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NOVALAXIA


RECENT ENTRIES


SNAKE-EYE SYNDROME (OR, "MY STRUGGLE TO RECONCILE WITH MY TIME AS A YGO
CREATOR")

Jul. 23rd, 2024 11:20 pm
I write the first few words of this post at 21:49 on July 23rd, 2024.

Today marks roughly 18 months since I vowed to never again make a video on
Yugioh, to never again candidly share my thoughts on a game that eventually
opened so many doors in my personal life.

I closed that door for a number of reasons. I've been quite transparent about
those reasons before. Perhaps I'm rehashing old ground by mentioning it again.
But there's a lingering consciousness that remains, deeply rooted at the back of
my mind. A friend likened it to a fungal infection, something that still hurts
despite how long it's been since I last made any substantial thoughts on the
game.

My reasons for stepping away from Yugioh content creation are numerous, both in
scale and depth.

As a creator, the amount of work I would have to put in, effectively much more
than was worth for someone very new to the race, combined with the overwhelming
research that needed to be done between each video, was tiring. I would
essentially be doing a whole spreadsheet's worth of secondary analysis, entirely
by myself, to predict trends well over a month before being proven right or
wrong. My hypotheses had to be airtight, my workflow bulletproof - all for what?
A 10-minute video that would be completely useless by the next calendar season?
I might have been better off in a black company. To top it off, I would
constantly have to expose myself to what felt like some of the most obstinate,
uncompromising group of people I've ever imagined. A (potential) audience of
people who constantly clamour for rational debate, but refuse to hear anything
remotely resembling factual sense. Many of my close friends (and fellow
creatives) have since told me it sounds like being a YGO creator takes a degree
of masochism to be somewhat successful in the long-term space, and looking back
on it now, I feel like they're not wrong.

As a person, making YGO content proved to be unfulfilling. There's a reason why
I denote my YGO videos as "content" and my catalogue of videos from the Revue
Starlight piece onwards as anything but that term, and it isn't just because I
look back on my old work with some degree of disappointment. Yugioh is a game
that does not lend itself particularly well to creative aspirations in much the
same way as other topics, especially considering the videos I've made in the 18
months since my last YGO-related video. You can make a similar argument for
other trading card games too. As I kept making YGO content, I found myself at a
crossroads with the level I wanted to work towards - there were nearly limitless
possibilities for historical and artistic analyses and perspectives that I could
pursue, and yet I had deluded myself into believing that doing this, for just a
little bit longer, would give me the chops of editing knowledge that I could
then use to make those aspirations a reality. I had stunted my own potential for
growth on so many levels because I didn't realise that it was okay to fail this
much, so early on.

I didn't have anyone to teach me these lessons.
I didn't have anyone to hold me by the shoulder and tell me this.
I didn't have to find this out the hard way.

And yet, I stand here now.

I've joked with a few of my friends, some of whom are talented creatives in
other fields, that making Yugioh videos for the brief, yet committed period that
I did, was the basis for a kind of psychosis. I still wrestle with the poor
habits I cultivated during that time when I work on more personally engaging
ventures. A desire to maintain deadlines. A paranoid degree of attention to
detail. A dread of opening DaVinci Resolve and loathing a new video despite
being immensely passionate for the topic. There's still a part of me that has to
battle with the awful feeling of "just getting it done" when I know I'm not
bounded by these constraints any more. It infuriates me. I can't even articulate
exactly why.

I recently learned that one particular friend is playing through Suda51 games,
in particular the "No More Heroes" series. It reminded me that I had some
related games in my back catalogue, namely "The Silver Case." Revisiting that
game's core philosophy, alongside watching a video essay on the game, unlocked
that door in the back of my mind that I've refused to look at for so long now.

To move on from Yugioh content creation for good, I need to come to terms with
it. I need to kill the past.

The opening act of The Silver Case features the protagonists of an earlier game
directed by Suda Goichi, Moonlight Syndrome. In this opening act, they serve as
the primary threat and introduction to the wider story, namely the thematic
statement of "kill the past" that echoes so often throughout the rest of the
game. As these protagonists succumb to a psychosis of their own and are
ruthlessly gunned down by authoritarian cops to maintain a pretense of order in
the fictional 24th Ward, you come to first learn of the name "Kamui." This name
is initially believed to be the identity of a legendary killer, but eventually
morphs into a state of mind, a rationality to explain the sleeper agents who
exist to clean house against anyone who flies too close to the sun in learning
the "truth."

...I'm rambling here, aren't I? Sorry. Force of habit.

There's a latent psyche in the back of my mind when I think about my Yugioh
content in hindsight. It sounds like the ramblings of a madman when I write my
feelings out like this. In a way, I see less violent, but no less destructive
traces of myself in those who awaken to Kamui. I can't look away from a
resentment that I'm unable to control, the sensation of losing agency to
feelings I can't stop. Much like Ryo Kazan deliriously rambles "REALGAME" before
receiving a whole Colt Officer's ACP to the stomach, I feel myself wordlessly
screaming sentiments of regret amidst the nonsense clouding my brain whenever I
think about how I got to this stage as a creator. I'm angry, and also upset,
that I spent so much time on things that ultimately mean nothing of personal
value.

Once upon a time, I would say that I did not regret making YGO content. Now, I
realise that I am lying to myself by saying that. Such a decision is one of the
greatest mistakes of my life.

I know that there is a subset of people among my audience who will read this,
and will likely be offended at how I express my thoughts on YGO content. Some of
these people either know, or are content creators themselves. I apologise for
how strong my wording is in this piece. But I also acknowledge that writing this
is a form of closure that I have denied myself for a long time now.

Looking at serious discussions on the state of Yugioh now, it surprises me that
people continue to argue in good faith without an interest in the wider context.
I don't particularly care about Konami enough to bat for a corporation, nor do I
have any real stake in offering my own insight on the game anymore. It simply
tires me thinking that I used to care enough to comment on it, knowing that I
wasted time on trying to change the mindset of anyone but myself. There's no
real place for me in a community of people that appear mostly content with
arguing for change, rather than striving for it. I just want my time back.

Perhaps there's nothing of substance to me saying all of this in the end. Maybe
I just needed to vent again. Whatever the case, finally being able to articulate
these thoughts might be what finally pushes me to stop thinking about this, once
and for all. I need to move on from Yugioh content, from discussing the game
entirely. Change myself for the better, rather than hoping this space I observe
from the outside doesn't change for the worse.

I hope that a flower can eventually bloom, somewhere amidst the sun and rain.

Today, I finally kill the past.
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MY NEW EXPERIENCE WITH FREEFORM HARDCORE, AND BROADENING MY MUSIC HORIZONS

Mar. 27th, 2024 05:20 pm
It's 23:02, March 26th 2024, as I write the opening portion of this post. Why do
I use 24-hour time here? Perhaps it's a strange flight of fancy.
 
Regardless, I've been listening to an assortment of freeform hardcore over the
past week, mostly inspired by my prior musings on the works of Betwixt & Between
and the evolution of J-core over the last two decades. Some of you who witnessed
my findings might have seen this comment I made regarding my thoughts on the
genre during the early 2000s:

“freeform hardcore is a genre I absolutely could not have wrapped my head around
10 years ago. there's something about how these kinds of tracks have remained
steadfast to their roots for so long that I come to enjoy them for, now that I
understand music a little better”

This comment sparked an interesting discussion with a friend of mine, who asked
me about my conscious awareness relating to the genres I've gravitated towards
in recent years. How does an artist's style affect the historical context of
when a track is produced? Is there a correlation between greater historical
understanding and the “enjoyment” of a particular music piece? Do you actually
need this kind of knowledge to influence how you perceive the music you listen
to? These are all valid questions, ones that I think deserve more care than a
passing anecdotal mention.

Watch on YouTube
Dizzying Life - Soleily, from J-NERATION ‘00 [J-NERATION, 2019]

Looking at music genres from a more active perspective is a process that I don't
think comes naturally to many people. The average person will be able to tell
you the difference between pop and rock, for instance, but differentiating
something esoteric like psytrance from a niche genre on the obscurity scale of
Japanese hi-tech, especially by defining characteristics, is asking far too much
of the general public. The point is that most people don't inherently need to
know, because it scarcely matters in the long run. You wouldn't need to look up
the exact serial number of one house lightbulb you might not change again,
right? Sure, this is a contentious point in itself, but most of my friends who
enjoy music do so without worrying about the little details, just as I know
nothing about the Shadowverse TCG, or League of Legends. (If you are one of the
people who falls into this category, please leave me a sufficiently dissatisfied
response in my private messages. Thank you for your time.)
 
I do think that developing a personal taste is important. Many will ascribe
benefits such as “knowing what you like” or “being free from posting bad
online,” but I will present an argument slightly outside the box. Developing and
cultivating a personal taste in music allows people to better organise and
curate the kinds of music they listen to under a more defined framework. You
might not like how artist A produces music in one genre, but perhaps there are
elements that artist B (possibly connected to artist A in some way) illustrates
in a more dynamic, or interesting way. Having that framework as a starting point
can expand your music horizons in a much more comfortable and organic way than
relying on an algorithm ever will, because you actively make the first step to
judging whether a genre or artist matches your tastes or not. Of course, it’s
ultimately a subjective process at the end of the day, and you won't have the
graces of autoplay forcing related music into your ear canals to make the choice
for you, but a lot of music in niche genres don't provide those kinds of
luxuries. Sometimes you just gotta take the leap - and that's the thrill of it
all.
 
Learning of the context for a genre, especially if it's close to the public
consciousness, is hardly necessary. I dare say that J-core only provides me the
opportunity because of how obfuscated its history is. For someone
history-oriented like me, I like having that extra awareness to enrich my
understanding of early J-core because of how the environment has changed from
when I started listening in 2011. You don't need that kind of knowledge, nor do
you need to know exactly what goes into music composition. Hell, I can't tell
you half of the elements that go into dariacore, and that's a genre I'm
particularly biased towards, partially thanks to being friends with one of the
more high-profile names in person. That kind of knowledge might spoil a person's
experiences with music too much, because it creates the impression that you have
to know everything about a genre and its artists to fully comprehend what's on
offer. No way. You can do the reading if you want, but don't feel obligated to
do so because it's one of a kind. It's the difference between black coffee and
five sugars. Start with what you know, go with the flow, and take it nice and
slow - music is entertainment all the same, not just a distraction or condiment.
 
tl;dr ゆっくりしていってねw
 
Having (hopefully) articulated my views on these topics, I want to spend time
discussing my thoughts on freeform hardcore in more detail, so as to better
answer my feelings on how I discover new music. I’m technically aware of the
freeform style, having been an avid fan of Betwixt & Between for a long time,
and I've come to learn that fellow TANO*C contributors like DJ Hase (companion
to B&B as part of the RaverRose unit) and Alabaster have produced similar works
that fit the classification. So what else did I find? What was my view of the
genre afterwards?

Watch on YouTube
Void - Alabaster, from HARDCORE SYNDROME 2 [HARDCORE TANO*C, 2008]

As I previously mentioned in my introductory comments, freeform hardcore
initially struck me as a genre that rarely strayed from its roots. There's an
ever-present dark sound to most productions that evokes a certain feeling of
melancholy, emphasised by the use of acid/psychedelic synths to drive a
heavy-hitting, frantic kind of tone. B&B often mixed and matched the sharp acid
synths with his frequent use of goa trance sounds to create a powerful melodic
dissonance, while Alabaster leaned into the piercing acid as a trademark that
defined his TANO*C works like Machine Messiah and Sarcomite. These kinds of
tracks wouldn't have appealed to me a decade ago, but there's a certain
immemorialism to this kind of sound production that draws me closer to the
genre's past, even today.
 
Many freeform hardcore mainstays of the 2000s who've continued the tradition
into the present owe much to the sounds that first defined the genre, a quality
that speaks to my historian brain like no other. I can appreciate the
acknowledgement of the “glory years” because there's no need to reinvent the
wheel here. To me, the sounds in freeform hardcore are no different from the
sounds of techcore in how they stick very close to the cutting edge - while the
latter seeks to drive home that the future is now, the former reminds you that
we are never too far off from music that pushes our creative imagination. Rather
than saying “freeform is dead,” I thus posit that freeform is still alive.
Schrodinger’s James Brown proves itself to be an inexhaustible phenomenon.
 
Something else that interests me with subgenres like freeform hardcore and
techcore is how artists and DJs push the landscape of existing music beyond what
many have already categorised, essentially creating a new breed of music built
from the scaffolding of absolute freedom. Listening to Hardcore Baby’s Revenge a
few days prior to writing this definitely cemented this opinion, because I never
felt the impression that “these songs sound the same” at any real point. There’s
an inherent danger holding this sentiment with mixed albums in particular,
because one would expect a continuous "flow" to maintain the experience, but the
variety of darker elements mixed together with the classic breakbeat hardcore of
early 2000s underground tunes creates a journey in itself. My favourite track on
this album is Good Night Tokyo by DJ Shimamura, containing much of the familiar
rave-like elements that pulled me so feverishly towards compilations like Lilium
Records' Rave Inside!! series.

Many grow tired of trance and deep house for arguably the same reasons that the
aforementioned genres are held in such high regard, but my reasoning for why the
reception is so different, and why I make it a habit to listen to a wide array
of music, is because writing what you know can only take you so far when the
extent of your awareness is solely built upon knowing that you know nothing at
all.


Watch on YouTube
Eternal - RR-ThermalForce, from EXCALIBUR VOL.1 [RaverRose, 2005]

I try to avoid speaking with certainty on matters relating to my hobbies. Music
is a passion that I hold close to my heart because of the connections I’ve made
throughout my life, but you can never be too certain as to how accurate you may
be. Taking that first step during COVID-19 to enrich my perspectives on music
and learn more about the various subcultures I encountered, as I did with
society in academia, was a learning experience that I enjoyed undertaking
partially because it felt natural to me. I like knowing more about obscure
things by trade, but I acknowledge that such a process may be intimidating to
others. Admittedly, I feel self-conscious typing this out, because I know it
sounds inherently pretentious. Do people actually read these and give a toss
about what I have to say if I just unfurl it into the abyss? It’s why I’m very
hands-off when suggesting new art to people - our tastes are ultimately decided
by ourselves at the end of the day. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way
to enjoy art. Nor do I have any interest in admonishing others for their
perspectives.
 
My first proclivity with music is to have fun. Nothing more, nothing less.
I hope you enjoy this journey through sound, just as I and many others continue
to do.
 
[now and forever]
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HOW SOUND VOLTEX MADE ME A BETTER YGO PLAYER

Mar. 13th, 2024 01:47 am
Salutations. You may have read the title of this post and had a thought similar
to "you are delusional" rise up in your head.

A quick briefing before I explain myself in more detail - I have kept myself
informed on the state of competitive YGO since 2012, having taken a break
between 2016-2022 to play Sound Voltex. Though I have not competed in any major
tournament settings beyond the local level since learning the game on a
"competitive" level, I am at least at the level where I have an intermediate
understanding of competitive play.

With that background out of the way, what do I mean by "how Sound Voltex made me
a better YGO player," and how do two completely unrelated games that happen to
be developed by the same parent company (Konami) correlate in any way?

Let me begin with the evergreen adage - "play more."

To the rhythm game players who read this, you will undoubtably kiss your teeth
and turn your nose upwards in a manner best described as casual annoyance, while
this statement will hold no such resonance to the Yugioh folk at home who grow
tired of my prose.

In the wider rhythm game genre, the phrase "play more" is the advice given to
any player looking for any potential foundations for improvement, a phrase as
ethereal as it is frustratingly vague. Like telling a new YGO player to start
learning the game through reading a Swordsoul guide, the sentiment has good
intentions, aimed to ease you into the process of independent study so that you
take a more reflective approach to understanding your game on a greater scale
than the material you engage with from credit to round. It's meant to be as
open-ended as possible, because having lesser freedom of agency doesn't
encourage players to learn the intricacies of Yugioh or rhythm games. Rather, it
establishes the opposite perspective, the idea that you must follow the process
from A to Z. Can you say you're really learning anything if the first step is
basically reading an IKEA manual? You develop bad habits that you depend on too
much as a player, superficial crutches that later become your defining
association with any experiences you may have.

With this in mind, I wish to briefly refute the games that people often compare
YGO to. Many equate the process of learning and playing YGO to fighting games
like Marvel vs. Capcom, where the execution curve is steep, learning the game is
obtuse at best, and you can very easily lose agency with even one minor lapse of
judgement.

This is an apt comparison, were it not for the fact that beatmania IIDX exists.

Almost all of the issues that people bring up with YGO (high execution barrier,
nearly vertical learning curve, information overload from the legacy format) are
the same problems that make IIDX brutally difficult for newer players to pick
up. The game has developed such a reputation over its 25-year history that most
high-level IIDX players will often tell you to steer well clear until you're
already confident enough in at least one other title. Hell, if you look at it a
certain way, song removals/revivals are basically the IIDX equivalent of a
banlist. Konami has been making legacy titles difficult to learn as a new player
for years now, but the problem of poor learning material is a constant factor
that still stands to this day. I have my issues with IIDX in the same way I do
with YGO, but the former has that "legacy prestige" behind it that can somewhat
explain why it's so tough to get into. It makes sense in the context of rhythm
games, because the genre already has an accessibility problem that makes
self-study even more valuable to the core experience - something YGO has no
excuse for, as a game with free simulators like EDOPro at the average player's
disposal.

So how did playing SDVX help me improve (even tangentially) at YGO? It all comes
back to "play more."

The most common interpretation of "play more" is to experience as much of your
chosen game as possible, or in essence, play as many charts as you can relative
to your skill level once you hit a wall close to your physical limit. When I was
stuck at a certain level of progression (e.g. the level 17-18 wall) one of the
best options I had at my disposal was to play more level 14-16 songs.

Study up on fundamentals.
What key knowledge am I missing that would be useful to know at a higher level
of play?
Am I currently encouraging any bad habits that should be avoided in future?

Playing with a wider range of options gave me the foundations for
self-reflection, like the above questions, that let me think more intuitively
about my playstyle, providing me with more focused aims and objectives than the
simple "I want to achieve x goal (e.g. skill lv. ∞) by y date" goalposts that
people always post and never follow through with. Additionally, it gave me a
stronger appreciation for the game beyond my current understanding - how could I
say that SDVX was my favourite rhythm game if I didn't give every single song or
chart in the game a fair shot, and try learning something each time? By playing
both the best and worst of what the game has to offer, I took that information
on board and used it to influence my goals to achieve in future sessions. I
figured out what I'm good at, and what needs improvement.

That leads me to YGO. I've never been the best player, deckbuilder, or teacher
prior to the release of Master Duel, but effectively starting from scratch after
six years away from the game reset many of the problematic mentalities I held
during my youth. If I wanted to learn the game again, I would have to understand
the new hotness. Mess around with decks and cards I would have never never
fathomed the existence of back when Ghost Ogre was new.

I picked up a newer midrange deck (Marincess) to establish my fundamentals once
more. (It's my pet deck now.)
Tearlaments gave me the motivation to learn decks with more freeform
maneuverability.
Against my better judgement, I crafted a whole Labrynth core. Now I understand
the main elements of control playstyles.

Playing more isn't always a message borne from laziness. It's advice that stems
from poor articulation. Should you choose to arbitrarily limit yourself for
whatever reason, the end result will stunt your growth and enjoyment of the
game. You don't engage with what the game offers you, but instead pick at your
own discretion because the process scares you. That's completely fine and
understandable. Nonetheless, I think you should try to step outside your comfort
zone by habit, rather than force. Try to veer towards what interests you first,
whether that's a new set of charts, or a deck type you don't often play with,
and make an effort to sit down with your experiences after each session. Think
about it all - the good, the bad, what you were confident with, what requires
more fine-tuning.

To end this post on a positive note, I think picking up a new deck, or playing a
chart for the first time, is an admirable effort. Rather than viewing it as a
stepping stone for your endgoal, think of it as a new perspective on how you
already see your chosen game. The greatest initiatives start from the smallest
ripples.

I hope this encourages you to try something new, and find a fresh understanding
in something you (hopefully) already love so dearly.

If you finish reading this with one core message in mind, let it be this one:
DO NOT RUN AWAY FROM ENDYMION

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A THINKPIECE ON THE EVOLUTION OF JAPANESE HARDCORE

Dec. 19th, 2023 01:55 am
This is the second entry in a series of blog posts where I briefly (for a vague
definition) reflect on the J-core genre over the last 25 or so years. You can
find the first entry in this series, where I cover the influences and legacy of
the late Betwixt & Between, here.

(See also the impetus that led to me writing about this topic here.)

I've recently been thinking about the developments of Japanese hardcore as a
music genre since learning about the wider otaku subculture back in 2010, a
journey that's led me down an incredibly steep, and yet fascinatingly
undocumented rabbit hole in the eight or so months since it first crossed my
mind. Learning about the early discography of artists like DJ SHARPNEL, Betwixt
& Between, REDALiCE, and DJ TECHNORCH not only gave me an appreciation for the
genre that you could only ever find in Youtube "deep dive" essays, but also
presented me with a number of realisations about the early 2000s internet that
only become more difficult to accept.

Throughout a number of my posts on various hobbies and interests, I've often
brought up the importance of "historical value" regarding how people regard
their obscure hyperfixations - why greater focus is ascribed to specific works,
what messages we can gather from analysing their historical significance to the
culture, how important it is that we keep preserving these mediums. As one
particular video essay producer has proven with his findings on plagarism over
the last couple of weeks, the average person doesn't care about these
deliberations. Most don't think about the prescribed value we place on anything
that doesn't provide immediate financial benefit to us. Unfortunately, that
sentiment runs far deeper than even those covering niche topics seem to realise,
a perspective I covered in my aforementioned "finer appreciation for the otaku
(speed) arts" - anime, visual novels, and the occasional magazine get top
billing, while everything else is relegated to one dedicated individual forced
into even more faithful depictions of Icarus for the credible information they
need.

There's a point to my rambling here - it's hard to discuss the foundational
years of J-core in much the same way. A lot of highly valuable primary sources
relating to J-core history before and immediately after the turn of the
millennium are lost to time in some form, with any records of their existence
mentioned in an offhand Wikipedia footnote for a website culled before we had
the Internet Archive. Trying to do research on where J-core really started is a
difficult endeavour - the Wikipedia page only lists four sources at all, and the
article I used as a springboard on the topic for the longest time doesn't cite
any sources of their own in turn. Compare that to the dearth of sources used to
discuss the overwhelming legacy of this infamous VN I can't directly name, and
you start to notice a problem. A lot of primary sources on J-core are as
"primary" as one gets - if you can't cite it straight from the horse's mouth,
say no thank you for the horse.


Watch on YouTube

Many definitive origin points of J-core are difficult to narrow down, but the
most agreed-upon starting point to define the genre as we know it today
is sharpnel vs Project Gabbangelion, the very first release under the "High
Speed Music Team Sharpnel" moniker. I've talked a bit about this album's
significance before, but listening to this album highlights just how many
elements of J-core were codified by one initially obscure group in 1998. A lot
of the contemporary European hardcore techno and industrial hardcore traditions
of the time show their influence throughout every track here, but this work is
uniquely distinct in forming a bridge between the "music junkie" and "otaku
culture" perceptions of what would later be known as Japanese hardcore. One of
the arguably defining traditions that gave J-core its distinct anime-adjacent
identity was the (sometimes egregious) use of anime and VN vocal samples - it
can be argued that this was an attempt to make this branch of hardcore music
more approachable to an underground audience, who may have seen kindred value
seeing this budding genre rise from the ashes of Y2K much like Serial
Experiments Lain. That's hyperbole, but you can probably appreciate what I'm
trying to say here.
 
DJ SHARPNEL's influence is widely credited as one of the progenitors behind the
J-core term, as there are a number of artists and releases that still follow the
general framework established by the group's music to this day. Hell, I listened
to an album released a month ago that basically captures the spirit of what
SHARPNEL J-core is all about. To ignore these contributions is a gross
misunderstanding of how the genre has developed between the 2000s and now. That
being said, I would like to draw attention to the other High Speed Music Team
albums, because I think they deserve some mention in understanding how the
iconic SHARPNEL sound created its own offshoot of J-core alongside the modern
internet. Special shoutout to memecore, you have to listen to the genre to
understand its genius.


Watch on YouTube
Highspeed Star - Jea, from Double Dutch [高速音楽隊シャープネル, 1998]

Double Dutch is something of an enigma in relation to the wider history of
Japanese underground music pre-2000. I'm going to keep any background on this
album VERY brief, because it's enough for a whole Youtube video by itself (that
I would LOVE to cover), but it's worth talking about it in some form not
confined to a wiki summary.

To cut a long story short, Double Dutch, as well as the following mini-album
From The Heart, are effectively lost media. According to notes corroborated by
Discogs and VGMDB, approximately 40 copies of the former were sold at the very
second M3 doujin event in 1998, with the album quickly discontinued afterwards
due to the group's "dissatisfaction with the content." The second half of that
sentence is a widely-circulated statement on these two sites that I was barely
able to trace back to the 2015 SHARPNELSOUND CHRONICLE booklet, but the
information regarding its incredibly limited print run is something I can
definitely confirm. What better source to back up that claim than its mysterious
absence from the discography section on DJ SHARPNEL's old website?! Alas, both
albums lost their master copy data in a hard drive failure shortly afterwards,
which makes both of them incredibly rare, if not pseudo-lost media.

I'm going to spare you the remainder of that background information, because
it's definitely worth looking at in isolation. Nonetheless, Double Dutch is a
fascinating release to listen to in hindsight, partially due to the knowledge
that the SHARPNEL team weren't happy with the final product. Upon first listen,
it's immediately evident that these tracks feel extremely underbaked - something
feels missing throughout, and the resultant mastering process feels strangely
hollow as a result. This is apparent even in some of the more fleshed-out
tracks, like Heart Attack and Highspeed Star, as anyone who's paying any sort of
attention can hear that some layers are considerably lacking in depth. The
gabber and techno kicks used throughout feel bizarrely rough around the edges,
creating this odd sense of cognitive dissonance between what you're perceiving
and what you're actually listening to. That said, DJ Jea (the main act of the
SHARPNEL collective) did view his Double Dutch contributions fondly, as he would
revisit the previously mentioned songs in the following release, also named From
The Heart (now subtitled 地獄編 or "Hell Compilation" to differentiate it.)

Highspeed Star in particular is a track that Jea sought fit to give proper
justice, seeing no less than three separate revisions over the next three
releases. These draw upon more upbeat makina and happy hardcore inspirations to
create a livelier sound, perhaps serving as a precursor to the Bright Colors
series under HARDCORE TANO*C a decade later. That being said, Double Dutch is an
unintentional focal point in analysing how J-core has developed since its
inception, because much of the later scene and its sub-categories would sound
vastly different without its release. Artists were willing to take risks and
innovate their sound to create something more unique than a simple import of
European underground values, even if it didn't meet expectations - I argue that
early J-core became synonymous with adaptation, morphing the inspirations of
vastly different music styles to create a new blend that ran wild and free next
to the early internet.

As the early history of DJ SHARPNEL as a unit is documented in much more detail
than their past as the High Speed Music Team, I'd like to return to HARDCORE
TANO*C for a moment, and talk a bit about their impact on the scene that's still
around now. (Refer to my last post on Betwixt & Between, seen at the top of this
post, for a quick refresher and general background.)


Watch on YouTube
Optical Force - umbrella, from HARDCORE SYNDROME [HARDCORE TANO*C, 2007]

While TANO*C had established themselves within the J-core sphere as a
new-blooded internet collective borne from the depths of 2ch, it is with the
release of the first HARDCORE SYNDROME in 2007 that the group began to find
their proper footing. J-core started to diversify in many respects - from the
inspirations it drew upon, to the artists who collaborated and contributed far
and wide in pursuit of their own interpretation of this post-Financial Crisis
sound, the genre had become a truly international project helmed by the teens of
the new World Wide Web. Just as artists like JAKAZiD took inspiration from
metamorphoses in Japan, homegrown talents were more than willing to innovate on
the techniques that DJ SHARPNEL had founded. You still had the hardcore and
industrial techno parts of J-core still spearheading the movement, but now there
was room for happy hardcore, for UK hardcore... and as USAO would showcase,
Frenchcore had a big impact too. Japanese hardcore was truly worldwide.

Many of the artists featured in TANO*C compilations envisioned their own style
for J-core, something that the group was enthusiastic to showcase in a variety
of ways. The SPEED BALL series skews more towards a punchier hardstyle and
speedcore mixture aimed at retaining parts of the genre's tradition, while the
Bright Colors series skews more towards the happy hardcore vibe that became more
of the "standard" in later years. There was no set constitution for J-core, and
that may be the reason why its history is so hard to clarify during its
formulative years. DJ Shimamura shares this sentiment in a 2018 Bandcamp article
highlighting J-core artists, stating “I am only making hardcore in Japan, I do
not have the consciousness of making J-core. I think that this is probably the
same for many Japanese artists.” Just as J-core was a freeform genre with no set
conventions, it was a chimera of artistic perspective thanks to the rise of file
sharing websites like Megaupload and Youtube proliferating its spread to a wider
audience than the club scapes of yonderdecade.


Watch on YouTube
Opal rain - YUKIYANAGI, from Never Forget Vacation 4 [Login Records, 2020]

These days, J-core has become much harder to define. DJ Shimamura follows up his
earlier statement with the idea that the term "was born as a word to easily
express a lot of unique Japanese sounds" - he's certainly not wrong, if you look
at what the genre has become now. Many artists are following that direction,
aiming for something closer to an underground Japanese interpretation of various
genres like UK hardcore, psytrance, and hardstyle, rather than a catch-all term
like J-core. Sure, you can argue that "J-core" is a twist on those existing
genres expressed in a number of different forms, but you end with the question
of "what makes J-core any different from calling it "Japanese-inspired [insert
genre here]" by that point?" Nobody knows.

I end this piece with my own thoughts on how J-core will evolve over the next
decade. Personally speaking, I think J-core has mutated to the point where
trying to codify a single interpretation of it feels counterproductive. A
wealthy degree of new artists contributing towards the genre aren't even from
Japan, while there's still some pretty clear differences between the kind of
hardcore you'd hear in Europe/America and what's birthed under the J-core label.
Rhythm games have started to adopt these changing sounds, for better or for
worse. We're in an age of what music otaku scathingly call "otogecore," music
produced for arcade games like beatmania IIDX and SOUND VOLTEX first and
foremost. The side effect of this acknowledgement is that the genre has started
an ouroboros of inspiration, constantly eating itself alive in a search for the
next banger.

I won't say that J-core is dead. But I won't say it's alive right now, either.
It's in a weird spot, what with collectives like MEGAREX moving away from the
hardcore roots for a more post-modern hi-tech basis. The genre needs more
artists to push boundaries, and less people citing rhythm games as their sole
guideline for tracks. It's time for a move away from the banger culture.

tl;dr: Who the Fuck is James Brown?

[we love hardcore]

 * Current Music: DOCUMENTAL - DJ Shimamura

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TOUT EST BIEN (SEIN ZUM TODE) - A TRIBUTE TO BETWIXT & BETWEEN

Nov. 13th, 2023 09:00 pm
How does one define J-core?

As someone who's been an avid, yet casual enjoyer of the music genre for close
to 13 years by this point, it's a question that's never really struck me with
any real sense of curiosity until fairly recently. However, with the evergreen
debacle over music trends rapidly swinging between revolution and stagnation, I
took some time to think about the changes to J-core (and its influences) since I
started listening to the genre back in 2010. Groups like HARDCORE TANO*C were
the entry point to this type of music at the start of the last decade - but
there's one name that's caught my eye for many years despite their arguably
diminishing influence on the current scene, an artist who I've come to see as
the bridge between the past and present of underground Japanese hardcore.

(For reference, HARDCORE TANO*C recently celebrated their 20th anniversary with
a new album at time of writing, appropriately titled '20'. I haven't listened to
it yet, but anyone in private correspondence will know my thoughts soon enough.)

Betwixt & Between was a regular contributor to the foundational years of both
J-core and HARDCORE TANO*C. His style of freeform trance was a hallmark of the
genre during the 2000s, creating an ethereal blend of traditional hardcore and
trance elements that earned him the renown of artists both within and outside
Japan. Though primarily known for this uniquely darker energetic sound, Betwixt
& Between would experiment with various works that were more true to form for
the genres he took inspiration from, like speedcore and DJ SHARPNEL-like
breakcore. There's a clear influence of contemporary J-core trends that guides
much of his music, but when listening through the perspective of the genre now,
it feels refreshing to gauge the complex differences that defined what tracks
were like during the period.

It's hard to find a readily complete discography of his work to listen to,
partially due to the relative obscurity of formative J-core until the last year
or so, but I'd like to offer a selection of some of my favourite tracks that
best illustrate how revolutionary Betwixt & Between was as a composer. There's
no better place to start... than the beginning.


Watch on YouTube

City of Solitude is a track that absolutely shows its age when compared to any
J-core track from the last five years, but there are a number of elements that
feel very familiar to someone who's fond of other underground electronic genres
nowadays like techcore. Betwixt & Between's style shines through in this
composition, with the sharp leads drawing your attention right from the start
contrasted with the deep techno kicks and sparing use of prominent snares that
keep focusing your attention back towards the main melody as it develops. It's a
track that displays a ruthless sense of simple efficiency at what it does, and
it's not a stretch to say that this would be a defining characteristic of B&B's
compositions that was further refined to elegance over the next eight years.

Many of Betwixt & Between's works during the early 2000s are lost to history for
various reasons, but some are preserved through his frequent live performances
through NRGetic Romancer, a label and series of live shows that he regularly
contributed towards.


Watch on YouTube

It's much easier to talk about the mix itself than what can be gathered of the
Betwixt and Between style in mid-2005, but you can really feel a sense of
progression starting to emerge in many of the unreleased tracks. Some of my
personal standouts here are East of Eden, Liberation, and Reincarnation. All of
these tracks use a very pronounced goa trance synth to emphasise the piercing
leads that B&B was known for, creating a vibrant high-NRG take on freeform
hardcore that feels revolutionary for the period. I'd dare argue that Liberation
in particular leans more towards psytrance at some points, incorporating an
extreme use of this style that borders on futuristic sounding - a befitting song
title for a groundbreaking producer.

This mix also includes the track Disturbed Mind, which wouldn't be released for
another two months following this set - much of what I previously iterated
applies here too, but the track is pretty damn good by itself, so go take an
isolated gander.

Watch on YouTube

Betwixt & Between would start to mix elements of his different hardcore/trance
influences together in his later tracks, leaning more towards one style or
another rather than always innovating on his unique hybrids of the two. This is
apparent with his contributions to DiGiTAL GENERATiON EP in 2008, Tindaros and
Invoker. The former adopts a more trance-like approach to B&B's format, while
the latter takes on a darker high-NRG tone reminiscent of the recently released
HARDCORE SYNDROME. There's a clear diversification in what defines J-core from
this period onwards, as the contributions of non-Japanese artists like
JAKAZiD (who contributed to the first three HARDCORE SYNDROME compilations under
his Joshka alias) would bring in a fresh set of inspirations to shake the
genre's foundations.

Watch on YouTube

A "new era" would soon bear ripe fruit, as HARDCORE SYNDROME 3 introduced a more
diverse and energetic interpretation of J-core, with aspects of happy and UK
hardcore added to the already diverse mixture of underground esotericism.
Betwixt & Between would flex his own concept of this shifting trend with
division 4, a track that incorporates all of the developments made throughout
both the genre and his time as a music artist leading to its release. It skews
towards the industrial hardcore tradition that a good section of HARDCORE TANO*C
had started with, but there's a more dynamic melody built up with the fast-paced
'four on the floor' hardcore kicks that had become more pronounced in later B&B
tracks. When people discuss Betwixt & Between as a music producer, they often
refer to this period as the one that best defines his talent, as he was more
willing to experiment with innovations from across the globe in making tracks
that radicalised the definition of J-core as a medium.

Watch on YouTube

This framework would be refined in B&B's contribution to the next iteration of
HARDCORE SYNDROME, as Surging adopts a frontward-facing goa trance identity
that's closely intertwined with J-core's changing definition as a genre. Many
tracks from HARDCORE SYNDROME 4 share common ground in their basic aspects, but
each artist takes great care in forming their own niche that demonstrates a
break away from the binary of classifications like music genres and conventions.

(On a side note, Betwixt & Between would occasionally experiment with genres
other than freeform and 'transitional' J-core after DiGiTAL GENERATiON EP -  he
would produce a more traditional industrial hardcore track in City of Traitors
for HARDCORE SYNDROME 2, a melodic speedcore contribution titled 12 little
fragments of silence for SPEED BALL Z, and occasional collaborations with DJ
TECHNORCH. They're all incredible tracks.)

Watch on YouTube

All of the lessons and insights that were honed over the past eight years of
music production culminated in Betwixt and Between's first solo album,
Nanosecond Eternity. This compiled every aspect of his music from the very
beginning, drawing upon nearly all the elements that had defined his music
throughout the period working under NRGetic Romancer and TANO*C - the remasters
of Awakening (previously subtitled East of Eden Pt.2) and City of Solitude are a
poignant acknowledgement to the groups that started a genre's new history. If
you only have time to listen to a portion of Betwixt & Between's discography,
make it this album. I guarantee that it won't disappoint you.

Watch on YouTube
all is well (Being toward Death)

B&B's final contribution to the HARDCORE SYNDROME series would be in the fifth
installment, with the ominously titled tout est bien (Sein zum Tode) marking one
of his final three original compositions. It feels like a complete package of
every single aspect that defined the alias - the distinct supersaws and leads
that early J-core was known for, with a rich high-NRG sound through the added
noises, all neatly layered with the industrial hardcore kicks adding a heavy and
dark punch to the overall tone. tout est bien was one of the very first doujin
tracks I ever listened to back when I was first learning about the otaku
subculture, so hearing it again with a name and face to remember all these years
later evokes a sense of personally nostalgic gratitude.

Unfortunately, Betwixt & Between would pass away the following year, leaving
behind a sizeable portion of his work that has never seen the light of day. His
impact was widely felt throughout the J-core scene - HARDCORE TANO*C would soon
step away from this type of J-core in favour of a more lively sound in future
releases, while many of his unreleased tracks were kept under close supervision
of close friend GULD. The last original track he produced and released would
be So Sweet Bitter Days, a contribution to the very first Bright Colors
compilation released by TANO*C at the end of 2011.

What inspired me to finally write this tribute was a comment left under the 2005
NRGetic Romancer live mix - "I often wonder how [Betwixt & Between] would have
responded to the changing J-core scene as freeform and other trance-ish
productions got phased out." I feel that it may be insensitive to dwell on that
question any more than what has already been posited here, so I will refrain
from making analyses on this comment out of respect. I will instead link a
playlist containing all of his original works available on Youtube, so you can
listen to a detailed record of his discography.

It is undeniable that Betwixt & Between was a significant influence towards
Japanese hardcore, with his effects on the genre defining a transitional period
for its sound that cannot be ignored today. Though J-core nowadays has a very
different sound to the tracks composed 15 years ago, a portion of that change
can be attributed to the works of trailblazers who were unbound by the
limitations of pre-Internet music.

Thank you for the amazing musical talent you brought to a whole generation. May
you rest in peace, Betwixt & Between.

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POSTSCRIPT - "A DETAILED INTRODUCTION TO ASSAULT LILY (& HOW TO GET INTO IT)"

Aug. 29th, 2023 12:45 am
 (This postscript assumes you've watched the original video. If not, go and do
it now HERE.)


oh, little does Renka know...

I once again write a postscript at a very interesting period for the original
work in question. As if Apollo herself has grafted her precognition onto my
retinas through sheer force, I unintentionally time the publication of these
postscripts to coincide with a laundry list of new developments for the target
franchise. Sorry that my timing is impeccable as always, but I get sidetracked.
(far too often, I may add)

Assault Lily is a franchise that has quickly moved into the center of my heart.
Like what seems to be the case with virtually all English-speaking fans, my
first encounter with the wider series stems from watching Assault Lily: Bouquet
at the very end of a very hectic 2020. I thought it had potential, but that's
all I thought of it for a long time. Though I later learned of the stageplays
and growing continuity established in Last Bullet, I had unfortunately never
found time to delve further beyond the confines of the animated space.

First, the Revue Starlight video took my attention.
Then I had reinvigorated my lost passion for rhythm games.
And in the present, I endeavoured to make Youtube videos.

That did not deter me from returning to this fledgling series. I dare say that
nothing would have stopped me from picking up Assault Lily again.

I write this postscript as the final play in the original "Ludvico Girls
Academy" series, "The Blade of Truth", finishes production. Please take this as
an opportunity to start engaging with the stageplays - I can't guarantee your
enjoyment, especially without some basic understanding of Japanese, but I can
vouch for the devotion and passion within.


DOING THE GROUNDWORK

I don't think I've outlined this directly, but the Assault Lily overview was the
first video that I essentially worked on from scratch. With the Revue Starlight
video, the script had basically been "finished" for the better part of a year by
that point, but this time around, I was working from square one. It helps that I
had just finished making a forty-two minute video, so working on longer
discussions of topics wasn't too bad this time around.

Prior to editing the previous longform video, I enlisted the knowledge of a
reputable AL fan translator for some entry points to the franchise. (I credited
her in the video itself, and you can narrow down said figure's identity fairly
easily, but I will choose to keep her anonymous out of respect.)

This is what led me down a bottomless pit of content - between watching the
Ludvico plays & The Gleam of Dawn, reading the various translated works out
there (whether it was League of Gardens -full bloom- or the translation of
Wunder, undertaken by said translator) or watching the anime for what felt like
the fourth time, I spent about two full weeks just engaging with every last
material I could find. By the end of it, I was completely hooked. Many of my
previous questions about the series that started from misconceptions around the
anime had very quickly disappeared, completely overwritten with a growing
fascination for how the world and various casts could develop. It's rare that I
encounter a series where the worldbuilding doesn't actively attempt to interfere
with how characters grow and interact with each other, but I suppose that's to
be expected when the focus is "the strong bonds people have for one another
overcoming the end of civilisation."

Writing the script might have been one of the hardest parts of this entire
process, and I owe it entirely to myself constantly bouncing off various ideas
until I sat down and realised that 95% of my audience, present and future,
barely even know what girls' love is. How was I going to frame the cool ideas
that Assault Lily has to offer when most of my audience have no clue where to
begin with the series? I forced myself to pivot towards an overview, because
that's what ticks as many boxes as possible here.

Fun fact - I didn't actually write a true script for this video. It's basically
bullet points for the most part. This will be in the exam paper.


WORKING ON THE VIDEO

okay so here's where I think most of my sense went out the window here

The biggest issue with any video, by far, is gathering footage. I have mentioned
this several times, but the AL video took a lot of fine work trying to get
everything in order. It's very rare that you run into an IP that is as split as
YGO with copyright ownership, but Bushiroad has varying levels of involvement
with the Assault Lily series that makes using specific footage complicated, and
I was in no right mind to play with fire by using too much footage for too long.
Anything from the anime or Last Bullet seemed like fair game, so I wasn't too
concerned there, but it did occasionally feel like I padded certain sections out
just so I could keep reusing more clips.

Stageplays were my primary concern. These comprised the bulk of Assault Lily's
storytelling as a franchise, and also where much of the appeal would inevitably
stem from. Getting footage for this would be considerably harder. From
experience watching Kamen Rider stageplay footage on Youtube, it would be hard
to use more than a few seconds of each play at the most without risking
copyright strikes from AZONE (the company behind Assault Lily) or any of the
various theatre companies involved in production. I understand this.

With the help of my friend/translator, I managed to find just enough footage for
each stageplay portion, divide it up nicely, and fit it all into the video at
the appropriate junctions. Perfect! The video didn't seem to get flagged by any
legitimate copyright holders in testing either, so I'm satisfied with that
conclusion.

Regarding the video format, I went with the easy guide approach. Start with a
quick briefing of the series' core elements, talk about some shared aspects that
people should probably remember, and then break it down by medium. I figured
most people would skim through each section rather liberally for the core
information and ignore the rest, so I tried to make sure I explained as much as
was necessary without spoiling the actual stories themselves.

Talking about Bouquet and Last Bullet is fairly anomalous when looking at the
wider canonicity of AL's events, a point I tried my hardest to touch upon
throughout the video. These form their own separate canon with some crucial
differences from the stageplays... until they don't. Discussing the story of
these henceforth becomes much more confusing, because sometimes you remember an
aspect from one timeline that sounds about right, only to realise that never
happened at all in the other one. For what it's worth, I directly reference this
issue once, and then move on. I figured people didn't want that kind of
headache, and neither did I. (Last Bullet does have some good stories that are
translated over at GEHENA Subtitle Labs, so don't let me dissuade you from
checking it out. Even if the gameplay is middling at best.)

Let the record show that I have yet to watch the Odaiba stageplays to this day.
I've been saving them for a good time, but I just haven't found a good moment to
go through them yet LOL

Personally speaking, I was really excited to talk about the print works. I think
the manga adaptation of League of Gardens (-full bloom-) and the two light
novels are where Assault Lily gets to expand its chops in a dynamic way, and it
is not much of a stretch to see why. You get a visual sense for how truly
ransacked the post-Huge world is, while characters still maintain a
near-infinite amount of expression that owes a fair deal from the franchise's
roots in theatre. It's hard to downplay how someone of nominal importance reacts
to basically any given situation in these portions of AL, because the
illustrators do a very good job of highlighting that these are effectively kids
fighting for their lives against all odds in an international war zone.

Editing the video was relatively uneventful. I wish that I had more polish to
make transitions stand out more, but I am happy with the finished product. There
are some weird audio ducking issues I missed, but that is moreso my own
negligence, rather than a technical accident.



MY THOUGHTS ON ASSAULT LILY NOW

Assault Lily is a franchise that has potential. I use the terms "franchise" and
"series" nigh-interchangably, because it's hard to define exactly what it is.
However, I think that the way it uses different mediums to portray various
aspects of its storytelling makes it remarkably interesting, because the ways in
which the writing staff circumvent various limitations to their stage of choice
leads to a greater focus on the people that make the world at large what it is
in the present day. I sound sappy as hell here, but I often hear nonsensical
criticisms of fiction regarding how much budget a work needs to fully express
its core ideas. Assault Lily makes do with what it has, and the end result is
magical beyond belief. Sure, the stageplays could look a little cooler. Perhaps
the franchise needs more than a gacha game to expand the wider narrative.

But Assault Lily makes it work, with what they have. And it works well.

I went into the Ludvico plays not expecting very much. Most of my series
knowledge is from the Assault Lily Wiki.

Schwester's Secret made me go "Assault Lily is GOOD."

It's unfortunate that there's a clear split between people who only play the
gacha game, and those who enjoy multiple aspects of AL in various ways. Making
the video made me appreciate the franchise so much more, because there is so
much CONTENT out there. Wunder in particular stands out as a good example,
because it is hard to find a protagonist who is as charismatic and also
incredibly lacking in any sort of seriousness as you get in Misaka Kondo. She is
truly the hero of another story (this one being the Odaiba Counteroffensive) and
oh man does she just get in there and do all sorts of things that you cannot
wrap your head around. It's like the final boss of Armored Core 5!

You can probably tell I had a hard time restraining myself from making this yet
another piece about why I love Assault Lily so much. It's hard to be concise
about it! That being said, that's kind of why I enjoy it so much. It's hard to
find works that get to work on the kinds of stories they want to write, with a
passion that you would best describe as childlike wonder.

I'll keep an eye on Assault Lily. I hope my video inspires you to do so as well.
The next video may not be so idealistic in tone.
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FINER APPRECIATION FOR THE OTAKU (SPEED) ARTS

Jul. 11th, 2023 09:35 pm
The most-liked comment on a public Youtube upload of the album sampling masters
2 gives me some food for thought.

"the first song [Notteldam] is proof of time travel"

Having studied in the school of history for the better part of a decade at this
point, it shouldn't strike you as much of a surprise that I am a very big fan of
boomer shit. My favourite video game genre is rhythm games. I constantly make
references to obscure anime shows only remembered in the annals of numerous
homoerotic meme videos. Hell, I am literally friends with several people who
ONLY know about weird esoteric shit. I am living in the depths of unknown
subculture shite.

That being said, I am frequently reminded that many things in life are never
made equal, and one such example is how late 90's, and early 2000s otaku culture
seems to be commemorated on the modern internet. Many a video essay is dedicated
to the obscure visual novels that dotted the landscape of post-AOL society,
often times sold to a small handful of people at conventions you'll have never
heard of in your life, but end up terraforming the entire anime scene at large
through its influence. You'll see all sorts of articles about the masters for
some random dogshit anime that aired once in 2003 and only survived through VHS
recordings of a guy in the booth vocal chopped into yelling "SEX" in a
NicoNicoDouga video. Don't even get me started on manga... I've read Onani
Master Kurosawa, you know I ain't fucking around here.

But what about music? Why does nobody talk about the music?

As I listen (and frequently relisten) to the sampling masters trilogy, this
question sticks out in my mind like a loose nail on an IKEA display cabinet. The
history of otaku music might be comparative to other aspects in terms of its
anomalous history, mainly because it takes inspiration from basically everything
in contemporary existence as if some subculture ouroboros, but it's continually
neglected in favour of "the banger" culture that seems to have gripped the last
23 years of audio in a death vice. People who get into doujin music through
rhythm games nowadays don't even scratch the surface of how this whole microcosm
started life. Rather, and I say this with a hint of dejection instead of
snideness, they skim the details of the water. They slide and then sink, rather
than hop, skip, and jump. It's actually a tad depressing.

I digress. On some level, I understand there's a deeper appeal for unknown
anime, manga, and visual novels, that music just doesn't satisfy in the same
way. Watching a video by Amelie Doree or Kenny Lauderdale makes it abundantly
clear that information on these pieces of otaku history is in vogue. It's in
some demand. By contrast, only the most fanatical of sickos would be remotely
interested in how the roots of Japanese hardcore (now colloquially and lovingly
referred to as J-core) stem almost entirely from near endless respect for
revered cult classic anime, and the trailblazing EU-inspired machinations of the
sampling masters crew. I get it. The history of music in general just isn't that
interesting for most people.

To many in this area of internet culture, DJ SHARPNEL is a name that may not
invoke much fanfare. Some may know of a few tracks, mainly through some really
old Youtube uploads, but not of the Pandora's Box that such music would unleash
upon the teens of the new millennium. Unbeknownst to many, it's hard to dispute
that DJ SHARPNEL influenced many elements of what the genre would become today.
Heavy anime-inspired aesthetics, hard-hitting (happy) hardcore kicks that really
get close and personal, the blending of several other genres that would
otherwise make no sense into a strange harmony - listening to the sounds of the
earliest High-Speed Music Team Sharpnel releases feels like you barely left the
home comfort of 2023 J-core. Take a listen to sharpnel vs. Project Gabbangelion,
and I swear down people are just making this shit on Soundcloud like RIGHT NOW.
It's uncannily contemporary.

Alternatively, take a look at HARDCORE TANO*C. If you play rhythm games and were
born before 9/11 happened, there is a very strong chance you know of this
group's existence adjacent to wider Japanese internet subculture. They're
basically a household name nowadays, but you cannot talk about doujin music at
all without acknowledging their contributions to J-core. The group's first
release... didn't age that well, truth be told. However, Qimailla-8k is a
groundbreaking shift in J-core history, because it establishes a broader
spectrum of influences for bedroom producers to adopt from. No longer were
tracks taking their cues from Asuka yelling ad nauseum, the most gritty of
Rotterdam gabber only a mother could promote, and, uh, The Brain from Planet
Arous? The spectrum was wider, the stage greater. Though the genre was used to
describe Japanese artists' interpretations of the hardcore music genre, this may
have well been one of the first truly internet-based music genres out there,
with a whole sleuth of artists like JAKAZiD occasionally collaborating with
TANO*C themselves.

So why do I write this blog post about sampling masters, DJ SHARPNEL, or
HARDCORE TANO*C, when the focus of this whole thing was about a greater respect
for every aspect of what makes otaku culture so unique? It's because I think
many of us have lost touch with our roots. With the advent of newer, cooler fads
like gacha games, Vtubers, and an increasing push towards always-online culture,
it often feels like many people who were into these obscure, underlooked works
have been snared by the trap of shiny things that often feel like they're
coupled with an expiration date. I got nothing against any of the
aforementioned, but when I look at a Youtube video discussing some underground
VN I could never fathom existing in my head, the ephemerality of sampling
culture reminds me of what makes these subcultures so great. It's the bizarre
immemorialism of shit that should be lost. By some twist of fate, we've stumbled
upon something that would have been completely wiped from all but human memory
just 40 years ago.

And that's peak.

I feel like people don't appreciate the history of their internet subcultures as
much, because it's boring to read about history on the internet. Whether that
may be you, that's fine. Totally understandable.

I simply wish towards finer appreciation for otaku history as a whole. Perhaps
that will put my sentiments towards the current internet at ease.

[real boomer shit]
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POSTSCRIPT - "GEKIJOUBAN REVUE STARLIGHT: CRITIQUE, OR CONTEMPORARY?"

Jul. 10th, 2023 12:35 am

I can't shake my habits even here

It's been about four months since I uploaded my first "real" video of note to
the Youtube channel. Initially intending for it to be a one-and-done might have
been the smart plan in hindsight, but I'm afraid the wannabe video essay
brainworms have finally infested my spinal cord like the world's most persistent
tapeworm. Sorry.

My thoughts on the quality of my work have scarcely changed since I started, and
subsequently, finished work on this video. The Assault Lily video will forever
be my overall favourite product, if in part due to how much the series has
caught my attention in recent memory. (I hear AZONE gave Kazuha even brighter
blue hair, AND they/them pronouns, last I checked. Incredible.) However, the
Revue Starlight video stands out as my own personal magnum opus - like the white
whale that evaded Ishmael, my personal tribulations with manifesting this script
into visual form are no less frustrating and long-winded. Nonetheless, I'm proud
of what I could achieve, both with limited time on my own part, and the limited
skillset available to me during production.

Rather than ramble for 10,000 words, I want to talk about some of the various
factors that went into the Revue Starlight video. More specifically, what made
the cut, what didn't, and how I feel about the video now that some time has
passed. Let's la go.



THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE VIDEO, & WRITING THE SCRIPT

I mention this in the comments of the video itself, but this video initially
wasn't intended for production so soon. The script itself started life as a
review/analysis of the film, intended to be nothing more than an extended cut of
my thoughts on what was otherwise an incredible movie. That being said, you can
look through the finalised script yourself, quickly pinpointing where it stopped
becoming an opinion piece, and more an overview on cinematography that many
people would have rapidly glossed over in favour of "the yuri." I might have
overdone it.

Well-established art critic Roger Ebert outlined the state of amateur film
critique as such: "During any given week it's possible to read tens of thousands
of words of evaluation and analysis about this show or that movie [...] without
ever coming across one sentence that delves into form in any detail."

Many will dismiss his hypothesis as elitist bunk, designed to strip away any
semblance of fun away from the normal people who don't know better. But when a
friend showed me this article again during the editing process of the Revue
Starlight video, I began to remind myself of the importance behind form in film.
Why does this matter to an animated movie about drama kids? Hell, why should it
apply to ANY form of animation?

This key detail is what separates a surface understanding of this series from
much greater analysis.

I discuss form and mise-en-scène constantly in this video, because I think it's
crucial to understanding HOW Revue Starlight as a series operates. Sure, there's
some blink-and-you'll-miss-it scenes that require less technical understanding,
but having a finer appreciation for the medium you're engaging with, especially
with a work as freeform and open to interpretation as this one, allows you much
greater room for how you understand the director's intent.

It's somewhat of a coincidence that I had taken a few "history of film" classes
in university before working on what eventually became the script, because I
think many of the finer details I mention would have otherwise missed my head
entirely. One of the first concepts you learn in (what I imagine must be all)
film study classes is of the elements that comprise mise-en-scène - composition,
props, actors, costumes, lighting. They hammer this term into your head with all
the finesse of a DeWalt power drill, and if you don't end up remembering some
portion of it by heart when you're done with those classes, odds are you're not
leaving with a passing grade. It's annoying, sure. But like virtually anything
in life, fundamentals are key. Without this, I think my analysis of Revue
Starlight as a series would have suffered far more, knowing that I lacked basic
understanding of the mediums it portrays itself in, rather than having a mild
annoyance that I have to copy and paste the exact accent every time.

My memories of writing the script are hazy. I remember having started work on
the analysis the moment after I had watched VeggieSubs' v1 translation of the
film in December of 2021, frantically typing on-and-off for the better part of
three days alongside other obligations. The first real draft is a tad different
from the final product I present today, but aside from some relatively minor
changes to account for recording and video formatting, it's basically the same.

A massive detail that I intentionally left out of the video is the Revue of
Resentment between Futaba and Kaoruko. Though the scene is visually breathtaking
in many respects, with the sudden contrast between wide and close-up shots
throwing you around the action of life like a ragdoll, I confess that I couldn't
find nearly as much insight to talk about compared to the other portions of the
film. Being vindicated somewhat by director Tomohiro Furukawa describing
Gekijouban through the lens of a "delinquent manga" puts me at ease, because for
every scene where something has immeasurable significance, you also have scenes
where what you see really is what you get. I imagine that'll attract the ire of
many people who ship those two, but you can't win 'em all.

With regards to reading material, I did source a large majority of it from my
time in university. I have an embarassing amount of secondary works that I saved
out of personal interest, and they came up more often than I'd like to admit in
the video, so if you have some time to read them, check them out. Maybe not
Aristotle's Politics, though. Too long.



EDITING THE VIDEO

I started editing the video roughly around the end of January. At first, I
didn't really know how long it would take to edit a video of this scope, but as
I continued working on it piece by piece, I had a rough idea of how much I could
get done at a time.

Starting out was rough. I mean, really rough. I forced myself to learn DaVinci
Resolve (my video editing software) from what is essentially scratch, having
never experimented with it past basic transitions and cuts. I messed around with
audio mixing for a whole week, just to get settings that sounded decent enough
to cover for my horrid mic settings. Recording was probably just as stressful,
as I quickly realised many noises that I never noticed making ended up slipping
through the cracks, even in the final product. I'm embarrased that not all of
the narration could be redone or cut, but it's a concession I ended up making
before the video got stuck in development hell.

There's a few lessons I learned in the editing process that I wish more Youtube
creators would take greater note of in those ridiculous "influencer guides" you
often get fed with. The most important point I took to heart, especially early
on, is that planning your ideas goes a long way. I'd often run into a portion of
the script that didn't add much, so I ended up just cutting them entirely.
Knowing what is and isn't crucial to the points you make in these kinds of
analytical videos is super important, because when I watch similarly styled
content nowadays, I can usually deduce whether someone's going to get to the
point solely based on the video length. (I'm looking at you, YGO creators.
Script your shit.)

In terms of footage, I didn't try going for highest possible quality, merely
compromising with anything I had already. Apparently the free version of Resolve
doesn't have native support for H.265 footage, so learning this was certainly a
hoot. As a side note, you don't have to get the absolute best quality footage
you can find, but taking some time to compile some decent quality that doesn't
conflict with your timeline resolution beforehand will definitely help you out a
bit.

There's... not much else of note I can talk about here...



ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS

I've only grown more fond of the Gekijouban video with every rewatch. Unlike a
lot of my YGO content, where it often feels like there was an ulterior motive
behind them, this video feels much more genuine to me, by comparison. I honestly
enjoyed the time I spent working on this project, because I think it answered a
lot of doubts about my ability to make videos of such scale. It's still the
longest video I've ever produced, and that will likely never change for a long
while, but I'm satisfied that this one was quantity and quality. (As much
quality as I can get right now, anyway.)

If the Assault Lily video is my most enjoyable project, then the Gekijouban
video is my most rewarding. The relief and satisfaction I have in knowing this
is a real thing that I have done can't be understated, plus it convinced me that
making videos is fun! Even if I improve my editing and audio mixing in the
months and years to follow, I don't think I'd redo this at all. It's probably
more than fine, and I'm happy that the feedback was overwhelmingly positive all
round.

This video was a challenge to myself, a test for whether I was capable of making
such analysis. Perhaps, on some level, I found the achievement I was looking
for.

I realise that I do not know how to end postscripts, but I hope this serves as
some insight into how I formulate video ideas. Apologies if this sounds like
pretentious rambling of a different nature, or if my words didn't ring true in
much the same way they did in my creative output. Sometimes it's hard to find
the right words when you're trying to describe a task you did in hindsight.

Thank you for continuing to watch my videos. I can't say when the next longform
video will see fruition. I merely hope you will be around to witness it
eventually bear fruit.

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A CONCLUSION TO ETERNAL SEPTEMBER - THE INTERNET IS DEAD

Jul. 6th, 2023 07:05 pm
I write this post at a strange time in modern history.

Six years ago, when I dusted off my long-dormant Twitter account to socialise
with other like-minded individuals on "freak shit" like anime and rhythm games,
I thought the current landscape of the internet was unbreakable. Sure, old
services like IRC and Geocities still existed in some capacity, only housing the
most freaky of freaks, but there's no way Twitter would cease to be, right?

I mean, there's just no way! It'd take a global pandemic for things to go...
wrong...

Alas, we are now here. In what feels like several misguided leaps of faith, Elon
Musk has managed to alienate virtually everybody - not only from any goodwill he
manifested on his part, but from each other, as well. Many of my friends and
associates are either looking for, or have found an alternative, to this sinking
ship, but many of them feel derivative of what makes Twitter perfect. It's not
the same. It's like playing a bunch of mill cards in Tearlaments for your
effects because all the names are limited. It's not the same...

I'm not a fan of decentralised social media networks like Mastodon. They often
feel very similar to subreddits - a fiefdom run by the peasantry, often times
looking for the next figure to call a despot and eat their faces off. It's a
strong comparison, but when you tie it together with the idea that these
services often feel very unintuitive at first glance, it perplexes me. Perhaps I
am more resistant to change than I believed. BlueSky is no less appealing, being
what is effectively worse Twitter but with a... sliding scale of slurs filter???
Awesome, now I can choose whether I want to see people saying the worst shit
imaginable! Great website design. Fantastic. And let's not get started on
Threads. Sure. I want to sell my soul to Zuckerberg, because the smell on this
side of the pond is any more appealing.

My optimism for the internet in its current state isn't very high. Twitter was a
melting pot for different groups, speaking different languages, to join together
in an almost chaotic kind of harmony, talking about god-knows-what and
occasionally getting into fights with people who don't understand the meaning of
nuance. And y'know what? That was okay. We didn't need to constantly innovate on
the wheel, just because someone with an astounding lack of self-confidence
didn't want to get owned for his incompetence anymore. I'll miss the ease of
access that Twitter allowed for someone like me. Being able to shout into the
void about virtually anything was neat, but I don't think we'll see any similar
experiences for a decent while.

Losing that kind of ability to express pretty much anything off the top of one's
head, while reserving the actual thoughts for avenues like this, hurts me a fair
amount. No longer do I have a remotely convenient avenue to tell people "hey, I
uploaded a new Youtube video y'all might like, check it out!" outside of
individually messaging every single friend of interest. That might become
annoying, VERY quickly. I don't have interest in babysitting several dozens of
people who should know better, so Discord is out of the picture. For those who
rely on marketing themselves and their individual skills, having Twitter
severely gutted several times and weaponised against you is frustrating. But
there's no other alternative that does almost the same thing, and that's a real
bummer.

That leaves the question of where I'm heading.

You can probably tell I don't have too much faith in these current alternatives
in their proposed state, so that's off the table. Honestly, I'm satisfied
keeping up this blog for now. I have a lot on my mind to speak about, and with
there being no other place to do that on the same scale, it might be time to
post more. I'll still make Youtube videos, but other than that, I think it's
time to take a step backwards from social media. I've had my fill, and to say it
was appetising is... a bit of a lie.

My other socials are here. If you want them, now's a better time than never.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@novalaxia
Twitch: www.twitch.tv/schwarzearclight
Patreon: www.patreon.com/Novalaxia

I'll see you in hell, Web 3.0. Eternal September is over.

[the world ends now]
 * Current Mood: exhausted
 * Current Location: everywhere, and nowhere
 * Current Music: helena - lonely night

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MY VIEWS ON THE (ARCADE) RHYTHM GAME SCENE IN 2023

Apr. 21st, 2023 10:45 pm
(I made a video briefly touching on this topic in more recent terms on April
16th, 2023. You can watch it here if you want more concise thoughts.)

So the rhythm game genre has been in a weird state of flux for a while now. 2020
was probably the death knell, if there ever was one, for a scene that primarily
depends on arcades as its main form of engagement. Anyone who's played fighting
games in the last half decade or so knows just how hard Covid hit pretty much
the entire industry, since arcades across the world were forced to shut their
doors in the midst of an unforeseen bankruptcy wave. It hit rhythm games much
harder, since the genre hasn't had a fallback in much the same way fighting
games have had with... rollback netcode. *cue the cheers of Sajam watchers*

Jokes aside, it was dire before Covid came through. Vivid Wave was admittedly a
really bad low point for SDVX, having a not-so stellar engine change that was
pretty unpopular on release, with a decent portion of new charts becoming very
reliant on sightread traps that turned a lot of content into trial-and-error
gameplay. IIDX HEROIC VERSE brought a new 120hz "Lightning Model" cabinet that
made the game significantly smoother to play on, but as history will tell you,
that momentum would be very shortlived, considering these new cabs started
rolling out in... December 2019 at the earliest. pop'n music peace was heavily
rumored to be the series' last installment, what with the name and slogan being
"back to the roots" leaving very little to the imagination. jubeat? Who the hell
knows what's going on with that game, because Konami wants to axe it and then
revive it again every other week!

As you can probably gather from that brief BEMANI recap, it's been rough
sailing. I'm not exactly versed in arcade logistics, being more a player than an
enthusiast for the most part, but losing a swathe of arcades and cabs to play on
devastated virtually the entire genre as a whole. Events for virtually every
game getting cancelled until late 2021 at the earliest, like the Konami Arcade
Championships, KING of Performai, and the then-recently proposed BEMANI Pro
League, really killed off the momentum that was just starting to find new
footing. It sucked! A lot of people thought the genre was pretty much cooked!
Unlike the FGC and Strive, or STGs and the countless number of ports, rhythm
games hit a dark age I didn't think we'd see for a very long time.

To this day, the unique mechanics of every game makes it a nightmare to create
home versions, and the few games lucky to get that privilege are expensive to
play. It doesn't help that we're in a subscription-based hellscape where you
have to pay monthly AND THEN play more on top of that if you want a 1:1
arcade-accurate experience.

Which leads me to the modern day. April alone has been a massive turning point
for the rhythm game landscape, as I think it's a very stark contrast from the
speculation everyone online was having 3 years prior. For a quick outline of
events:

April 1-3: 3 day weekend where a good portion of BEMANI Pro League SDVX players
lined up a rotating stream schedule
April 5: BPL SDVX grand finals available for public viewing (was previously
PPV-only)

April 8 had a lot of events on the same day:

-Bear Cup 6th (IIDX team/tag tourney, comprised of many big name players and top
rankers + PHN!X, best US IIDX player)
-SILK HAT Cup (SDVX tourney, featured a number of BPL SDVX players and Leviern,
best SDVX player in western hemisphere)
-Project Sekai Championships (y'know. for the zoomers)

April 16th: SDVX jacket acryllic stand... draft???? it was funny to watch at
least LOL
April 18th: NORI and PHN!X had a general music game discussion

As you can see, April hosted a lot of different events and community discussions
that allowed for some very interesting questions about where the scene could go
from here. I talked about my thoughts on more events in a Youtube video, but the
idea that we are starting to have more inter-community discussions between JP/KR
and US/EU players is ground that can make for some incredible changes within the
scene. Not only do I think we can learn something from the insights that JP
players have on their respective games, there's also a precedent with how the
FGC has fostered similar interactions in the past that can definitely grow
attention for games over here too! A lot of players have asked for more streams,
more events, more engagement between different scenes, and seeing a potential
development of that begin to emerge has shown how far we've come in the last few
years.

Of course, this only really applies if people actually take notice. JP players
and scenes have been incredibly open to talking with EN-speaking players for a
good while now, but attention on the other side has been very slow by
comparison. I talked about this in the same video discussing my thoughts on
recent rhythm game tourneys and what lessons to improve on for future events,
but a friend of mine sums up the overall feeling much better than I could:

"the general brainspace is very hyperfixated in being good/competitive
[...] doesn’t really help that everyone is very snowflakey about their game
sometimes"

It leaves a lot to be desired when people desire change, but are also rather
uninspired to manifest it. My frustrations with rhythm game scenes in the
western hemisphere, particularly within the UK community, make me wonder whether
trying to involve a more global outlook on the genre is something of an
impossibility. A lot of discussion surrounding EN-speaking spheres is concerned
more with cliques or in-jokes, rather than a broader talk on how we could make
arcade rhythm games appealing to those who want to try them out. Much of the
arcade scene here loves to play a certain air of superiority when someone more
familiar with client-based games like osu wants to take a step into this part of
the genre, without giving much thought as to why outsiders see the hobby as
largely inaccessible to a casual audience.

Perhaps I speak from a position of relative optimism for the future of rhythm
games. As some may be aware, I tried my best to cover (almost) the entirety of
BPL SDVX this season, and despite it receiving little fanfare outside of my
friend circles, I made it clear that someone here was covering the event in
English. Other attempts to do so, but on a wider scale, have been running in
tandem. People on Twitter or Facebook complain that there's too much drama, and
not enough coverage of what should be major events like these. But they're
there! The coverage exists!

That leads me to the following question.

"How much effort should we, as a community, be exercising to bridge the gap
between JP and overseas players?"

I have some faith that the efforts of figures like NORI, PHN!X, and Leviern will
be the start of a closer global arcade rhythm game scene, because it shows that
EN-speaking players do have the drive to make that effort a reality. While it's
unfortunate that a lot of players in the US and Europe have closed themselves
off from the wider discussions at large because Konami refuses to give us
support, I still don't want to give up on the chances that JP players are giving
us, to grow the scenes into something much bigger than they are now.

Many people seem to have given up on trying to make the scene appealing for
everyone. But I think there's still a little spark left that gives me faith.
I'll keep covering events and discussions in the Japanese scenes until I quit
playing rhythm games, but until then, or even past then, I implore people to do
their bit in their own way, rather than succumb to the social media machine that
feeds us all regurgitated outrage. We can stand to learn something from each
other together, rather than isolate ourselves to maintain the social media
clout. 

[believe in yourself]
 * Current Mood: hopeful
 * Current Location: FIRE duelist pack
 * Current Music: Broken Promises (feat. Purukichi)

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"THE INTERNET BLEW MY BACK OUT," OR WHY I CHANGED WEBSITES TO TALK ABOUT LONGER
TOPICS

Apr. 11th, 2023 05:26 am
Hi, I'm Novalaxia. I sometimes do things online. Inspired by a couple of
individuals I have heard of elsewhere, I decided to make a Dreamwidth account to
articulate my thoughts on topics that I think are just too long for Twitter,
without any of the... lack of nuance that it tends to attract. With a untouched
slice of bread in my mouth, here's topic one!



THE INTERNET SUCKS LATELY

My feelings on the current state of the modern internet, especially the
overbearing influence of social media, have been increasingly negative as the
years pass. I think Covid has definitely accelerated my "get out of here ASAP"
sentiment tenfold, and with how the landscape has become frustratingly hostile
on even the most silly or inconsequential of topics, I find myself becoming more
withdrawn from the online landscape as a whole. It's almost infuriating how I
will be talking to someone about a topic we share common ground on, and less
than 10 minutes later, I have seen them QRT one of the worst people alive with a
response that makes me think "homie. you did not need to type that out. STOP."
The period between August 2022 and January 2023 was probably my breaking point,
in that regard. If you know anything about the "discourse" surrounding YGO,
fighting games, or rhythm games during this time, then you can possibly guess
what the likely catalyst is.

Something I never talked about at length until now is that making videos on
Yu-Gi-Oh!, a particular passion game of mine, had devastated my mental state. I
still enjoy playing the game, and am still crafting decks/theories to this day,
but the seven months in which I was making content primarily focused on the game
took a toll on me in ways I could not have possibly imagined. Having to
constantly view some of the vitriol that the average player had for their fellow
competitor, whether they were cis, trans, straight, gay, or just otherwise
unbothered by an inclusive community, was painful. It didn't help that several
relatively high-profile figures kept playing their hands as ignorant or terrible
people: the shame I felt by association was unbearable. By the time I had
published the Link-2 video on January 23rd 2023, I'd probably be going about
less than 12 hours a day without reading some controversy that didn't elicit
complete dejection out of me. It drained me. I wish such a fate on nobody.

Part of me is glad I have been able to move on from that period. In some way, I
think I'm again at that stage of life where I'm satisfied doing my own thing
here. But on the other hand, I don't really know where else I can go. A lot of
the friends I've met online over the years have begrudgingly changed with the
times, moving to bigger services after their usual forum grounds were rendered
unusable. A lot of friends I meet nowadays, for lack of a better term, simply
don't care. It puts me at a strange impasse. You could say... The Paths of
Destiny.

I've become disillusioned with the "alternatives" that people bring up. Discord
is a messaging platform that every scene tries to kitbash into their own Library
of Alexandria, burning and all. Twitter is home to some of the most inflammatory
discussions on the planet, all thanks to the 280 character limit that users
INSIST should be used for serious discussions. Reddit... just kinda sucks, lol.
And don't get me started on the intellectual black hole that is Youtube. Dear
lord.

Bad jokes aside, I'm torn between finding some relief from how garbage the
modern internet has become at the cost of my remaining connections, and
shackling myself to websites I don't even want to use just because my homies are
there. It takes a toll on my sanity sometimes, and really, I should just take
the former choice and become a SDVX offline grinder. (as you can tell, I like to
whine about factors entirely within my control because I am very fickle.)



WHY DID YOU MAKE A DREAMWIDTH ACCOUNT?

There are a lot of topics I want to talk about in great detail, but aren't
suited to Twitter (or most websites, really) because they're TOO LONG. I had
several Twitter threads documenting the music I listen to every year, but with
the revelation that I Deeply Dislike Social Media, I wanted to move those kinds
of threads here, so I could better articulate why I enjoy certain aspects so
much. For instance, I've been invested in DJ SHARPNEL's works lately, and
reading about the J-core history surrounding his earlier music is something that
would be difficult to discuss in 280 characters. Being able to post about that
kinda thing in more detail would be neat, for sure.

I also want to have a space to talk about topics that wouldn't quite fit as
Youtube videos. Right now, I'd say my channel is mainly focused on esoteric shit
I like, such as Revue Starlight, rhythm games, and analyses on super out-there
nonsense that most people don't even know exists. My thoughts on doujin music,
or the state of rhythm games, for instance, are definitely topics I want to
touch upon at a later date. Longform discussions that aren't good for my YT
channel? They'll likely go here!

Long story short, I think this will be the place for "behind the scenes"
afterwords on my content, and other stuff that relates to my fancies. Do read
warmly.

Of course, I'll still have my Twitter account up. There admittedly isn't a
better place to share new videos, and typing up a lengthy post in tandem with
releases means the process takes way, way longer. Sorry. also I want a place to
post my SDVX scores and this is not the site to do it lol

(as a side note. the name of this Dreamwidth journal comes from Lost Parliament
by Juggernaut., which is my favourite track in SOUND VOLTEX. definitely a banger
track. quite a fitting name for this page - a place intended for discussion,
obscured by time.)



SO WHAT'S NEXT?

With this page, I'd like to try and detox from the wider internet. It's tough
being surrounded by well-intentioned friends and acquaintances who constantly
engage with posts to try "dunking on them" or changing their mind (spoiler: you
just make those who respect you angry for making THEM look at it instead) so
perhaps this page will be a refreshing change of pace where I truly do yell into
the empty spaces of the internet for a few friends to read. My smile and
optimism has been lost, but maybe it will return with a period away from that
kind of normality.

I feel as if writing has consistently been my weakest link as a person. I
apologise if any of this reads like the delusional ramblings of some madman
who's achieved some half-boiled sense of enlightenment, but does not want to
persist in such a quest any further. My indecisiveness prevents me from being
more articulate with my thoughts, but this is probably the best I can do.

For now, I ask that we be kinder to one another. Society would not be much
different, but it would go a long way towards making those without some concrete
connections in life feel welcome in a world where such mercy is less charitable.

[keep on movin']

 * Current Mood: tired
 * Current Location: Into the Void
 * Current Music: DJ TOTTO - DORNWALD ～Der Junge im Käfig～

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 * ranting

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 * rhythm games - 1 use


PAGE SUMMARY

 * snake-eye syndrome (or, "my struggle to reconcile with my time as a YGO
   creator")
 * my new experience with freeform hardcore, and broadening my music horizons
 * how Sound Voltex made me a better YGO player
 * a thinkpiece on the evolution of japanese hardcore
 * tout est bien (sein zum tode) - a tribute to betwixt & between
 * postscript - "A Detailed Introduction to Assault Lily (& How to Get Into It)"
 * finer appreciation for the otaku (speed) arts
 * postscript - "Gekijouban Revue Starlight: Critique, or Contemporary?"
 * a conclusion to eternal september - the internet is dead
 * My views on the (arcade) rhythm game scene in 2023
 * "the internet blew my back out," or why I changed websites to talk about
   longer topics


STYLE CREDIT

 * Style: Plain for Tabula Rasa


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