was in town and spent some time with us!  Over all, the party was a success. We all got to spend some more time together on Sunday before my cousin had to leave town again. Other then that, it's been mostly an average week.

 Kiramager 35: Silly Obsidian!  This episode was just goofy cornball. Not in a bad way, mind you. I got a few good laughs out of it. I do wish we could have more story-driven episodes by this point, but I feel like episodes like this will end up becoming the legacy of the Kiramager show. And surprisingly, I think I'm okay with that. In 2020, we need a show that reminds us that it's okay to feel good.

 Saber 14: Lion to Yourself.  I am in hell. I am bored and I am in tokusatsu hell. This is something I’ve been afraid of for a long time when it comes to tokusatsu; unnecessarily long battles, and something new introduced EVERY episode. There was hardly any story here. I am glad that Espada’s friends are carrying on his legacy, but that’s the only true highlight of this episode. I am sure some people might like it if an episode of tokusatsu is 90% in-costume battle scenes, but not me. Story is what makes these fights meaningful; it’s what makes the new forms and the new arsenal items meaningful. But if you focus on those other things first, then they have no meaning. There is hardly any story, so there is hardly any reason to care. This is not what Tokusatsu should be.

 Yo... That Zenkaiger reveal!  Merry Christmas indeed!

That's all for now, my crowd. I think next week will be better.  Take care, and make way for the jingle bells.

There is a tradition I have every year for Christmas. I listen to this one specific song. You won't hear it on the radio; you might not even think to seek it out on your own, and I have no idea if it's even on Spotify or some other popular platform. Still, I make sure to listen to it each year. It reminds me of the true spirit of Christmas and what we can do to keep that spirit alive even after the holiday is over. Maybe some of you will also get inspired by it's message. Feel free to look up the lyrics and follow along. This is "Old City Bar" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

How goes it, my crowd?  Don't know why, but I wish I could go to a petting zoo... That'd be cool. Anyways, weekly summary time!

 Nothing really big happened this week. It was just a return to normal form, all things considered. I'll spare you any psychoanalyzing, just to say that it's hard to know what to feel when you nearly risked your life one day and you come back to normalcy the next. On the one hand, you are happy to be safe and secure. On the other hand, when you're bored, you're bored.  Also, I guess the other big thing is that I was able to get a refill on my medication. Wasn't sure if I would, but I did! To be honest, I haven't been feeling any pain in my sides. So maybe the medicine was all I needed! And I might not need it right now, but it's good to have the meds around just in case. I'll be glad to tell the doctor that the next time I see him.

 So what do you do when you have time to spare? I've been drawing more often. Not sure if I'll have my next art done when I want to have it one, but we'll see. Speaking of art, I've been slowly clearing out the notifications in my DeviantArt account. Surprisingly not as hard as I was afraid it would be. Technically, I should have been done by now. However, I want to wait and see just how many of my DA friends are still active. Some people can go months without posting anything. Just want to give them time to pop up before I start making some major changes to my DeviantArt account. I've all ready hinted at what I'm going to do, but I'll make a journal entry about it at DA soon. It'll explain everything clearly, and I'll probably tag some people too. And when that matter is settled, I'll be able to finish things I started on my LiveJournal. 

 Saber 17: Dull Edge.  ...Did this episode accomplish anything? It feels like it didn’t. The other knights sat around tormented, but that’s nothing new. They weren’t even there during any of the battles. We learned humans can be turned into the MOTW, but Saber was unable to save them. We saw the holy sword do his thing, but nothing really came out of it. At the very least, the show remembered Sophie, so that’s a thing. You know, if the show had been focusing on only one Rider all this time, an episode like this MIGHT be fine. But after all the other Riders and the story that we had before, this is just padding.

 Kiramager 38: Shungite Memories.  Can’t say this episode did much better either. I guess they at least found the last Granter Stone, even if it was stolen. This plot point isn’t anything new, but it is a plot point they keep going back to, so I guess it counts for something. Silver’s backstory with Crystalia is kind of overplayed by this point. I swear, slow moments like this make me want to take a break from tokusatsu and focus on something else for a while.

 Transformers WFCT 10-12: Season 2 Complete!  Well, it’s weird hearing Optimus’ angry voice in this, but at least the exchanges between him and Megatron feel a bit more like their classic selves. That Skylynx story was amazing! It does make me wonder if that is what he was like in G1 or not. And the foreshadowing to Unicron and everything... But I was right. Despite being in the title, Earth doesn’t actually appear until the end of the season. And what a way to end the season! Alita-1 still kicking butt on Cybertron, Optimus given a new lease on life and defeating Megatron, explosive battles, and a cliff hanger that kind of reminds me of Beast Wars. Earth looked amazing, BTW. Makes me wonder what the 3rd part of the series will actually be since it is a trilogy. It's not like we have much room left for material we haven't seen before. Are we going to glaze over the events of the G1 cartoon now? Hmm...

That's it for now, my crowd.  Take care, and keep it simple.

Not sure why I noticed this, but Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Blur's "Song 2" seem to have a similar melody. And I guess I'm not the only one who noticed, because someone made a mashup! ...It kind works, I guess. Here's "Nirvana vs Blur - Smells like Song 2" by The Music Channel.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

Hey everyone. Sorry I'm a day late with this. I got busy last night, and things got too busy for me to post this.  Anyways, let's talk about the week we just finished, shall we?

 The biggest thing I did was officially "close out" my DeviantArt account. (Well, not really, but I let all my followers there know that I won't be social on that account anymore.) You can read about it here. Outside of that, I also did some shopping, and I got a haircut!  Well, half of one. The hair salon I went to did a bad job, and my mother had to finish what they stared. But thanks to her, I finally have the hair style I wanted. And last last of all, I'm now 85% done with the picture I am drawing. So, yeah, eventful week, but overall good for me.

 Of course, the week was not perfect. I learned Roger Craig Smith, voice of Sonic the Hedgehog, was stepping down. Not sure who is going to replace him, but I hope it's a good pick.

 Saber 18: Not So Sharp Wits.  Well, it’s exactly as I thought. The misunderstanding between Saber and Yuri was just a miscommunication problem. They almost had me thinking it was something else for a while, but at the end, the revealed that striking the monster down with Yuri would have saved the human after all. Makes me wish 17 and 18 had been shortened into one episode instead. Next, please.

 Saber 19: Band of One. So I guess this is what they are doing now, two-parters. It’s so frustrating. The good stuff was just getting started, and before I knew it, the episode was over. At least there is a chance that maybe the other knights are slowly coming to their senses, and it took Yuri to make that happen. Also, the fansub group I was using suddenly went quiet, and now I am using a group that I find highly annoying. Better than the alternatives, but still annoying.

 Kiramager 39: Citrine Snipin’!  So this is how the Kiramagers are going to defeat Emperor Yodon; one face at a time. And I have no doubt that doing so will make him weaker. Which makes me wonder why Yodon didn’t finish the job while he still had full power, but the show is not over, so maybe they’ll explain it better later. I will say, that was one impressive sniper monster. I doubt a monster like that could be shown in America without changing him completely. He could easily give ANY Sentai a run for their money, but if anyone was going to find away to shine away all the shadows, of course it’d be the Kiramagers.

 Kiramager 40: Be True and Shine! Wow... So that happened. I’m not sure how to feel about this episode. Should I like it or not? The episode was all over the place. At first, they had two different plots; plot A was about confusing the Kiramagers with a monster that can imitate the appearance of others, and plot B was about manipulating the hearts of humans to turn them into monsters rather than extracting despair from them. (Hope they aren't borrowing ideas from Saber.) But somehow, both plots kind of merged into one, with the B plot becoming more prominent. The episode dives into some deep, meaningful subjects. I applaud the show for trying to do something deeper like this, but it’s so late in the game, and I’m willing to bet this will be the last episode to handle such mature matters. In a better show, stuff like this would be explored in the majority of its episodes. But at least it had a good ending.

Looks like that's it for now.  Take care, and make the most of things.

A while ago, Bill Wurtz came out of hiding. He's been learning how to do things in 3D, but he hasn't lost his touch nor his signature style. This new song of his is total fire. This is Bill Wurtz' "here comes the sun".

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

Bump, bump, bump, bump~!  Can you feel the thumping beat of the music, my crowd? Let me tell you about it.

 Nothing REALLY significant happened this week for me. Lots of little things, but they all add up. Besides finishing off the last of Thanksgiving leftovers, my mother and my uncle are getting adjusted to their new working situations. I am trying to make plans on how to celebrate Christmas and maybe get presents for everyone in my family after all. Speaking of my mother, construction at the rental property she owns is really picking up again. Lots of people were over during the weekend; an internet guy, an air conditioning guy, and some plumbing people. There's been talk about getting finished with the bathroom real soon; and little ol' me with carpenter skills REALLY wants to go over there and help! But they keep telling me I'm not necessary! 

 There's also been some personal distractions. Because of this, I need to say, NO KIRAMAGER & SABER THIS WEEK!    I'll do my best to make up for lost time next week. I also plan on seeing some Holiday movies and giving my thoughts on them too! There was nothing gigantic keeping me from watching Tokusatsu this week, just a lot of little things. Besides what I mentioned above, I made a HUGE update to my Sonic the Hedgehog music collection. I collected the movie soundtrack and all versions of "Speed Me Up", the Non-Stop Dance Style Party remix album, all 3 volumes of the Sonic Throwback Collection, a Jun Senoue collab single, an album by Jon Batiste, and Vol. 2 of the Sonic Adventure Music Experience! I updated an old Sonic album I previously had, and I'm still looking for a full rip of the music from the Sonic Boom games. I wonder if there is any rips of the Sonic Boom cartoon music... I mean, people do the same for other shows, so why not this?

 There's other small things too. I've been making time to work on my LiveJournal some more, and I've begun making some more fanart! I've had an idea for an enemy character for my OC Samurai Equine. His name is Snow Leopard, and I have begun drawing him. I also plan to eventually draw an image of Shogun Equine, Samurai's mentor and battle general. However, I have less of an idea of how I want to design him. I think I want to use Big Mac's body as a base to build off of, I've got some ideas for his mane, tail, eye, and facial-hair style. However, I don't have a full idea of how I want to handle his clothing/armor. I have some ideas, but how I'll approach drawing it is another thing.

 To my surprise, the Zi-O movie that Shout Factory was streaming for ONE DAY ONLY was back on streaming again! Happy Holidays to ME! Not sure why it's back, but I am glad it is. I have the app on my smart TV, and I got to watch it in surround sound. Love having a wall of sound to go with my tokusatsu. It just feels right. I also got to see the 1984 Christmas Carol movie, the one staring George C. Scott. I've seen it before, so I won't make a full review. It's fine for the time it was made in, but it's not one of my favorite versions of that tale. I still hold a candle for the Mickey Mouse version and the Jim Carrey version. Both of which I cannot watch legally because I don't have Disney Plus!  ...Seriously, I need to get a VPN. I bet you can find the movies on a foreign version of Netflix... I still believe that everyone that likes/celebrates Christmas has their own, favorite version of A Christmas Carol. And I bet everyone has their own favorite Santa movie. His origins and abilities have been re-imagined MANY times, and he's asked TONS of people to save Christmas for him. 

 On Sunday, the weather started warming up again. Wouldn't say it was actually warm, but I didn't need to layer clothing during the day.  I really hope that's just a fluke. I don't want it to warm up on December... I've been enjoying two good weeks of cold weather!

That's it for now, my crowd.  Take care, and get ready for the rush.

Remember how I mentioned that Jun Senoue collab album? The only reason I collected that was because, to my surprise, it contains a vocal version of the Emerald Coast theme "Azure Blue World". ...And it's in Japanese, of all things! The Sonic community hasn't seen vocal Sonic music that is purely Japanese since the original Japanese release of Sonic X! Since I mentioned it, I guess I gotta share it. From the single album "JxJ/Ready!" (where he collabs with vocalist/voice actress Junko Noda), here's the song "Ready!".

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

 What a week! Despite the challenges going into it, there ended up being more positive than negatives.

 The biggest, most happiest thing that happened this week was... MY BIRTHDAY!  In some ways, not the best birthday. Because of financial difficulties due to medical bills, I was unable to celebrate how I usually do. In other words, no gifts, at least none on the 11th. There were some early gifts. I may have mentioned the trench coat I got and the Gameboy. However, the trench was purchased sometime before things got tough for either my mother or I. And the Gameboy is still on hold until I am sure no one is coming to claim it. HOWEVER! My friend @Kujamih has been drawing art of my OC as of recently, so that counts! But what made this birthday really nice regardless, was spending time with my family and my friends on this forum.  That, and cake. My mother splurged and got me an awesome chocolate ice cream cake. The frosting was pink and purple. ...And my uncle bought a ton of extra deserts! HELP! My waist line is vanishing all ready! 

 And while I could talk about others who shared this birthday with me, I guess I should talk about some sad news... My grandmother's birthday was the 9th. For those who just started following me, she passed away earlier this year. We've all had our time to grieve and everything, but it's still sad and we still miss her. This is the first Birthday we are celebrating without her. Doesn't get better when we look around. There are members of my family in bad health right now. My grandfather still has a terrible speech impediment that he might never fully recover from. And I learned recently that my aunt has taken a nasty little fall that has left her a little injured. Don't worry, she'll walk it off in time. She just can't take any pain meds or anything. She has a bad liver, and pain meds would not only make things worse, but they could shorten what little life she has left. That's tough news considering my aunt is the youngest among my mother and 2 uncles...

 I have been managing my time this week a little better. I got to see some more stuff like I said I would. I helped my mother clean up (and even paint) the rental property that she owns; that was some HARD work! But she may all ready have a potential customer interested in staying there a while.  I still have not finished with Decade yet because I am writing up my next big blog entry for my LiveJournal account (Go check it out!). I would have watched the last episode of "Kamen Rider Decade" by now, but my Birthday and everything else got in the way. Speaking of Decade, apparently we just hit the big 10 year anniversary of MLP:FiM! What a month it has been. 

 Gotta balance the good news with bad news, right? Eddie Van Halen died recently... Did I mention my aunt is in not-so-great medical health right now? Also, I still have medical expenses to pay. Just one right now, let's hope there won't be another. I think that's it for now.

 I watched a bunch of episodes of "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". Granted, these are being recorded from one of Nickelodeon's secondary channels, so I'm not seeing the new episodes in chronological order. Pretty sure I'm missing some episodes. But anyways, it's been a while since I last saw this show, so let's get right into it!  The following will just be quick, one-sentence descriptions of each episode I saw... Piebald joined the family. Liar Games was kind of dumb. Tubing was dumb, but at least we got a glimpse of classic angry Raph. Good to see Baxter again; he actually almost succeeded in exposing the Turtles! Splinter relived his glory days, and I guess that’s cool. It’s weird how Splinter is just NOW teaching them how to be Ninjas even though they probably should be have been learning it their entire lives; but they did it, and at least we get the revelation that Splinter and Big Mama use to be a thing once. The Turtles tried to get some of that dark metal but failed, so waste of an episode I guess. Masked wrestler dude is now a mutant ghostbear; I guess he fits in better with the show now. April hangs out with a goo girl I don’t remember, but at least we get to see her doing her reporter thing for a moment; and why are mutants suddenly a secret now? The Turtles learn never to meet their heroes, also how is no one checking in on the mentally unstable sci-fi actor?

 Saber 05: Thunderous Resolve!  Not sure how the story of Aladdin relates to lightning, but what’s most important is two big points. Right away, we learn that Calibur is Espada’s father. Kind of a big reveal to give this early; makes me hope they have plenty more story plots to keep this momentum up. I was afraid to mention it before, but I think I am seeing a pattern. Saber is best matched with red books, Blades is best matched with blue books, Espada is best matched with gold and yellow books, and it looks like we’re about to get a Rider that best matches with green books. Sure, they can all share each other’s books, but I think sticking to their base colors will help these Riders unlock their true powers.

 Kiramager 26: Rutile’s Not Futile!  Interesting. So Yodonna can give all the monsters a power boost, but it’s temporary and costs them their lives. Red faces the same problem if he uses a Granterstone, so he decides to make a power-up that shuts off before it can become fatal. Well, either way, I wanted to see them take her down a peg or two, and they did! But way to go making the foot soldiers a bit more challenging. We usually never see that in Sentai these days, and it’s easy to forget that’s the point; the grunts are supposed to make it harder for our heroes to win, not be something they can mow over easily. Also, Yellow’s got his own character theme after all!

That's it for now, my crowd.  And remember, birthdays are a sacred thing to celebrate.

I know I normally just share a song on the Red Edition, but since it's been my birthday, I'm sharing two!
First, here's the music. When you're a total weeb, but you still want to look cool in front of others... I just LOVE musical crossovers between artists/bands that you NEVER would have imagined happening in a million years. Here's Amy Lee of EVANESCENCE and one of my all-time favorite Japanese bands Wagakki Band, teaming up to make an orchestral/wagakki cover of "Bring Me To Life". I really hope they make a studio version of this~

And here's the bonus video! This was posted on my Birthday, and what a surprise gift to see! At first, I was worried about the slight art-style change, and then they totally justified it with one well-placed line of dialogue. I don't have Hulu, but I swear I will find a way to watch this! Here's the first look at the new Animaniacs cartoon, "Animaniacs Jurassic Park Clip", posted by Hulu.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

Sorry for the delay on this, my crowd. Message board glitches were keeping me from writing this. But now everything is working smoothly, so let's go over the events of last week!

 The biggest thing about last week was Valentines Day/H&H Day! As a currently single guy with lots to offer, it all ready has little meaning to me. However, because we had snow, there was even less I could do. Everyone was staying home whenever possible because the roads were that thick with ice and snow (more on that down below).  Sure did pick a fine time for it to happen. I'm getting a little stir crazy seeing the same 4 walls. But I can keep myself distracted as long as possible. But I guess I won't be going out for heart shaped pizza or anything; LOL.

 Sonic news! ...Nothing much to announce. The sequel to the Sonic the Hedgehog movie is going to be known as "Sonic the Hedgehog 2". 

 Pacific Rim is getting a CGI animated series on Netflix called “The Black”. Personally, I always have mixed feelings. I always feel weird when something live action gets an animated continuation. In America, it doesn’t always equal a sign of success. Sometimes it’s an exercise in mediocrity, other times it fails. The only time an animated continuation goes well is when some genuine effort and passion is put into it, when we get something truly inspired. In Japan, it’s different. If something live action gets an anime adaptation, that’s usually a sign of its success and the anime will make it even more successful. But I like the Pacific Rim franchise, so I’m trying to be optimistic. I REALLY want this cartoon to do well, because maybe it’ll help us get a 3rd and final Pacific Rim movie.

 I forgot I had new Doctor Who episodes set to automatically record, so I had the holiday special "Revolution of the Daleks" ready to watch. I wasn’t planning on seeing this because audience reception was so negative, but since it was recorded, might as well. All I can say is: We should've had this sooner.  For the most part, I actually liked this. I felt like this was closer to what Doctor Who should be. Lots more aliens and scifi stuff, a return of the Daleks, races against time, etc. I do have some criticisms, though. While I like that the Doctor has reaffirmed that she’s still the same Doctor as always, it doesn’t quite change the fact that they changed her origins into something weird and unnecessary. Brushing it under aside doesn’t mean that it never happened; we'll need an actual retcon for that. I’m also not even saddened that most of this Doctor’s companions stepped down. To be honest, Ryan never really did do anything to endear me to him. If anything, I’ll miss his granddad more than Ryan himself. At the end, we saw a preview of the Doctor’s next companion (according to the commercials), but rumor has been circulating that Jodie doesn’t want to come back to Doctor Who. In fact, there’s a lot of sad rumors circulating going as far as BBC being in trouble, so I have no idea what to think.

 So about the snow I mentioned... It's funny. Weeks earlier, I was wishing we could enjoy the snow just a bit longer. Well, I got my wish, but with disastrous results! It's so thick right now, the roads are dangerous. Sure, I got this day off and I'll have tomorrow off as well. But there are rumors of roaming blackouts in my neighborhood because the snow is too thick for the power company to fix any problems we have. They want to wait til it melts away, but there have been reports of more snow coming. I spend the day shoveling snow out of my sidewalk and driveway, but I fear it might be undone if more snow is coming.  Just as an early warning, don't be surprised if there are large chunks of time where I'm not online. I am hoping this snow won't affect my heater. I'm really in trouble if that goes out.

 Saber 21: A Sword in Both Hands!  Finally, a good episode worth waiting for. It was pretty cool seeing Yuri’s new Rider form; X-Swordsman. Very comic book style~. But the true star of this episode is the plot. Not sure I fully understand, but it seems when Touma is willing to put his burdens and convictions into his blade rather than the Books or other things, he can unlock his true potential. And I was NOT expecting Slash to be the first person to abandon SOL and side with Saber. Now I get the feeling that Blades will be the last to switch sides, considering his feelings about the organization and the fact that he is predominately featured in the OP and ED sequence. (If I had to make a prediction, Buster will switch sides next because he trusts Slash's judgement, followed by Kenzan with some convincing, and Blades will be last.) Lastly, that back story about the holy swords and what not was interesting, though a little too fast paced.

 Kiramager 42: Once Upon A Shining Stone...  Wow! Another episode I’ve been waiting for, and this time it’s the beginning of the last few episodes of Kiramager. We’re entering the home stretch, people. Garza has never been so scary or ominous before. I almost feel like I should have seen this coming. If he was capable of dethroning one ruler, he’ll do it again. I was all ready beside myself seeing Garza let himself be absorbed by Emperor Yodon, but I didn’t expect that double cross. I guess Garza was the true villain all along. I mean, there have been many stories where one of the evil generals/subordinates has more of a story than the final evil boss, but this is one of the few stories that actually realizes and embraces it. It would be nice if we can at least get some more personal story behind Yodon as well as Garza. I would like to see how this evil emperor came to be and why he's so evil. Context will make him and Garza all the menacing.

That's all for now, my crowd.  Take care, and stay warm.

And in this next episode of Mashup Theater, here is yet another pair of songs that really should not work together, but somehow they do. It's ridiculous! I'm not sure if the heavy metal makes this dad song cooler, or if the dad song makes the heavy metal lamer; all I know is I love it for existing. It's silly, shouldn't be, and that's what makes it awesome. This is "James Hetfield and the News - "Hip to Be the Sandman"" by Bill McClintock. I think I am going to find more of these and just share them more often.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

What a busy weekend!  Sorry this is a day little late, my crowd. I was so Sunday night, that I just ran out of time to post this. Better late than never, right?

 It's movie time!  I just saw Wonder Woman 1984. I’ve been hearing people say bad things about this movie, but I have no idea why, because I thought this movie was fantastic! I had a wonderful time watching it! If an internet critic that I all ready trust has something to say about it, then I’ll look into it. Otherwise, right now, I deeply enjoyed it. Though I admit, part of the fun of watching this movie is picking out little moments where the situation could have been resolved a little faster. I felt like a writer for HISHE. Still, despite some of the more corny or questionable moments, I enjoyed this movie just the same. And that cameo at the end? Heck yeah! I honestly don’t mind having this movie associated with my birth year.

 Spent time with my uncle over the weekend. We had a lot to do. Not sure how I lost sound in my surround sound speakers, but we've pretty much fixed that. There is still some audio discrepancy, but I am going to try and fix that on my own. If I can't, either something has gone wrong with the speakers or the receiver has finally crapped out. But we did all this to try and figure out what was wrong with my record player. We've narrowed it down, and we both agree that it just needs a new needle head. Also, my uncle is trying to get me an adapter for my television so I can finally mount it. We thought we found one at Walmart, but I'm not sure it'll work. He's going to buy a different one online instead. There's also been other little things here and there that have been occupying my time, but they all add up. Things like reorganizing space in my house, helping mother clean her car, managing bills, went to Starbucks, etc.

 NEW YEARS!!!  That's the biggest thing that happened this week, isn't it? We said goodbye to 2020, and we've officially welcomed 2021. My New Years party was pretty nice. This time, it was just mother and I. However, we made the most of it. We recreated my grandmother's holiday cider/punch in her honor. We're going to carry on these traditions as much as we can, even if she's gone. I stayed up past midnight, as usual. Played some rock music. I made the most of it!

 And now it's time for another... NEW YEARS ROUND UP!
This is where I reflect on the major events of the year that just passed by (2020), and HOO-BOY! What a year that was, huh? Let's go...
First, the negative stuff...

• COVID-19. Corona Virus. For once, I'm not even going to talk all the celebrities and famous people we've lost along the way. Is there really any need to? It's nothing compared to the countless number of people who have died or are currently suffering from this virus. Sure, at the end of the year, there has been a ray of hope. Vaccines are being shipped out, according to the news. It may take a while before the general public can get some, so we're still in lockdown right now. But at least there is hope of finally turning this around, no matter how slim.
• This year, my grandmother died. It's a loss that hits way harder than others because this was a really close member of the family. She didn't die from the virus; she died because of other problems. However, my mother and others blame the virus for delaying the medical treatments she needed. I think what hurts the most was that, for a short moment, she was almost fully recovered and looking forward to getting back into her life. And suddenly, complete internal failure and massive blood loss. All of it was enough to take her away. But if it means anything, at least she was able to go before any of her kids...
• My aunt had a lot of health scares. She was in and out of the hospital many times, and for a while, it looked like she was not going to make it. It must have put a lot of stress on my grandmother while she was alive. And after my grandmother passed, one of my uncle's nearly caught COVID, but thankfully his test results came out negative.
• As for me, my health took a sudden dip. Sudden pains revealed that I have an irritated kidney. I regret that I had to go through all this so close to the holiday season. I wish it could have waited, but it just couldn't. However, what I regret even more is how the doctors couldn't find the cause of the problem after so many tests and scans. I've taken meds and the problem is a bit more manageable now, but I still hate how it all amounted to practically nothing.
• My mother lost a renter, and the new ones that have come in have torn up the renting space without completing renovations. We are hoping that things will get resolved soon, because I'd hate for my mother to have to clean up the demo they started.
• Speaking of, the hospital that my mother works for got bought out by a bigger hospital. She's still sorting out all the new changes and what not. For a while, we weren't sure this was actually going to happen. We thought there was a law preventing one hospital being the only option in town, but I guess not.
• DeviantArt has gone to shit because of one simple thing... ECLIPSE THEME! This crappy new design layout has made it virtually IMPOSSIBLE to post big, detailed journal entries like I use to. This new theme has shown that the staff DO NOT CARE about any of its users. They don't care about preserving classic theme. They only want to keep up this new theme, and any technical support they provide is for their benefit, not ours.
• Team Four Star dropped their Dragon Ball Z abridged series after finishing the Perfect Cell saga... Personally, I would have wanted them to keep going. I wanted to see what Abridged Super would look like. However, creative differences and all that. Farewell, DBZA. You were a pure source and fun and enjoyment.
• Ultimately, I had to say goodbye to the Henshin Justice Unlimited forum. As a Tokusatsu fan, I use to LOVE going there. However, just before it went down and the forum was forced to change serves, I was made aware just how toxic that forum was. The place has VERY few people still there, and the few that are there are all grumps that are ready to tear you down in an instant! Now I still have an account there, but the forum going down was the perfect opportunity to pack my bags and say goodbye. It's done wonders for my mental health, and I can find way more positive toku fans elsewhere.

And now the POSITIVE stuff!

• I joined Twitter! Barely use it, but I'm on there now. And I even have a LiveJournal! Hopefully I'll be able to update that more soon. I've stalled on it as of late...
• I started a BIG roleplay on the MLP Forum called "The Town That Friendship Forgot". And so far, it's been a massive success! I did NOT expect it to be this big. It's still going, and I am so grateful to all who are involved.
• The MLP forum got a new layout design, and it's awesome! Might need some tweaking, but it's smoother than before. At least it wasn't a change so drastic that it became anti-intuitive.
• I helped remodel my mother's kitchen! Did most of the work, too.
• I caught up on some old stuff that I had been meaning to revisit, mostly Kamen Rider Decade and Kamen Rider Blade. Had a great experience. The former is reason why I opened a LiveJournal, to hopefully explain it since it left a lot of fans confused. However, I might also use LiveJournal to give thoughts on other Tokustatsu titles. Speaking of...
• This was a HUGE year for international fans of Tokusatsu! Thanks to Shout! Factory, we can now stream the original Kamen Rider TV show from the 70's, and Kamen Rider Kuuga. Still waiting on Agito, like they teased... Toei made an international YouTube channel to release various classic Tokusatsu titles with English subs. However, the translation and video quality are... questionable. But Tsuburaya has really been going all out! They've been reclaiming Ultraman, and with Mill Creek's help, there are streamable Ultraman titles with English subs all over! They even have a YouTube channel, which is now showing Gridman episodes too. Could this mean a physical release is going to happen in the future?
• Sonic the Hedgehog also had a big year. The major highlight: The live action movie! It was so good. The movie everyone doubted ended up being one of the best video game movie adaptations in a long time. And as a cherry on top, some long-lost music from the Sonic OVA was finally unearthed and made public!
• It's been an interesting year for animation and TV shows hasn't it? I know movies have been slowly migrating to streaming instead of theaters. I saw the finales for shows like Rise of the TMNT, the She-Ra Netflix reboot, Steven Universe Future, and so much more. I saw the fans struggle with "female Doctor Who", mostly because the stories just aren't what the fans wanted. And I've gotten more invested in Transformers recently thanks to Cyberverse and War for Cybertron. And that's barely scratching the surface of everything out there.
• Though it's been fought with difficulty, we are getting a new president here in America. That's all I'm going to say about that, because I know about the rules against politics. (Admins, PLEASE don't lock this status update!)
• ...And while not extremely positive, I still have no idea what to do about the Reddit user that has my username.  ...Help?

 Saber 16: Nothing’s Sacred Sword!  Well, this could have been avoided if Saber had told his friends about what happened in that Wonder World sooner... Honestly though, I don’t know how to feel about this episode! There’s a Sword of Light, and that was kind of predictable and lame. Saber’s friends were mislead into betraying him, and that makes the story more interesting and epic. He was saved by a character that was previously revealed, and that’s kind of lame. However, Saber’s story has been turned into a solo hero story again, and that’s kind of awesome? I am so torn about it. I think I might like it more if it weren’t for the next episode previews.

 Kiramager 37: Stuck in a Prism of the Mind!  Wow. Yet again, another episode that I’m not sure how to feel about, and I can’t even blame the episode preview on it this time. Crunchula is back, and they found a dues ex machina way of doing it, which is lame. Thankfully, said mcguffin isn’t what brings about the surprise revelation at the end, so that’s cool. Speaking of, Yodonna being Emperor Yodon is lame, especially when Yodonna’s just been a generic villain up till now. If I’m suppose to feel anything for Yodonna, sorry but I don’t. However, the story is progressing again, so that’s something. Just wow… At the end of the previous week, I was only looking forward to Kamen Rider Saber episode 15. And now, at the end of this week, I GOTTA see the next episodes for both shows!

 So I guess before I go, I should talk about New Years resolutions... Not sure what to say this time, honestly. Usually, I follow a simple method: Keep your resolutions easy and simple. Aim low so that it'll be easy to complete. Don't aim high and then beat yourself up because you couldn't do it. However, the world still isn't in the best of situations right now. Because of that, I really don't know what to plan for, even if I low-ball. So far, the only plans I have are to update my LiveJournal and possibly close out my DA account. I'll still have it, but I think I'm just going to stop being social there. It's become something that has little meaning to me. Sad, but that's how it is now. Thankfully over Christmas and New Years break, I managed to catch up on a backlog of YouTube videos, so now I'll definitely have more time to actually go to DA, check the months-worth of messages I have, and then start closing stuff down.

That's it for now, my crowd.  Take care, and let's make 2021 the best we possibly can.

In 1997, Will Smith released a song called "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It". It was a really popular song at the time. A couple years or so later, someone made a remix of it, and I found that remix in YouTube again recently! Honestly, I don't care about this fan-made remix, but it has been bugging me where this vocal sample they used came from. It's the sample that goes "I don't know about you, but there ain't no doubt about... Doubt about it..." I've tried to find the source, and all search results come up negative because the search engines think I am looking for something else. I tried using SoundHound to identify that vocal sample; nothing. Maybe some day I'll figure it out, but for now, it's a mystery. For now I am stuck with this song that (according to YouTube) is called "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It (So So Def Remix)".

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

 Ever wonder what glowing blood looks like? No? Okay, forget I asked. Let's just keep it cool, my crowd.

 The biggest thing that happened to me over the week was going to get that CT Scan. There was some confusion about when I was suppose to be there, but I made it. After drink some weird liquids and getting injected with strange chemicals to make the scans work better, I was fine! I was dismissed, rested at home, and drank plenty of liquids to get all that junk out of my system.  Though I really hope there won't be any lasting side effects from those chemicals. Wouldn't be the first time something has had a strange effect on my blood.

 Other then that, my week has been mostly uneventful. I forgot to schedule my time a little better for some things, but I at least started a bunch of stuff. I am working on some art, working on livejournal entries, looking at music projects, etc. Most of this stuff I probably won't complete. But at least I got to make my OC in the game Pony Town! Strange game, definitely, but I am glad they've added so many options, and I hope they keep doing it. Also, I got more minutes for my phone.

 I wish the weather would get cold again... So tired of hot. 

 No Kiramager nor Saber this week!   No excuse. I just did a stupid thing and saved those shows for last minute, thinking I had time but instead ran out.  I'll do better next week and watch double episodes back to back.

 Transformers WFCT 01 & 02: Back to Bot Basics! Transforms, Netflix exclusive, let's go everybody! So I guess this is a Year 1 or Year 2 situation for the Autobots before the G1 cartoon kicked in. We are seeing Bee’s origins, the All Spark is getting addressed, and the Autobots are really suffering right now. Why is it always a bitter pill to swallow seeing characters like Ultra Magnus cave to the Decepticons like this? Either way, I’m getting my Transformers fix once more, and hope to carry on. I wish these were the G1 voice actors, but I am fine with what we’ve got.

 In other news, the GoRanger manga is getting an official release! Not sure how long that will be for, but if it can get a physical release too, that'd be great! 

That's all for now, my crowd. Take care, and stay focused. 

Umm...  Coffee Scotch Mermaid? Coffee Scotch Mermaid! Ladies and gentlemen, everyone in my crowd, "Coffee Scotch Mermaid" by m.c.A・T.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Orange Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

   Feel free to leave a video request. Your video will eventually be featured in a future Weekly Musings entry!   

Highway to the danger zone~  How's it going, my crowd? Have a good week? Mine was kind of silly and wet. Let's talk all about it!

 So the biggest thing about the week that just went by was something that... Didn't happen? In the week before, my mother went browsing for cars, but couldn't do anything because she didn't have all the money she needed. Well this week, her insurance money came in the mail, and now she does have all the money she needs. I was really GEARING up to help her find a car over the weekend! But then she changed her mind and didn't feel like it.  Don't you just hate it when you get pumped over something, and it doesn't happen? Her current vehicle is still insured, believe it or not, but that insurance will run out in a few weeks. She doesn't have long to decide. I just hope she doesn't ride this out til the deadline. Buying a car under pressure seems like the worst move you can make.

 Also, this weather though! It was raining nearly all week! By Sunday, it finally changed. And guess what we got? Warm weather! We went from cold and wet, to hot and dry way too fast.  Since I'm talking about less-than-exciting things, I recently bought 2 USB 3.0 extension cords on Ebay. One of which will be used to help me get better access to the USB port behind my smart TV. The other? Well, you never know when you might need one! Speaking of, I recently dug out an old XBOX 360 wired USB controller, only to find it's dead. It's a clone controller, an off-brand made by RockCandy. No reason for it to die since I kept it in good condition; but I've been told these clone controllers don't last that long anyways. I may be in the market for a new one, but I'd like one that actually has a longer life. SOOOOOOOOO....~! If anyone can made some USB game controller recommendations, I'm all ears. I prefer something with as many buttons and joystick controls as possible.

 MOVIE TIME!  MY HERO ACADEMIA Movie 2: HEROES RISING. The title is VERY fitting. If the first movie was about passing the torch, this movie is about letting the next generation of heroes stand on their own for the first time. It was VERY fulfilling and had me on the edge of my seat many times. There was a moment in the final battle that felt like shenanigans (and it might lessen the experience for some viewers), but I get the feeling we’re probably not going to see it happen again. I gave the first movie a hard time for retreading much of the same material from the TV show and not having much of a unique story to tell. This movie also retreads some material in a light way; but it never makes the movie’s story feel like one big repeat. The young heroes of UA needed a win without support from the professional super heroes, and they definitely got a win here. There are thoughts I have about the main villain that range from good to sad, but I won’t share them here because spoilers. You’ll have to ask for that if you want to know more. Still, I fully appreciate this movie 100%. Next time? Haven’t decided. I’ll shoot for the new Mortal Kombat movie, but if not, I’ll see the new Tom & Jerry movie instead.

 Saber 31: How Blades Got His Groove Back!  Ah, so that’s all Blades needed. He just needed to bash swords with Saber and get it all out of his system. That’s all. ...  But in all seriousness, this was an okay episode. We really don’t need too many episodes with a self-deprecating super hero, and it’s cool to see that Blades has learned how to do the whole sword-glowy thing as well. Bonus points, the new Caliber is still seeing events that he couldn’t predict. Maybe he’ll finally snap out of his delusions and work for the heroes.

 Zenkaiger 07: Team Not Working!  And now, we have the premiere of a new villain with similar powers to the Zenkaigers, if not more powerful. Stacey, or should I say StaCaesar, has arrived! And could it be that he’s a cyborg?! Been a while since Super Sentai has had one of those! Going into this episode, I made the mistake of checking tokusatsu news, so some of this episode and the next has been spoiled for me. Regardless, I still enjoyed watching this episode! I loved seeing the other 4 Zenkaigers meet the predecessors that became the basis of their looks and powers. And furthermore, I love how this episode contrasts a hero team with less than perfect teamwork verses a villain who has a bunch of mindless clones with perfect teamwork. Question is, will the new Ranger help bring the team together or make things more complex? Can’t wait til next week!

 And the last thing to talk about before I call it a night... I recently tried Mountain Dew Major Melon!  Gotta say, not impressed. Going by the ingredients which uses no actual Watermelon juice, it’s clear that this is just artificial watermelon flavoring like they use in candy. And that might not be such a bad thing, except this soda is more like a sour watermelon flavor. I’d rather taste that in energy drinks than I would a soda. I also noticed some mango-flavored Pepsi. Maybe I should try that next chance I get?

That's it for now, my crowd.  Take care, and keep the surprises rolling.

It's a wondrous thing when you can find a movie or video that you like so much, you end up quoting it for the lulz. For me, this is one of those videos. It's just so perfect, and accurate in so many ways... No, I'm not British, but I've seen enough British people on YouTube to know a thing or two about it, including Tesco. To be unironic for a second, I wouldn't mind seeing an actual series like this. Some of the characters were renamed slightly, and it makes me wonder if the others would be slightly renamed too. This is "What If The Simpsons Was British?" by Alasdair Beckett-King.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

   Feel free to leave a song request. Your song will eventually be featured in a future Weekly Musings entry!   

Ah, a week that starts off fine, but ends in a less than stellar way.  Let's go over it, my crowd. This will probably be a short entry this time around.

 The biggest thing is that happened this week is: My mother is trying to get a new car, and I'm trying to help her. On Friday, one of my uncles said that he would help us look at vehicles on Saturday. Well, Saturday rolls around. We have kind of a slow start, but by lunch time, he decides to flake on us. Something about how this is something my mother needs to do on her own because it's going to be her vehicle. And I'm off on the side thinking "If you were going to do this, why did you agree to join us and help us out in the first place? You could have backed out on Friday!" Still, my mother and I are going to figure it out somehow. I think my mother is going to try her hardest to find something locally. Why do both of my uncles feel the need to leave town to find a good deal on a car? Do they not see the tons of dealerships and used car lots we have?  But at least doing that was somewhat fun...

 However, there were two things not so fun. While I am happy to help my mother out with car stuff, it means I was left with no time to contact my computer specialist. I might have to focus on helping my mother first before I think of myself. It'll just be easier that way. Also, I was planning to see the 2nd My Hero Academia movie, however technical difficulties got in the way of that. I really need to do a better job of watching these movies sooner...

 BUT WAIT! It's not all negative. Shout Factory has announced that they are going to give Kamen Rider Zero-One an official release in North America?!  Well this will be interesting! I always believed that the reason Shout Factory didn't go after newer shows is because Bandai and Toei wouldn't be happy with a quiet direct-to-video or direct-to-streaming release. They'd want to promote it, put it on television, and get as much publicity over it as possible! Could I have been wrong this whole time? Has there been a new legal development? This will be fascinating to watch unfold. Hopefully it gets a Bluray release.

 Saber 30: That Which Can’t Be Stabbed!  Not much to say about this episode except it seems like Blades is dealing with feelings of inadequacy. I don’t like that his friends aren’t taking the time to better understand his feelings, but then again, even I think these emotional outbursts are a bit too much. Speaking of not understanding, when was Mei turned into the MOTW?

 Zenkaiger 06: Trash Taste!  This episode was rather boring. Not much going on for it. Though it is interesting that Magine is basically a litter bug. I feel like, if this was made many years earlier, we wouldn’t have that dynamic. All the members of the team would just be pro ecology. Case in point, I’m surprised they highlighted the Go-Busters power. Feel like this should have been an episode dedicated to Go-Onger.

That's all for now, my crowd.  Take care, and honor your responsibilities.

Not sure why, but I have suddenly got addicted to the Sonic CD ED theme "Cosmic Eternity". ~Teleportation, yeah!~ But I get a little bored listening to the regular version all the time, so here is a remix made by one of the founding members of Zone Runners. He always makes awesome remixes. This is "Extraordinary" by Palpable feat. DiGi Valentine.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

   Feel free to leave a song request. Your song will eventually be featured in a future Weekly Musings entry!   

Sorry for the delay, my crowd.  All things with reason.

 The week we just finished was yet another slow week. Again, I am getting hit with tons to wet weather spells, making it impossible for me to mow the lawn. It's up to my knees an I can't get it to stay dry enough to mow. If I had a ride-on mower, this wouldn't be an issue. 

 If you are wondering why this post is late; it's because I saw two movies over the weekend. I didn't expect them to be two full-blown movies, but they were, and they ate up my free time on Sunday. Sorry. 

 Sadly, I almost feel like I have to resign as a tokusatsu fan.  The Shin Kamen Rider movie not only premiered in theaters in America, but it premiered in my town. For one day. And I had no idea until it was too late. Not even sure I would have been able to make it since it was on Wednesday. The movie WILL be circulating in theaters again due to demand, but the nearest theater that will be showing it is in the next town over. I can't make that... I just hope the movie gets a dub, or at least gets a physical release in the states, because I really do want to support it.

 TOKUSATSU MOVIE TIME!  I recently saw DonBrothers VS Zenkaiger. This is not a perfect crossover movie by any stretch; in fact other VS specials have managed to tell way more endearing stories with a shorter time span. Ignoring all the moments of bad story telling in general, what I don't like is that this writing kind of disrespects some of the characters and their personal character arcs. There's even one final slap in face at the end, and I can't even go into it because spoilers. However, the DonBrothers side of the story gets a little bit of a pass simply because doing things unconventionally is part of the show's DNA. That doesn't fully give a pass to Twokaizer and Hakaizer. Regardless of how you defend certain points of the story, I'm just not a fan of seeing main characters getting punched down, especially without a well crafted reason. But this crossover does have some good moments here and there. Jirou has a happy ending that he might not fully deserve, Momotaro is back in action, and the special VS weapon they made just for this was pretty cool too. Watching this was like eating veggies and candy at the same time, you have to eat through one thing to get to the good stuff. ...Still not sure how I feel about VS being an abbreviation of Super Victory, though.

 TOKUSATSU MOVIE TIME!  I also saw Kamen Rider Live & Evil & Demons. This movie was absolutely fantastic. I didn't even realize it was a full-fledged movie; I thought it was just going to be a side special, but they went all out. Part of the plot was recycled for this story, sad to say, but they managed to pull it off so much better than the last ReVice story that did this. The main story involving almost feels like plot convenience to force another happy ending for all, but have some trust, because this special has a wonderful pay-off. In fact, trust is a running theme here, and they weave it masterfully. Speaking of weaving, sorry Orteca, but Hiromi wore it better. The premiere of Imperial Demons is awesome. Not a fan of Live & Evil Marvelous, even if the colors make sense in context. Still, they turn it around by making the use of the ReVice Driver plot relevant. There might be some other minor narrative flaws, but compared to what I had to go through with DonBrothers VS Zenkaiger, this looks like a masterpiece by comparison. So much more respect for the show, its characters, and how far they've come. It's so hard to get into these bonus movies when the TV show has completed its run a long time ago, but when they are made this good, it becomes a treat that you'll be glad you decided to watch.

 NO KING-OHGER OR GEATS THIS WEEK.   Like I said, ran out of time. I was expecting Live, Evil & Demons to be a short special, not a full fledge movie. Still worth it, but that really surprised me.

 I would also like to say that last week was pretty good, all things considered! Discord try to automatically charge me for a subscription I didn't want, but thankfully I was able to get a refund and cancel that subscription. Got every last penny back, too! No attempt to keep a percentage, charge a service fee, or any nonsense like that. 

That's all for now, my crowd.  Take care, and don't make mother nature mad.

I am not familiar with her long line of work, but if this more recent studio recording is to go off of, I definitely want to hear more! Singing a cover of a Bob Dylan song, here's Bettye LaVette singing "Do Right To Me Baby (Do Unto Others)" from the album Things Have Changed.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

   Feel free to leave a song request. Your song will eventually be featured in a future Weekly Musings entry!   

Once more, blame the holiday for this being late, my crowd!  Though does it count if I was late on purpose?

 Just like last time, I delayed this post on purpose because I wanted to celebrate the holiday!  On New Years Eve, I did all the normal stuff. Watched the ball drop, played Auld Lang Syne, and had myself a drink. In place of white grape juice or ginger ale, I had a lot of leftover holiday cider from Christmas. Since that all ready had some ginger ale in it (with real ginger), I just had more of that. And on New Years Day, I got together with my family for a traditional New Years meal. Black eyed peas (yuck), beef, coleslaw, and some other foods as well. Might not be super spectacular, but it was fun!

 Speaking of fun... I wish I could say I had more of it in the week between Christmas and New Years, but I did not.  I did squeeze in as much fun as I could, but sadly there was a lot of work to do. Cleaning, preparing to go back to work, putting decorations away, etc. I haven't played with any of the video games I got for Christmas, but I will. I haven't started assembling my model kit yet, but I shall as soon as I get some paint. Still plan to do some more personal stuff for myself, but it hasn't been a pay week for me yet.

 Speaking of games, I have an update. In case you missed the edit from last time, Steve Jobs actually got me a USB microphone/headset combo. The corkboard was for something else. Also, @Totally Lyra got me a video game! I may need a little help getting started on it, but I know I am in good hands.  My friends are the friendliest friends~

 Unfortunately because the final week of my vacation was so busy, I just didn't have time to watch any more Christmas movies. However, I did re-watch some loose Dickens adaptations that I've seen before. So to name them off quickly and in chronological order... The Jetsons S02E41 “A Jetson's Christmas Carol”: Looking back, I am surprised how many continuity errors this had. I guess people my age and younger were easily entertained. It's the only thing keeping this from being a phenomenal yet loose adaptation. "Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas": It's a better example of a loose adaptation, but the special spent so much time on the set-up. By the time we got to the ghosts and the main part of the actual adaptation, it didn't get as much time as it should have. Still cute though. MLP:FIM S06E08 “A Hearth's Warming Tail”: Still holds up after all this time. It's a loose adaptation that manages to make it mesh better with its pony material, and justifies it's storyteller beginning and ending.

 King-Ohger The Movie: His Majesty's Reign.  When the movie began, it really felt like a nice companion piece. It was an event taking place just before Gira was crowned as king, which happened off-screen anyways. It even foreshadowed something in just the right, subtle way. We also got an AMAZING battle scene out of it. However by the end of the movie, they were dropping some major spoilers for the show. Well, not too major for me since I predicted them. However, if you are a younger fan who might not be able make such predictions, this movie might ruin the surprise of things to come. But as an overall positive, I see no reason not to count this movie as anything less than canon.

 King-Ohger 41: The Atrocities of Justice.  I'm not ready... I'm not ready for Racles' redemption arc. As soon as he gained the power to kill an immortal, which apparently Gira/Red and Dugded are, I saw the turn around coming. Gira has been playing everyone for fools; making him the biggest liar in the series. No wonder he and Debowski/Black have a special connection. And yet, I am still not ready. I'll need to re-contextualize everything leading up to it. I hope the series does that for us, because this is huge.

 Gotchard 15: To Feel Again?  In one episode, they summarize a trope that happens with many villains. They claim to not feel any kind of human emotions, but they are really just pushing those feelings aside and covering them up with malevolence. Other then that, the crux of 2-parters like this is that the 2nd episode relies mostly on action, and it depends on who you are if you like that or not. The twists were okay, but it wasn't quite as heavy or brutal as that one fight a few episodes ago. I am hoping that the little things they set up at the end will change how the next episodes go. I fear we are in a new status quo; Gotchard helps someone and gets a new Level 10 Chemie, and we don't get to fully see it in action until the next part.

 And now it's time take a look back...

REFLECTING ON 2023

I'm going to TRY and keep it personal instead of focusing too much on other things that happened in the world of pop culture and so on. That being said, here's the positives:

• Perhaps one of the biggest things is I have become a Moderator at MLPForums.com! And unlike other times where I've use to be the moderator of a group, I don't feel like they're going to kick me out randomly or replace me for someone potentially less capable. And about the time I became a mod, others became a mod with me. So it really does feel like I've stepped into a big family.
• I made a big leap and upgraded to Windows 11, and thank goodness it worked out!
• I got to experience the wonders of an Air Fryer, and my life will never be the same~
• I got a Google Chromecast. And while it turns out I didn't need it after all, better to have it and not need it. You never know what may happen in the future.
• There were some pretty huge things that happened in Tokusatsu, besides the yearly shows stepping down for the new ones. AbaRanger and Hurricaneger got new anniversary movies. Kamen Rider Black and Black RX got western releases. Shin Kamen Rider got a very limited run in American theaters before popping onto Amazon Prime. It was also the year I learned Agito has a strange but serviceable English dub. I am not sure if this counts, but Netflix has dropped live action adaptations of both One Piece and Yu Yu Hakusho, and apparently they are giving people hope that such adaptations can be done right after all. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers got one last hoorah by the name of "Once & Always". Godzilla Minus One has been taking the world by storm! And finally at the last moment, Sharivan was announced for an American release by Discotek Media.
• Speaking of Discotek, I sure am glad I discovered them. They released the Japanese version of Sonic X! And they have been releasing other amazing titles too. I really want to start buying up parts of their library, because they really are unsung heroes of the industry.
• Speaking of Sonic, this has been a good year for the blue speedster. I got to play Sonic Frontiers in time for the Final Chapter to be dropped. I got to watch Sonic Prime season 1 and 2. I got Sonic Superstars for Christmas, and I will be downloading Sonic Dream Team soon. So much Sonic stuff do, so little time~! I'm not fast enough!
• This was also the year of a few unexpected things. My Adventures With Superman not only put the boy in blue in a wholesome light but reminded people everywhere why the fans love Supes. The very last Beatles song ever was dropped. The long awaited and meme'd Super Mario Bros. Movie came out, and it was glorious! And after being in development-heck for what felt like forever, the Five Nights at Freddy's movie dropped, and you know it was a huge hit. Finally, we finally got to see the new doctor for Doctor Who. Here's hoping he's better than the last.
• Some of the stuff I just mentioned is bittersweet. Kind of like the Writer's Strike that happened in 2023. But for the most part, it is over. Projects that were delayed are back on track. Finished projects that thought to have been shelved are being saved and released after all. I hope it'll only continue to get better.

But things don't stay wonderful all the time. Here are the negatives that brought the year down a little for me:

• Top of the list would have to be my declining health. This is worth a few bullet points, at least. It started with lingering back pains and other pains, not to mention the tooth I chipped; but around my 39th birthday, I discovered I now have a mild arthritis. My joints have never been so snappy before. It doesn't stop me from being active or anything, but I have to live with this now. I have to take medicine for it now. And as the years go by, these conditions might get worse. Would be nice if they got better first, though. Same for my uncles and mother. They've been having medical issues, but I hope they get those settled pretty soon.
• My late grandparents' house was put on the market, and new occupants have moved in. Can't say I like them. They are very anti-social. They aren't very good at maintaining a lawn. They built fences where none needed to be. Obviously it's out of our hands; they can live however they want. Still, I wish someone nicer had moved in there.
• Speaking of death, we lost plenty of people along the way. From celebrities like Tony Bennett, Bob Barker, and Paul Reubens, to two bronies that I knew (Jeric and Strongwilled), and possibly more.
• In the world of Tokusatsu, we lost the online distributor Generation Kikaida. They have lost the rights to distribute Kikaida, Kamen Rider V3, Inazuman, and other such titles. We've been hoping that someone, ANYONE will pick up the rights and make it easier to acquire a copy or bring it to streaming. However so far, no one has done that yet.
• Since we're covering pop culture anyways... MLP G5 is basically over, and from what little I can tell, the finale was polarizing at best, disappointing at worst. I'm not sure. I stepped away from G5. I really hope Hasbro has learned their lesson and will make G6 even better. Vintage Mickey Mouse is public domain now. Charles Martinet has stepped down as the voice of Mario and other characters. The Tiny Toons reboot was not faithful to the original show, but ultimately the fandom had dismissed it and moved on.

There were more good things than bad, a little touch of bittersweet too, but some of the bad stuff should not be understated. My feelings are a little mixed, but I want to believe 2023 was overall more good than bad.

 And we can't end this without saying...

MY 2024 NEW YEARS RESOLUTION!

• I am going to go against the grain this time. I usually only give resolutions that are pretty easy to complete. This year... I want to get a new job. I like my current one and might try to keep it, but I want to get another one that pays better. As a back-up resolution, I want to get a driver's license. I've gone this long without one, but it's time to finally get one. I might have an easier time getting this license, but I still want my focus to be on job hunting. With concentrated effort, I am sure I can get it done!

That's it for now, my crowd.  Take care, and let's welcome the future together.

I just can't stop listening to this track. It may be eurobeat, but it's so fire. And how can I not when the music video is so fun? This is "Flash Into The Night" by Dave Rodgers ft. Motsu.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

   Feel free to leave a song request. Your song will eventually be featured in a future Weekly Musings entry!   

Honestly my crowd, I thought I'd be in the holiday season before I got to this -->  But let me tell you about the week we just finished!

 I guess the biggest thing to report was Labor Day! I had a good one, my crowd.  Honestly, this has been a very relaxing week for me.

 In other news, I saw trailers for Godzilla Minus One and Monarch. Looks like Goji's about to have more content made~ Saw the first episode of the Tiny Toons reboot, and my feelings are mixed. The show has potential, but I heard that Babs and Buster are still related and there might be other things being changed too. Still, I wish it more success than we all expected. Last of all, there is going to be another Chicken Run. Honestly, I have the worst time remembering the events of any of these claymation movies made by this studio, let alone what happened in the first Chicken Run. Still, glad it's successful, I guess. 

 MAW Superman 09 & 10: An Alien To You & Me!  So much to unpack from just two episodes! We see the origins of the General and learn he is Lois's dad. The rise of Amanda Waller. Braniac and Zod have been teased, but not as much as they tease Supe's dad. Looks like a certain villain finally has powers without needing tech. And I don't know if this was ever done in all his years of existing and comic book reboots, but making Superman look like a lost weapon of destruction and conquest works SO well! ...And I guess Jimmy is rich now? It was all just too powerful. We conclude one cliffhanger and end with another!

 King-Ohger 27: Royalty & Destroyers.  I CALLED IT!! I knew that wouldn't be the last we saw of Kamejim. The intro gave us a fake out, made it look like Jeramie/Kumonos' first follower was destroyed. I know we got a blurb about why the other kings were in prison, but I still don't fully get it. I don't like that Gira's royal outfit is the same as Racles's, would have preferred something in white. Also, could it be I spoke too soon? Could it be that Racles knew about this galactic threat and was preparing for it this whole time? For now, it looks like their weapons have no effect. I wonder how they'll solve this problem...

 Gotchard 01: Al-Chemy Begins~!  Well this is a very bland beginning, which is not necessarily a negative depending on how this show goes. They spend more time setting up a bunch of things rather than explaining the majority of it, and there is also plenty of narrative tropes that we've seen before a million times. About the only thing that took me by surprise was the teacher being involved in this alchemy craziness. Either way, classic tale of an unskilled rookie getting caught in something they are very much not ready for. BTW, you're not slick, show. Ichinose? Hopper1? I see what you're doing. In fact, there might be a LOT to what you're doing. Even the female classmate (Rinne Kudo) might be an homage to Wizard's Koyomi, but hopefully she'll have a better story here. I'll save the rest for my Supplemental thoughts.

 GOTCHARD 01 SUPPLEMENTAL: So to start, let's be clear about the main character.  His full name is Hotaro Ichinose. Get it? Ichinose, which sounds similar to Kamen Rider #1 (Ichigo)? His suit is based on #1's first suit, and one of his first cards is Hopper1. Kamen Rider #1 was based on a grasshopper, has been called Hopper, but is always regarded as the first Rider. However, Hotaro sounds similar to Haruto, as in Kamen Rider Wizard. With all the heroic alchemy users wearing rings, I doubt that's a coincidence. Did this show combine a bunch of other inspirations to make this Rider as well? Steamliner might be based on Den-O's train, his initial bug form based on ReVice's Remix forms, and maybe there's a touch of OOO in there since that show also had alchemy. And while the image of a young grade schooler is getting popular in Japan right now (thanks to stuff like Pokemon), #1 was also a student, so maybe that's also by design. Many of these elements feel random, but they might not be at all. Finally, don't stress about the first episode being bland. They could be doing that on purpose to really give to story some weight later.

 No movies this week. I was planning on it, but just couldn't find anything that really inspired me this time. Maybe this coming week instead.

That's all for now, my crowd.  Take care, and recharge.

Tonight's song is a request from @StrawberryMilk Simp! It's an old meme by this point, but it's a classic that never dies, especially if you're a He-Man fan like me. But so many people only share the short version that they don't even know there's a full version! So here it is. This is "Fabulous Secret Powers" by slackcircus.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

   Feel free to leave a song request. Your song will eventually be featured in a future Weekly Musings entry!   

Hey there, my crowd. Sorry this is late again. It happens.  I'll explain soon.

 The biggest thing I did this past week was purchase a new Sentai DVD boxset. I'm waiting for it to arrive right now.  It is expected to be here by Wednesday. Aba, aba, aba, aba, AbaRanger~!

 I also forgot to mention some things last week. I got a haircut and my mother hurt her back at work, but she is recovering.  Wasn't that serious.

 As for why this update is late, that's because I am currently cleaning up my computer making back-ups of my personal files. I have decided I am going to try to update my computer to Windows 11 on my own. Wish me luck, my crowd~ Also, because I've been busy doing this, no Superman or Tokusatsu this past week.

 [ 1 / 2 ] MOVIE TIME!  I recently saw Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. ...Okay, so I know I said I'd watch Shin Kamen Rider, but this just became available on digital, and I HAD to see it! Gotta say, I felt things from this movie that I wasn't expecting. You can say multiverse movies are getting overdone, but I think this is one of the best stories so far. In the case of either going big or going home, it really went big. I didn't really see the artistic value in the first movie that other people were raving about, but I definitely saw it here. The tons of cameos and the tons of different art styles really put it in over the top. In an age where people complain that Marvel movies are all too similar, this genuinely felt different. And the biggest surprise of them all... I can't even tell you because it ruins the ending. In light of a certain writer's strike going on, I really hope this is one of the movies that gets its well deserved third film, cause I doubt anyone saw that coming. This movie felt even more like a comic book superhero movie than many other superhero movies, and I love it.

 [ 2 / 2 ] MOVIE TIME!  I also saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. I enjoyed this movie. I knew we were finally going to explore Rocket Racoon's backstory, but that was a roller-coaster of all the best feels! It was nice that they tied the beginning to the Christmas special while not outright confirming it. The only weak element in the whole movie was Adam Warlock. They didn't really do much with him, but then again, it wasn't meant to be his movie. He was introduced, so I assume he is being saved for later. We even got one last look at a certain duck. And while this was really Rocket's movie, we got to see everyone growing and maturing in their own way too. I am going to miss these guys. We may see Star Lord or other characters in the future if we are lucky, but for now, their story is complete. Thank you Guardians; you were easily one of the best and somewhat unexpected part of the MCU. Next time... Shin Kamen Rider and something else. Not sure. Might be Dungeons & Dragons, might be Little Mermaid, might be a third option. I'll figure it out.

That's all for now, my crowd.  Take care, and don't crawl forever!

I don't know the full story here and I wish I did. All I know is there is a Sonic Adventure fan OST of some kind, but I can't find any more information on it. For now, Johnny once again gives back to the fandom, and I am loving it even more. This is "Keep It Real" by Zakkujo Feat. Johnny Gioeli of Crush 40.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

   Feel free to leave a song request. Your song will eventually be featured in a future Weekly Musings entry!   

Hi there again, my crowd~!  I know this is late. I didn't forget. I just got so tired and preoccupied on Sunday that I had to retire early. Didn't have time to post this.

 So the biggest thing about the week we just finished was... Halloween!  Mine was simple. Had a slightly larger-than-responsible amount of candy. Did some spoopy fun things. My knee has been feeling strange, but hopefully that's an unrelated issue. I'll keep an eye on it. Either way, great holiday.

 And then there's the dental update.  I was able to get an appointment much sooner, however... They were able to smooth down the surface where my tooth chipped, but they strongly recommended putting a crown on it. I can't afford that, my crowd. I'll keep an eye on it for now, but this may be a thing where I just have to risk it for a while. Maybe my tooth might not chip any further after all. Maybe that initial chip will be enough to relieve the pressure/stress.

 There were some good trailers this past week! Doctor Who is releasing more content lately. Probably a promotion deal as they move to Disney Plus. Godzilla has also been making a lot of bonus content too! They are making Kingdom of the Planet Apes. While I have not been a huge fan of this cinematic reboot; I am impressed with their dedication to remake all the titles. Good Burger 2 is getting closer to its theatrical release. This might be the beginning of another Trailers season.

 King-Ohger 35: To Spite The Face...  A very moving episode indeed. An episode where we finally see a little more of why the Blue Ohger has so much faith in his retainer. I hate that it came to this. I hate that he had to destroy the mother computer. I really wanted this to be a fake out ending where he had the advantage all along. In the end, he sacrificed technology to save his people. If he previously built something from nothing, he can do it again. Not much Racles action this time, but you never know what might happen.

 Gotchard 09: Kamen Mazinger?!  I've been a fan of Kamen Rider for years, and of all things I've come to expect, turning into a giant robot was not on my bingo card. Still, I wouldn't be against a live action giant mecha movie in this style. As for our hero, it looks like he is going to learn the hard way why you don't leave your hero equipment at home, ever.

That's all for now, my crowd.  Take care, and remember where it all came from.

Speaking of things not being in my bingo card... I never could have predicted this. 2023, the year of the final Beatles song. There is a mini-documentary explaining how this came to be, which I highly recommend. Explains it better than I can. For now, this is the final chapter. The end of a legacy. This is "Now And Then".

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

   Feel free to leave a song request. Your song will eventually be featured in a future Weekly Musings entry!   

I want to make a lemon pie and have some BBQ ribs...  Hello, my crowd!

 The biggest thing that happened this week is that my family is finally beginning to settle some legal issues related to the inheritance that my grandparents left behind. It has been a WAY too complicated issue, but I am glad the finish line is finally in sight. 

 I need to get a memory card for my Nintendo Switch... I tried to play the newest video game I got for Christmas, and I am all ready out of internal storage. 

 King-Ohger 45: Fire & Ice Hearts!  I love this episode. It's not every day you see a non-Red ranger with fire powers. But the real strength of this episode was the plot. We learn so much more about Rita/Purple and Kaguragi/Black. We learn to appreciate their successors on a new, personal level. But more importantly, we learn how Purple and Black are so similar. That's the thing about a well written story; you don't notice these things until it's spelled out for you. Maybe I am a fool, maybe others picked up on this sooner than me, but I like how they realized their similarities in time to learn that their royal powers balance each other out.

 Faiz MC 01: Wet Sand.  Looks like the people at Toei decided to make a little prelude to go with the Faiz 20th movie. This is just case 1, but I like the set. I am not sure if they managed to get the same set as the original laundry mat or if this is just a reasonable facsimile, but it's absolutely perfect! We've got new characters accompanying the old, and a certain rival is alive again? For now, let's just see where this is going.

 Gotchard 19: Bow Your Heads For This!  To start, let me just address the negatives. I hate when the OP sequence reveals Riders that haven't premiered yet. Likewise, I hate that this episode relies on movie-events that the regular audience might not have seen yet. Well it seems that is the very reason why we see new Riders in the OP, because they appeared in the movie. Rinne even became a Rider for a short while. Beyond that, I loved the later half of this episode! We got to see the TV premiere of Kamen Rider Majade (Celestia would be so proud~), but I was NOT ready for Gotchard Fire AppareSkebow! The beginning of the episode started off wacky, but they explained it with lore, making it easier to appreciate. All in all, a strong finish for a strong start.

 ...Anyone care to watch a movie? 

That's it for now, my crowd.  Take care, and stick to the plan.

I sincerely thought YouTube was doing something good by suggesting me a new rock band with a sound that I actually like! Turns out, this band is not new. They've been around a while! But if this is the kind of material I should expect, then you know I want to listen to more. This is "Nobody Escapes" by Mother Mother.

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

   Feel free to leave a song request. Your song will eventually be featured in a future Weekly Musings entry!   

If there was a problem, yo, I'll solve it, my crowd!  For now, let's review...

 Can't say anything super big or major happened to me this week. However, there were some celebrity deaths. RIP Bob Barker and many others that have died recently.

 In other random pieces of news... Charles Martinet has stepped down as Mario, but he may still be involved with Nintendo. There's been trailers for Sonic Superstars and the last piece of Sonic Frontiers DLC! So hyped about the multiplayer, Metal Amy/Metal Tails, and more~ If I forgot to mention it sooner, I got my AbaRanger DVD box set!  Which is very relevant to tonight's post.

 NO KING-OHGER THIS WEEK!  I'm holding back in favor of the finale of Geats. But I do have a consolation lined up...

 Abare W/ Don: A Wildly Better Promo!  Ultimately like the last one (Hurricaneger with DonBrothers), this is just a promo for the AbaRanger anniversary movie. However, this one feels like a much better stand-alone crossover. Maybe I just feel that way because I haven't seen any major DonBros action for a while now. Still, after getting that AbaRanger DVD boxset, seeing this get translated shortly after felt like just the right timing for me.

 Geats 48: The Final Pieces?  How dare they take the pose of our founding Rider and use it in vein! Every moment of this episode is packed with story and great moments. The return of Girori, the original Game Master, now sticking it to his superiors! The awaited fusion of the good and evil Tsumuri's. But it all ends when we finally see the last piece of opening's imagery come to life just as Geats was winning. Now what?

 Geats 49: Ready? Fight For Desire!  No need to trust last. Time to trust first. There are some aspects of this story that are not perfect. I feel like we never got full disclosure on what evil Tsumuri really wanted out of life, or what happened to her for that matter. There is also a moment that jumps shark a little bit with time-reversing logic. However, it all comes together to form a strong ending. A natural ending that was hinted at many episodes ago; perhaps from the very beginning if you can believe it. I won't spoil that ending here. All I can say is perhaps life is what you make of it, and happiness is always there if you're willing to chase (or wish) for it.

 [ 1 / 2 ] My final thoughts on Kamen Rider Geats the TV series...  I remember when we started this show. A Rider with a gun as his main weapon was advertised, along with a death-match setting. I was worried about how they'd pull this off; that maybe it would be too dark even for Japanese children. However, they found a way to make it work. The story was so engaging that it had me on the edge of my seat; if not every episode then every other episode! Basically, I was enjoying it so much that the time between episodes just melted by. You know it's a great season when having to wait a week for each episode feels like a reward rather than a grind. As the old saying goes, time flies when you're having fun. That's not to say that this show is without flaws, of course...

 [ 2 / 2 ] Eventually, the Admins began to understand the true origins of Ace/Geats. At some point, they began to embrace the roll of super villains a bit too hard. I wondered if they were endangering the “future” they came from. And there were other small flaws too, but it wasn't enough to take away from the beautiful ending that came together in the end. What really makes it beautiful, though, is their approach. They could've had the heroes say the predictable line of “Happiness is not limited!”, but they went a different route. We did get to that point eventually, but in an unexpected way. A way that fits with how this show began. Sure, ReVice is a SLIGHTY better show. However, if you choose this TV show, you'll definitely be in for a great experience. ...But now it's time to flip the card and see what Gotchard has to offer. 

 [ 1 / 2 ] TOKUSATSU MOVIE TIME!  I recently saw Shin Kamen Rider. Normally I wouldn't go into spoilers for movies like this. However, the movie is available internationally on Amazon Prime. I believe that makes it fair gain by now. Going into it, I heard the movies with the Shin title were a tough sell to many. This is no exception. If the movies The First & The Next were No. 1's shining moment, this movie is No. 2's shining moment. I do hate when a star character gets killed off, though. I know Rider is suppose to be a tragic, lone-hero story, but not even the original TV show was this level of tragic. Still, up until the ending, this was easily one the of the best modern takes on the source material. It explained the costumes, the monsters, the deaths, Shocker's methods, etc. It really brought a level of cohesion that the original show needed. The movie starts off super fast with Hongou/No. 1's origins; and the actors manage to capture the spirit of these characters above personal looks. The action is amazing, the story is gripping, and there are great moments. I can't say it's perfect, it's really quantity over quality; maybe because Shinji Higuchi wasn't working with Hideaki Anno for this one. They didn't nail the ending, introducing Robot Detective K went nowhere, and who knows if we'll get a sequel. In fact, the story beats here have been done by other Rider shows before. As it stands, I can only recommend this to die-hard fans of the original Kamen Rider story; especially if you are open to creative re-imaginings.

 [ 2 / 2 ] TOKUSATSU MOVIE TIME!  I also saw Shin Ultraman! This may easily be the best in Shin cinematic series. And why not? Ultraman is just as iconic and important to Japan as Superman is to America. It was imperative that they did this right, and I think they succeeded. I'm not the biggest Ultra fan; so I only know what I know from summaries. The original show was very sci-fi, but this movie was very grounded. Even so, it still felt like a wonderful love letter to the franchise. We had beastly kaiju, intelligent aliens trying to manipulate Earth and its inhabitants, and space-age elements and tech that Earth is not ready for. In the middle of it all, an Ultraman that has formed a partnership with a human. It's a re-imagining, yet you can easily connect the dots to see how modern Earth might evolve into what we saw in the vintage TV series. Did the hero ultimately die? It's left ambiguous, so there is a chance he's still here and capable of defending the Earth! Zoffy was introduced, so there are seeds for the Ultraman legacy to continue in this universe. Best of all, the story-telling has WAY better pacing than Shin Kamen Rider. I may be going out of chronological order, but I am glad I saw this movie last. The only thing that makes this a tough sell is the fact that this is not the story of Shin Hayata and the Space Patrol from the original series; this the story of Shinji Kaminaga and the SSSP. The cast may have many spiritual similarities to their counterparts, and having something unique makes it easier for me to judge this movie on its own without constantly comparing, but it might not be what long-time fans want. Still, as something original, I say that this movie is completely worth your watch.

 MAW Superman 07 & 08: Remember & Survive!  Somehow this show just keeps finding ways to get even better! Multiverse confirming different Lois's and Supermen, including all their classic iterations! Myxie is now the evil anime god he was always meant to be. Kryptonite and Krypton dropped! And oh, be still my shipping heart~!! But then, one bad day can ruin you. If it doesn't make you into a terrible person, it can still ruin your day and everything else.

That's all for now, my crowd.  Take care, and build.

I said I was done with this. I really don't want to highlight stuff like this anymore... But when it comes to making covers that SHOULD have been made in real life, maybe this is what AI is really for!  Besides the vocal glitches and technical limitations, this is pretty much perfect. I doubt Lady Gaga will ever sing this song in real life, but that's what we have AI for. This is "Lady Gaga sings Radio Ga Ga - Queen [AI COVER]".