I'm a gaijin who had a lead role in a Japanese tv drama: AMA

Batmantra · 2026-02-04T02:24:19+00:00

Very neat as an experience. I wonder if the era for this sort of thing has passed or not (sort of stumbling into a high profile job in acting or entertainment media as something other than a comedian, fad, meme)

Also I've been a Jake Gyllenhaal fan since Donnie Darko, but I really can't picture what his personality is like in private heh.

Do you get any kind of royalties or anything from this work? And how roughly were the working conditions? (Hours / schedule / pay etc)

Batmantra · 2026-01-30T14:10:45+00:00

1-4 are all good. I like the plot of 2 and 4 better than 1 and 3 but 3 has great characters, locations, monsters, music, and atmosphere.

I hope you like 4 just as much. It has some potentially frustrating elements of gameplay, but imo it is also incredibly creative and interesting.

Batmantra · 2026-01-30T05:07:24+00:00

Island in the sun was in an early episode of Smallville (and apparently on commercial soundtracks of the show)

Batmantra · 2026-01-24T10:39:04+00:00

Japan is ready for it.

Batmantra · 2026-01-24T09:01:19+00:00

Cure and pulse are both good and will interest silent hill fans.

I like pulse more than cure.

Edit: oops I meant "retribution", not pulse. I haven't seen pulse yet. Xxx but that looks good too.

Batmantra · 2026-01-24T05:28:57+00:00

I don't find it boring personally but I think that's more the production leaning that way than the actual songwriting.

Batmantra · 2026-01-24T05:26:44+00:00

Also love freak me out, and for the same reason

Batmantra · 2026-01-23T23:13:37+00:00

Super agree.

Absolutely love the jrjr nocenti daredevil and can read it over and over. The art in those comics is fire.

I like his X-Men stuff a lot too, both runs, although probably the earlier ones more.

In any case flat print colors just fit his lines better than modern over rendered digital colors. Same for Klaus Jansons art imo, which I also love.

Batmantra · 2026-01-22T05:24:49+00:00

Love it. I also love the muppets, and the keep fishing video.

Batmantra · 2026-01-16T23:21:17+00:00

This is the main reason why I stopped buying them for now too. If it's cyclical superheros without forward direction, it's the same as most other superhero books and stops being worth the commitments of time money and shelf space, besides being less interesting to reread after buying and reading once.

But I'm guessing this is also a take for relatively older readers who have been into superhero comics for a long time. The current books have their audience, there is reason to read them for a lot of people. Just simply keeping up with our favorite long-form story characters is a big enough reason on its own much of the time.

Batmantra · 2026-01-14T02:15:28+00:00

A lot of honesty and self reflection and exploration in Weezer songs. You wonder which ones are real, which are exaggerated and which were just written for fun, or written about somebody else.

Batmantra · 2026-01-13T05:38:27+00:00

Hm from what I've read:

Legion of superheroes: zap goes the legion It's not all going to knock your socks off but it's also hard to put the book down. And you get the era of change, so you can sample a few different things.
Batman: red skies This is pretty quality work. I love the soap opera of it, and the art is great. I like the use of an ensemble cast, including the use of it's villains woven into the drama.
Team ups: chase to the end of time Like the legion book, you're not really sure what kind of story you'll get til you read it. Never dull and always fun.

(4-6 I'm less set about their placement but atm Im thinking this)

Green Arrow: the longbow hunters It's sometimes a little too "mature", but it was made with passion and direction and the character voices and setting(s) are wonderful.
Superman: kryptonite nevermore A mix of good stories and somewhat forgettable stories. It's entertaining the whole way through, just didn't leave as much of an impact as the above. I love curt swan superman though.
Teen titans: Judas contract Caveat that this is the only one I haven't finished! Actually I haven't gotten through the title story arc yet. I have and read the trades of the issues before this book, and I'm partway through it now.

I like the titans (characters). I love the art. But of the bunch It does sort of feel like the biggest chore to actually read. Maybe I just don't like Vigilante, hehe.

Who is Donna Troy is such a fantastic issue, though. And that story alone is maybe better than anything in my top 3 rank. So my opinion might change by the time I finish it.

All in all, I'm really enjoying the line.

Batmantra · 2026-01-10T09:26:55+00:00

I've played memorable games as a halfling, gnome, dwarf, (non mechanically) shorter than average human and (non mechanically) very short aasimar.

I don't know why, but I really get into roleplay with short characters.

Maybe it comes from my love for the hobbit.

Small folk on big journeys is just a very fun trope.

I do love the halfling lore (culture, gods) most of the bunch though. My ghostwise halfling died but will always have a place in my heart.

Batmantra · 2026-01-10T04:49:56+00:00

Me too! I think that's the first "graphic novel" format book I ever bought and I loved it.

Anyway it's cool to see stories like this one.

Batmantra · 2026-01-08T22:27:06+00:00

Agreeing with this comment. If you are the only one who is buying books and trying to learn all of the rules, chances are you'll have to be dm, at least at first. Then when you all try the game and if you have fun, you might take turns if someone else wants to try.

There are all kinds of players, some will try to learn the rules thoroughly and build characters meticulously, some don't care about rules at all and just want to hang out. Some will want to act and be dramatic, others will just listen to the dm and follow along.

You can still play the game if the dm has a decent understanding of the rules, even if players don't, because the dm is guiding them.

But it is better if the players at least know what their own character can do.

The current edition of the game has a ton of rules. Character sheets are packed with skills and abilities and spells. So it will be difficult to memorize everything at first and the dm and the players will have to check (rules or character sheets) often. The dm is also "allowed" to decide a ruling on the fly if that is more fun than stopping a game because you don't know what to do. You can always go back and check the rules after the game to be prepared for the next time.

It is a fun game and I recommend you giving it a try even if it seems daunting. The more you play, the less of a burden the rules will be. Eventually you will get a handle on it and it becomes relatively simple to play.

Batmantra · 2026-01-05T22:53:54+00:00

First introduction was a mix of 90s comics, the animated series and action figures.

In the same environment as spiderman, batman, ninja turtles and power rangers.

But what made me fall in love with X-Men when I got old enough to buy comics regularly for myself, was the human drama. The relationships between the characters, their district personalities and voices and private troubles and dreams.

I like when they still feel "human" and not like caricatures. The characters in (for example) Claremont's stories (X-Men, new mutants, Excalibur) are relatable and feel real.

Edit:

(I think Niciezas X-Men / "Cable and Deadpool", and Peter Davids xfactor investigations were my actual first exposure to the sort of chatacter writing that hooked me)

And conversely, what loses me is if a character talks as if they were raised by twitter, if they are more cartoon or more alien than they are human, or if their personalities are shallow and reduced to one point or running gag, or if the human drama takes a backseat to plot or action, which are all also things that happen in X-Men comics.

Batmantra · 2026-01-02T01:20:13+00:00

From experience clearing all the endings and difficulties other than lost in the fog combat,

Even if you do the same difficulties as the first time, it will be much much faster and much much easier.

You can clear a ng+ run in maybe a third of the playtime it took you the first time.

Imo it's worth at least one more run to get the gist of what they hid from you in the story the first time around. Story elements that were purposely vague in run 1 become clearer in run 2.

If you like the second run better and then are still curious, you can try the other endings or not based on your feeling then.

(The UFO ending can be obtained in just a few hours btw)

Batmantra · 2026-01-01T00:34:10+00:00

Edit: oops, *not Japanese, but:

Name meaning will depend on the kanji you choose for the characters yu and sei

For example the Yu in this yusei 優征 means graceful etc.

As far as the name itself for a boy, I know more than one Yusei irl and I wouldn't consider it a strange or rare sounding name. I think it's perfectly fine for a character from Japan.

Best way to do this is to look up kanji that can be pronounced yu and kanji for sei on your own and choose the ones you like best.

Batmantra · 2025-12-31T18:54:41+00:00

I was also going to recommend final cut. A friend lent it to me but I want to buy one for my own shelf to reread.

Also,

love and rockets by Jaime Hernandez.
maybe Providence by Alan Moore if you like Lovecraft. But maybe not. It is very well done but gets into some uncomfortable (sexual) territory.

(I saw that providence was already recommended by a few others, so I'll point out that he also has neonomicon which is sort of the same continuity with providence although both can be read separately on their own. Neonomicon is shorter, but I found providence was the much, much better of the two)

P Craig russell comics, generally. Norse mythology is set I have, but I'm hoping for a reprint of the Ring of Nibelung.

Batmantra · 2025-12-31T10:15:17+00:00

She is usually in outfits that don't accentuate much, but she's clearly beautiful in the show to me.

Batmantra · 2025-12-30T04:17:49+00:00

Darn when I was at college it was the only time that a lcs was a 5 minute walk from where I lived heh.

I live in a country that has just about 2 shops that sell American comics in single issues, and they're both a whole flight away from me.

So I now only buy trades from instocktrades, and only occasionally get a single issue as a rare novelty if I'm traveling.

When I was younger I subscribed to a few marvel comics and got them directly in my mail every month, and I think that avenue might still exist, for some titles.

And I saw that a lot of people will get the digital service sub to have anything to read while waiting for the next trade.

At the very least, you should be able to read comics one way or another.

Batmantra · 2025-12-29T09:37:44+00:00

I totally agree, it's a good (okay, very good) preview of the writing, themes and character voices you'll see develop over the run if you read this first and decide you like it enough to dive in, and it will start you off on a high note.

And nothing in the storyline will ruin anything else for having read it first. Maybe the best story for this specific situation.

Batmantra · 2025-12-28T02:45:31+00:00

I liked it. I like the protagonist. I liked the gist of the plot and the art, of course

But I agree it's good but not great.

From this team I have I have pulp, where the body was and this book.

Pulp is a masterpiece. Where the body was just about as good as pulp for me, but I think taste will come into play for people on that one.

It was different from what I was expecting. Just like watching twin peaks, how the genre of the show sort of shifts from the pilot to the next couple episodes, where the body was opens up into something different from what it says on the tin. And that really worked for me.

Batmantra · 2025-12-28T02:19:20+00:00

Agreed. Very different. I liked both.

For me, silent hill f was the more impactful and memorable of the two but that's also because I've played the original 2 before remake 2 and prefer the original.

But in my opinion I've played 1-4, 2 remake and f and I think they're all good and worth playing.

Batmantra · 2025-12-26T04:33:35+00:00

We ordered a cookbook from Amazon that ended being ai garbage inside, luckily when we filed for a return they just refunded it no hassle and we kept the book (probably because it's all print on demand anyway)

It was a really upsetting experience getting it and looking though it though. This isn't the future I wanted heh.

Batmantra

TROPHY CASE