Full of Bias

"Making manga is hard. Even if I draw all day I still don't finish. We should just stick to reading it" Fujino thinks to herself in a flashback at the end of Look Back. The act of creation, on its face, is meaningless. If you're good enough, and lucky enough, you might get into a position to grow a career and gain some fans; a good reward but miniscule. Going after that reward requires sacrifice: decades of continued hard work, frustration, cut connections, getting rejected, others not believing in your future. Reading manga is meaningful, can even be life changing, but is enjoyable and often effortless. Faced with these questions, Kyomoto asks Fujino "then why do you draw?"  4th grader Fujino is a naturally gifted storyteller, and her art is rough but has an obvious charm. With no competition and nothing but praise from her peers, she coasts on the validation and is convinced that she is a once-in-a-generation talent and the best of her age group. Her talen

Greetings everyone, and Happy New Year. 2023 was kind of a fucked up year. Between multiple depressing world conflicts, growing political tensions heading into an election year, and big changes in my personal life that have me constantly anxious, I sometimes don't even know how I managed to make it through without collapsing. But among a lot of changing feelings and struggles, one thing that persists is my love for great stories and emotionally resonant art. Having something like this to drive me is too invaluable to put to words. But this is a blog, and I'm a self-proclaimed writer, so what the hell else am I supposed to do but put it into words as best I can? I love great stories and feel driven to share what makes them special with others, so if you share in that passion then I'd love if you see the words for that which I can't put into words.  Last year was a transition point in my relationship to media, where I branched out from being purely an anime junkie into a