Animation

1) Cyberpunk Edgerunners (2022)

(07/03/2025)

This is the second time I watched this series and it has become my favorite anime series. It's not perfect, there are many parts where the animation feels off and some plot points that are rushed. However, when it hits, it hits hard. The action scenes are gory and chaotic, the characters have a lot of personality, and it blew me away how much they achieved in a 10 episode series.

Part of the reason why this has become my favorite is because the story is similar to one of my favorite novels, the Great Gatsby. Both of them are about a guy who is born on the bottom of society and they are trying to make a name for themselves. They keep pushing their limits and their successes until they die because of a girl they love.

When I first finished watching it in 2022, I was depressed and even suicidal. I kept thinking to myself what was the point? Why did David get all that chrome, all those eddies, save Lucy, only to die in the end? I also had a similar feeling when Gatsby took the fall and died for Daisy, what was the point?

I saw myself in David and Gatsby as my self-improvement journey started because of a dream to get laid. I lost weight, worked out in the gym, and was more confident, especially with women. However, I felt like I was losing myself in the process. I lost the simple joys of playing video games with friends. I feel like I have to use every single moment to self-improve as much as possible. My Air Force supervisor once told me that I don't know how to switch off. I am always moving and I can't relax. That's probably one of the reasons for my insomnia.

Even though I have had 3 girlfriends before, I still feel empty inside. I still need to keep self-improving, get laid with more women. I don't know when to stop or if I ever will. Banging one chick isn't enough. I want to bang a chick from different countries, one with glasses, one with cosplay, one who is older, and one who is younger. I know if this keeps going for a long time, it's not going to end well for me. Like David and Gatsby who foresaw their impending doom, I can't stop either.

However, as depressing as it is, there is some positive light in all of this. Both David's and Gatsby's dream led them to their ultimate demise. However, if it weren't for their dreams they wouldn't have made it this far. Without their dreams, David would have end up homeless or killed in a random street alleyway. Gatsby would still be stuck in the farm or died from hunger and poverty. I would have ended up liviing my entire life without ever getting a girlfriend, only finding some connection with Ai and anime girlfriends that don't exist. Our dreams are both our blessing and tragedy. They are the waves that push us forward and the same waves that drown us in the end.

3) Attack on Titan Series

This is my second favorite anime series after Cyberpunk 2077 Edge-runners. I binged watched it from start to finish in 10 days, and read the last 4 chapters. I love it. It's a masterpiece. The story feels complete and connected from the 1st chapter to the 139th chapter (end). Even though the story started 13 years ago and ran for 11 years, it all feels like it was written in one take. Everything makes sense from start to finish. In some other mangas and animes, you often get overwhelmed by all the extra characters, arcs, and worlds they keep adding as the protagonist progresses through the story. AOT doesn't feel like that. It also saves you the pain of remembering almost every character's name by killing them off at some point. It maintains focus on the important things which is the main conflict, the protagonist, his close friends, and the enemies.
I also love that it's intended for a mature audience. It's bloody and fucked up with all the deaths and fights all the characters go through. I highly recommend this anime series to everyone. I will also apologize beforehand if it ends up traumatizing you.

5) “Look Back” Movie by Tatsuki Fujimoto

11/11/2024

I watched this movie yesterday night with my best friend Canyon Tyler Castillo.

After the movie ended, there was a lot to think about. On the surface, it is a movie about coping with loss. In look back, you reminisce about the past, all the good times, all the regrets you had, and wishing for a different timeline where things ended up differently. Yet, we can’t do anything except learn to live with happened.

We are forever changed and we will never fully move on from our past experiences.

On one hand, the happy memories fill me with sadness reminding me that they are over. In the other hand, it also fills me with optimism that if those happy memories exist, then it’s also possible to create new happy ones as well.

A important question came up during our discussion: why do we create memories in the first place?

=we remember and look back because those experiences mean a lot to us. They make up a core part of who we are today. I don’t want to forget the good times I had with my friends nor the pain and heartbreaks I had with girls. All of them helped me grow and learn about the human experience.

There is always a part of me that wishes I had done things differently. I wish that I could have spent more time with my friends doing new things rather than staying alone in my room. I wished that I had gone for the kiss in my first relationship. I can’t change the past, I can only learn from it as I look back.

6) The Night is Short Walk on Girl (2018)

This was my favorite movie for a long time (until Didi was released). I happened upon this movie by random chance. It’s trailer was recommended to me on Youtube and the only reason I decided to watch it was because of the Skateboard girl song by ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION and the movie only had theater screenings on August 21 and 22 (my birthday).

Book summary:

The novel was written first in 2009 before being adapted into a film. Overall, the main story is the same. The main differences are the pacing, side characters, and world building. The book takes place across the whole year with each chapter taking place in a different season. In the movie, it’s all done in one night and the title fits perfectly for this context. In the book, most side characters only show up in their distinct chapters. In the movie, some of the side characters are removed and their roles are given to the rest which makes it more organized. Some of the side plots are removed from the movie. On one hand, it reduces world building but I loved that choice. It makes it more concise and prevents attention being taken away from the main story.

The movie does add more symbolism such as the clocks/watches moving at different speeds, the contrast in the drinking challenge, etc. Overall, i loved the movie way better than the book. In the movie, every character, every plot point has a purpose which is why this was my favorite movie for a long time.