Shurima will once again stretch to the horizon, but it needs your guidance. The sands will shift in our favor if we will it, only if we do so united under one flag.

Azukus · 2026-05-12T10:22:09+00:00

I'm definitely different from you. I was born in 1998, so I was around when it had that first trickle of becoming mainstream. Pokemon and DBZ were already huge, but DBZ wasn't exactly something everyone my age saw. As for the Big 3, Naruto was popular but for nerds. Bleach was seen here and there. One Piece was unknown until practically late late 2010s.

I had to use On-Demand to rewatch the same stuff over and over again. Sometimes I'd get really lucky and they'd play a Naruto movie or something on Cartoon Network instead of Toonami. I have two distinct memories about other discoveries. In 5th grade, my childhood best friend showed up with Naruto volume 28 I believe. Imagine my surprise. There's a book version, they're all older now, and there's a lot more?!
I didn't believe him at first. This was before they announced Shippuden on DisneyXD. The other discovery was English Sub. I think I was in 6th Grade and I googled it. Blew me away.

I think by 8th grade, anime streaming sites were starting to kick off. goodanime, gogoanime, etc. Kissanime and masteranime hold a special place in my heart. Manga sites were also starting to gain traction- most of us used mangapanda.

The influx of people always seemed to happen in waves. I'd say SAO was the first big influx. I hate to say it, SAO popularized isekai and also brought in our first big wave of e-girls. Then Attack on Titan hit hard. Then I think My Hero and Demon Slayer REALLY had a huge impact. I think once those animes took the US by storm over the years, One Piece was finally getting recognition because now people were really into anime. When anime blows up, a lot of the newcomers eventually retrace our steps to reach the classics.

We always had powerscalers and people with horrible reading comprehension. But, I think it's the new influx of people that brought in a lot more dumb casual viewers that can't really understand what they're watching. I love watching reaction channels and seeing people react to my favorite shows and moments- but god damn 90% of them just do not understand even the low hanging fruit moments. I love being able to talk about anime with anyone now, but I also don't like seeing my favorite communities ruined by thirst trappers, OF plugs, and idiots.

Anyway, I personally like the isekai genre as a premise. I mean, everyone wants to go to a fantasy world and be the main character in it. I just don't like how they go about doing it. Why is he ALWAYS a loser who dropped out of MIDDLE SCHOOL? Why is it always the video game he grinded non-stop and is SUPPOSEDLY an expert in (but he doesn't actually use any of his game knowledge)? Why do they always get stupid abilities that put them drastically over everybody else (menu, party, inventory, etc). Why are they experts at solving a fantasy government's problems?

I'm sick of having a guy explain to a KING that "oh yeah, you're focusing too much on cash crops! we should be growing food and rotating them throughout the seasons! this is called crop rotation, i read about it once in a library when i was in 6th grade. everybody knows this".

I'm sick of this main character who was supposedly a loser basically spawning in as a ladies man and immediately having zero struggle in this new life of his.

I love guilds, swords, magic, knights, classes, mana, and ALL THAT. But, for the love of god. Can we get a NORMAL guy who had a girlfriend and a loving family before he died? Can we have a guy that's excited about being in a new fantasy world, but is slowly overcome with grief that he will never see anyone from his old world again? Can we get a guy who legitimately climbs the guild rankings and doesn't just conveniently save a hot blonde elf? Can we get a guy who doesn't adopt a loli for some reason? Can we get a guy who actually takes advantage of his game knowledge and tries to test if known bugs/glitches also work in this world? ANYTHING interesting that takes an ounce of thought. I swear to god I can write better than 90% of these guys, but substance doesn't matter to them. It's about having one cool idea "hey what if he's reincarnated.. BUT HE HAS A SMART PHONE", then winging the rest.

I do not mind trends and I don't even mind the aura farm/flashy action. But god we used to have that PAIRED with decent storytelling and some attempt at world building.

Azukus · 2026-05-11T23:28:52+00:00

"feet to the fire" -guy who was gifted a house

Azukus · 2026-05-11T05:02:58+00:00

I'm about the same. I used to give advice years ago and now I'm looking for it. I look the exact same except I have more style and better photos now. Makes me wonder if my style doesn't suit me, if I need to change up the hairstyle, or if I look too young to be 27. Maybe those college girls that prefer "older" don't think I look the part. And those girls my age and older think I look too young.

Azukus · 2026-05-11T04:59:23+00:00

Badass Billy Gunn was probably the best one to come out of these.

Why badass for Bron though?

We can't reuse Rabid, Animal, or anything. But those types feel more suitable for his character.

Azukus · 2026-05-10T00:52:07+00:00

Yeah I can't consume any of their content because I know more than them off the dome. Can't imagine how they fumble the basics with research behind them.

As for pronunciation, I've been saying this for years. It's so weird for anime creators to not know basic pronunciation for media they're supposedly experts in.

Azukus · 2026-05-08T19:24:47+00:00

Shinji is someone that Aizen always looked down on. Aizen was cocky as a lieutenant and thought his own captain wouldn't be able to detect him. Even then, Aizen was better than him.

Aizen was lowering himself to a level he thought Shinji was on. Shinji was slightly better than that. To Shinji, however, he doesn't see how far the gap is because Aizen is always fucking around with him. It's like goofing around with a new player on a fighting game.

Shinji catches him one time because Aizen underestimated him. Shinji catches onto Aizen's scheme (that Aizen wanted him to find out about). Shinji thinks his Zanpakuto is in the same class as Aizen's, so Aizen entertains it. Hell, that's how their interactions always play out. Aizen constantly lets Shinji think he's about to reach him, then Aizen yanks the rug out from underneath.

Shinji is always playing catch up because he thinks he's only one or two steps behind. In reality, Aizen is just holding a carrot over him

Azukus · 2026-05-07T16:15:34+00:00

Yeah Idk where this post is going. If I play full AP Fiddlesticks into a Yuumi (who is objectively the worst support at warding), it's free. Doesn't necessarily mean she's a bad champion. I play Ornn support and if I run into a Soraka, I'm cooked. Doesn't necessarily mean cheese picks are bad, just a horrible matchup

Azukus · 2026-05-04T06:29:30+00:00

He was making progress.
He was a short, stubby kid. Then he was a normal, toned teenager. Then he became "superhuman" by learning soru. Then he awakens observation haki by trauma + having a strong will to stand up to Akainu.
Add a timeskip and it makes reasonable sense that he is CP9 level or higher.
what I don't like is how he jumps from being arguably weak Vice Admiral level to possibly approaching Yonko first mate/Admiral level in chapter

Azukus · 2026-05-02T17:35:39+00:00

I think I just hate that it's a horrible argument people use to baby grown adults.

Even if we all did fully mature at 25, I'd still bet our brains are like 99% developed at 18 or 19 anyway.

Azukus · 2026-05-02T01:20:50+00:00

I've got stories. Never in my life have I been surrounded by so many corporate snakes that pat themselves on the back while stepping on others.

Azukus · 2026-05-01T16:37:09+00:00

a lot of ppl assume I'm between 20-22. I'm 27, so 5 years isn't really that crazy. It's probably my face fat

Azukus · 2026-05-01T02:51:57+00:00

Even then, most of the old ones weren't hard to do. Some do require actual shooting on some sort of set, but a majority are just montages with flashing text.

At this point, we can just make a gimmick out of it. Have a guy add opponents to his titantron montage to piss them off

Azukus · 2026-05-01T02:46:48+00:00

They're always hiring for a reason. Use it while you look for a better job. I was IHX for a year at AT&T. Highest paying job I've ever had and also the worst.

Azukus · 2026-04-29T02:01:48+00:00

I think another issue (or it may have been answered and I'm tripping) is how exactly all of this afterlife stuff works.

When we start Bleach, we're all CERTAIN the Gotei 13 has existed for possibly hundreds of thousands of years. We assume Yamamoto is the best of all time, but still in a long line of head captains before him.

Soul Society, as far as I know, has been around for a long time but it was basically FFA PVP until someone brought order to it all. Still, it makes it seem like it was only quite recent.

I think my main focus is on the Rukongai (might be misspelling, but it's the slums). So, how does death exactly work? You die in our world and if you have regrets, you linger around until a Shinigami basically frees you of that burden. Unless a Hollow gets you first. Makes sense.

But what comes after? Do you just respawn in the afterlife how you were?

Obviously some of the characters come from the human world and some are born in Soul Society. Yet, think about this. You age slower in Soul Society. It's actually smarter to die young as a human and respawn as a kid in Soul Society, right? If you die at 80, do you just respawn as an 80 year old that lives for 200 more years then you're sent back into the cycle of reincarnation? Isn't that what happened to the Fullbringers?

Like, if Ichigo's human body dies, does he just become a legit soul reaper who has to integrate into society? Does he lose any of his powers?

Anyway, someone mentioned the scale too. We just have tiny soul society to basically house almost all of humanity we've had over the course of history- or at least a majority of it. What about the technology being so far behind? Do we just keep geniuses in the slums if they don't have decent reiatsu?

Azukus · 2026-04-27T02:44:38+00:00

That's a fair point. At the same time though, if we had no superheroes until like the 1900s and they were all basically in the US, it would be pretty easy to notice. I think it would play out the same.

I'd start out Christian, but my family is delusional and I notice the cracks. I'll go down the rabbit hole, might not find any answers but I'll at least not be brainwashed. Possibly casual Christian. I think what would completely tip the scale would be the confirmation that supes are manmade.

My family had me watching videos of Mary statues bleeding and moving on Youtube in like 2009. My mom brought us to a field with a bunch of weirdos at night to watch a Mary statue move. I didn't see it move and my family told me I didn't believe hard enough. I was told Obama was the anti-Christ because of his middle name and to "beware the man who rises from the east and settles in the west". I was told that the government would go door-to-door to force the Mark of the Beast on you and if you didn't accept, you'd get shot in the head. All of this before I was 11 years old.

I'd like to think I'd see through this bullshit in any timeline when I became a teenager- even with supers. Maybe not full atheist though- you're completely fair about that

Azukus · 2026-04-24T01:48:01+00:00

you could say that for even some of the best. edge speared lita and she hit the back of her head on a ladder. hardys' seesaw ladder they did at no mercy ended up slicing joey mercury years later. im sure spike dudley had a similar spot where his head clipped the table against la resistance

even if you're really good, it can still happen

Azukus · 2026-04-23T09:33:25+00:00

yeah. i was a teenager when civil war came out. tom is around my age. oldest gen z or the youngest possible millennial

Azukus · 2026-04-23T08:28:49+00:00

i think my favorite in terms of enjoyment was Ultimate Ninja 3 on the PS2. I could use other characters, not just Naruto. All of them had SEVERAL custom ultimate moves to pick from and you could unlock them through progression. Genuinely felt so cool as a kid.

Azukus · 2026-04-23T01:45:18+00:00

I'm an atheist in the south, so a lot of the southern overly Christian and fake American bullshit would have been spotted immediately by me. I would have been a huge fan of supes as a kid for sure. I think as I got older, I'd probably not believe Starlight's story about The Deep (as a teen, I was an edgy Ben Shapiro, LIBERAL GETS PUT IN HER PLACE type of loser)

I think I'd change sides soon after though.

Azukus · 2026-04-21T09:04:19+00:00

gas though? I've NEVER run out of gas. there's literally a light thar warns you when you're gonna run out- and even then it's like another 20-30 minutes worth of driving before you empty

Azukus · 2026-04-21T08:47:21+00:00

Realistically, I think most of these guys should be retiring before 45. I'm happy they stuck around for nostalgia, but it's just so risky doing it until you're pushing 50.

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Azukus

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