We failed as a society when everyone stopped wearing headphones.
Finally feel like I can say something coherent, so here goes... I say this without a shred of exaggeration: Akira Toriyama was legitimately one of the most important creative figures of the last 50 years. His work, especially Dragon Ball, has influenced SO much even outside its own medium. Movies, TV, cartoons, comic books, video games, MUSIC... all of it. You can see his fingerprints in so many other works. Even now, artists and writers, voice actors and animators, musicians and game devs are all mourning him and reflecting on the impact he had on their own work. Titans of anime and manga are sharing in this pain. The craziest thing about this though? The humility he had in spite of it. He was always reluctant to be in the spotlight, preferred to keep his head down and just work, never really worried that much about public perception of himself. Part of what makes him such an icon, man. Losing him is losing a piece of our shared history. It's something that resonates deep in the hearts of everyone his work touched. This is just... such a loss. And I can't even begin to imagine what his family is going through right now. Praying for them all. Rest in Peace to a literal Legend, an absolute Icon, and a personal inspiration in more ways than I could ever express properly.
Hostile
So I’ve been teaching 6th grade since January, and one thing about my female students which made me upset to realize is how many of them are obsessed with skincare. I've heard the girls in my class discussing the EYE CREAM they use. Like tf you mean eye cream? You're ELEVEN!!! I'm a decade older than you and have never even touched eye cream!! The most skincare a middle schooler needs is cleanser and moisturizer, maybe some acne cream. Who tf is selling you all this other stuff? Who tf told you you needed all this?
It hurts me to see. Their brains are too young for these types of insecurities 😭 no 11 year old girl should be obsessed with wrinkles, I wanna beat tf out of whatever tiktoker made them believe they needed skin that perfect
i don’t know why i love this so much but i do
RIP Akira Toriyama (1955-2024)
fanfiction truly being the savior for everyones sanity
Gintama’s really got something for everyone.
The anime’s funny and has this energy to it that you can tell everyone involved was having a great time. It’s a wonderful ensemble comedy that genuinely makes me laugh out loud.
The serious arcs are hype as heck, the fights are brutal and well choreographed. And they exist to magnify the emotional beats, so they feel like they have narrative weight. It matters how a fight goes down.
It’s a very good political drama. From the beginning you can tell that something shifty is going on, and each group is more or less its own political faction. The plotting is tight and it’s easy to follow what each faction wants and why.
And it has really a great philosophical message. It has something to say, and that message is bigger than all the individual moments of self reflection from the cast. The narrative feels subtly woven together to make that greater message.
And it’s anime comfort food. It’s found family. It’s learning to live and make connections to other people even though it’s hard.
It’s a series that’s big enough that you could live in it.
Also, props to Allan???
He's a doll most people have never heard of. He got discontinued forever ago cause he was perceived as gay by consumers and they didn't like that.
But I love that he had an actual role in Barbie. He was very queer coded, yeah, but he didn't like when all the Kens turned to Patriarchy. He was so uncomfortable that he wanted to abandon Barbieland all together. He knew it was wrong.
And then he helped the Barbies get themselves back. He had a pink jumpsuit and sunglasses and went out all stealthy to get the Barbies in the van. He even voted at the end to keep the constitution the way it was.
Big Allan fan over here.