Tag: anime

Building a Legacy – Farewell, Akira Toriyama Sensei

Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened. – Dr. Seuss

There are a few individuals I consider my heroes and role models. Foremost among them is my grandfather. The very manner of his passing dealt a big blow to everyone in my family and left an everlasting impact on my life. His death forced me to understand the reality of time and come to terms with what is a natural aspect of life. From my struggles to my greatest triumphs, my grandfather remains an inspiration in everything I do. His legacy is the deeply cherished memories we shaerd in our time together.

I can say much of the same with regards to the works of Toriyama sensei, and in particular, the Dragon Ball franchise. I didn’t grow up with the franchise as many others did. In fact, it all started with Dragon Ball Z, the official sequel to the original Dragon Ball. I was in Singapore at the time, on a family trip with my parents and my sister. My parents were eager to take us out shopping and touring but I wasn’t having any of it.

No, I was too busy hooked onto the TV watching an incredibly buff guy, with crazy hair, falling off what looked like a gigantic snake supported by clouds, and into hell. Amazingly enough, he would pat off the damage from his fall as if it were nothing, and then proceed immediately to fly straight back up to the clouds willling himself to find a way back onto the path.

And that is all I would remember about this character for some time. My parents dragged me out of the room and took us out for the day. A few years later, I would reunite with this character again at my friend’s home while playing Dragon Ball Z: Budokai on his PlayStation 2 (incidentally, also my first PlayStation 2 game ever). I was hooked and would soon get fully immersed and acquainted with the world of Dragon Ball Z and its diverse array of characters.

The series’ protagonist Son Goku was (and remains) my favorite. Goku’s ability to overcome seemingly insurmountable challanges, his enduring willpower, his undying love for friends and family, as well as his healthy appetite and joyful approach to life (a major shonen trope these days, after all, Toriyama pioneered the modern shonen manga) made it look like he had it all. For a teenager like me who was experiencing racism and segregation at school, and with barely any friends to relate to, Goku was a hero. I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to be courageous enough to accept my weaknesses and strong enough to overcome them.

Now, looking back, I can proudly say I accomplished exactly that. From overcoming my personal inhibitions to putting 100% towards my goals, I am a confident individual happily pursuing my dreams. Most importantly, through Goku, I learned the lessson of humility and to acknoweldge those who have supported and encouraged me in my journey. A quick call out to Master Roshi, I have also done my best to work hard, eat well, and sleep well, too! (Though, it has been a little more difficult, recently, with a hyperactive toddler!)

It is funny what invisible strings connect us all. I still remember those days, lying on my bed, lost in my imagination, in scenarios where I’m saving the world or facing my demons, while imitating Goku’s signature Kamahameha. Those moments are now cherished memories. Berserk’s Kentaro Miura, Yugioh’s Kazuki Takahashi, and now, Dragon Ball’s Akira Toriyama. It truly feels like the end of an era. Toriyama sensei, you have left behind a monumental legacy. Dragon Ball was my initiation into the worlds you created. Thank you for everything you did to bring your characters to life and to share their stories, as well as yours, in what has been an inspirational journey.

Yu-Gi-Oh! – A never-ending journey

Hi everyone, it is nice to be back.

While I had originally been planning to write a completely different post, news about the untimely passing of Kazuki Takahashi-sensei, the creator of Yu-Gi-Oh, changed my plans.

Having watched the anime series as well as being a hardcore fan of the manga and the card game, news about Takahashi-sensei’s passing came as quite a shock.

I discovered Yu-Gi-Oh when I was around 11 years old. My family was living in Egypt at that time, which made it all the better, as the core plot of Yu-Gi-Oh revolved against the backdrop of Egypt and its ancient history.

The card games themselves were very popular at school. This was great for a kid like me especially since it was a means through which I could find some form of inclusion (against the racism and bullying) among my peers at school. On most occasions, I would be a silent observer watching my peers play and have a riot of a time during lunch breaks.

As I didn’t have the resources to buy the actual cards, I would instead watch the aired episodes, note down the cards used by my favorite characters, find images of them online (thank god for Google), print the images at the library, and then cut them out to have my own deck of printer paper quality cards.

It would take a while before I could join in on some games with my peers. There was some mockery of my cheap deck but that would change once I began winning the games. Slowly, but surely, my victories would become a means to communicate who I was as a person to my opponents. As a result, I would gain friends and a measure of acceptance, through the game, among my peers.

Twelve years would pass until I bought my first actual Yu-Gi-Oh deck in 2017. The actual decks were cool but I still felt nothing could beat the old paper deck I made back in Egypt. Thankfully, I have kept it to this day. The cards themselves are pretty worn out but the memories they hold for me are eternal.

I have re-watched the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series several times. While some may find its plot to be childish or incoherent on occasion, its message and themes make up for all of its flaws. There is a constant callback to the power of memories, especially of loved ones who may have passed away. There is also the strength that one can find in friendship, and through it, the courage to make your own path in life.

The card games, in many ways, mirrored the emotions and reflections of the characters and their personalities.

Altogether, the series provided quite a few powerful lessons for a kid like me who, back then, was struggling with bullying and racism in what was a constant battle to find a place for myself among my peers and as an individual.

After hearing the news of Takahashi-sensei’s death, I came across a tweet that posted the afterword he had written following the final chapter of his manga,

Suffice to say Takahashi-sensei, you succeeded. Atem said it best,

The gift of kindness you’ve given me, and the courage I’ve given you will remain with us, and that will forever bind us together.

Thank you for the gift you have given me and many others around the world through your work, and the characters you brought to life.

There, in the desert, I found a puzzle. Within it, resided a story. A story about the power of friendship, the value of compassion, the strength of courage, and the never-ending journey that is our memories of our loved ones. Thank you, Takahashi-sensei. You remain an inspiration for me in my own journey as an aspiring artist and writer.

A Fresh Start in 2022 – Updates and Changes to the blog!

Belated New Year Greetings to all my readers!

It took a while but I finally have my own office up and running in my new home in Calgary! Along with the new home and the new year comes a fresh start for The Pensive Reverie.

The tail end of 2021 saw me take a considerate break from writing of any form. Starting a new job, being a father, finding a new home, etc. meant I needed to step away for a while. In retrospect, this turned out to be for the best. It provided me fresh perspective on how I wish to develop this blog in the long run.

The Pensive Reverie lacked a definitive theme. The blog’s original tagline, when it started back in 2016, read,

A journey through the occasional thoughts of a free spirit…

Back then, I had just completed my MSc. degree and my thoughts were, for the most part,

Scattered…

Six years down the road, I have found my calling.  Looking back at all the posts, the answer was always there. Writing is my passion and I’m fortunate, during these rough times, to have found employment in an environment that idealizes this passion.

I now spend my day as a science writer. After my day job, my evenings revolve around my efforts toward becoming a full-time author and artist while spending time with my family.

I want The Pensive Reverie to be a direct reflection of the same. While I haven’t made too many changes to the overall appearance of the blog, there were a few tweaks and updates that were facilitated behind the scenes.

Here are the changes:

(1) I will no longer share my posts on The Procrastinating Scientist, my science blog, here at The Pensive Reverie as I wish to keep the two blogs isolated.

(2) My weekly posts will now solely focus on the following topics:

  • My adventures in life as a father, writer, and just another guy stumbling along towards his dreams (Slice of Life),
  • My journey to become an artist where I will share my artwork (Art Corner),
  • Fun reviews on things I love: books, games, movies, anime, etc. (Locke’s reviews)

(3) There will also be a new category of content called 100-word stories, where I will write short stories based on random and inspiring pictures I find online.

My published works will remain accessible as always. The social links on the sidebar will now direct you to the blog’s Twitter feed and Facebook group.

I have also added the Instagram link to my art, a venue where I hope to build my portfolio.

With big plans for the future, I intend to continue engaging with all of you in earnest over the many years to come, here at The Pensive Reverie where I will be,

Writing my journey one thought at a time…

It’s the new tagline.

I will see you all again this weekend with a fresh new post, as we play catch up from 2021, starting with “Celebrating Hindu Festivals.”

Writing with a brick in my head

Writing with a brick in my head or taking a long walk down Stumped avenue, call it what you may, writer’s block is ultimately a frustrating experience. Supplement it with a dash of stubbornness, a pinch of OCD, and you have the annoyingly difficult jigsaw puzzle that was my writing process over the last week and a half.

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July will mark a year since I began writing the first draft of a script for my comic book and currently active writing project. There still remains a mountain of obstacles to climb considering the drawing portions that I have yet to begin. For the most part, I was thankful that compared to my earlier autobiographical efforts in Our Last Summer and A Little Bit of Everything, my pacing and writing were hitting the right chord.

At first, I attributed this to a different writing approach, revolving around heavy sessions of brainstorming and research, followed by focused writing.

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This was the complete opposite to the free writing that propelled my earlier projects.

I felt the change was all the more necessary and obvious as this comic book script was my initiation in writing a third-person narrative. On the outset, there were promising signs that I would scrape through this project without a detour down Block canyon, and that’s where I jinxed it. Dark clouds loomed along the horizon, and soon enough I was tumbling downwards in what seemed to be an endless spiral of frustration in my existential struggle to piece together the crux and climactic portion of the story.

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It cannot be…How could I have let this happen? 

As usual, I fell prey to something that I had repeatedly advised myself to avoid: to let my ideas and thoughts, and not my research, shape the story. As integral as it had been for me to do extensive research on the fantasy elements I wished to include in my story, I had failed to keep up with my resolution in only allowing my creativity to guide my writing, and be inspired from what I learned from external references. Writing in the fantasy genre is an amazing experience, especially when there is so much material out there that just captivates one’s imagination. Somewhere along the way, I had lost the plot, and had allowed my research to limit rather than enhance my writing.

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A stern beat down from my in-house editor and partner woke me up and made me realize the solution was staring me right in the face. 

What did I learn? Writer’s block is not fun. But, stressing about it ain’t going to help either. What matters is that one is willing to take a step back, to gain perspective, before stepping forward again. While this may be counter-intuitive, and for my fellow stubborn writers out there who like me (initially) may believe it an ostensible wasting of one’s time, it is very important to take a step back and approach your writing as though you were an impartial audience member. 

Just as in science, where complicated problems often exercise a simple and elegant solution, the same could be said of writing. This is a familiar piece of advice for those entrenched in figure drawing where instructors often grill the student to take a step back and look at their work in progress to gain perspective and incentive in proceeding forward. The same applies for the mind as well, all I had to do was step back, take it easy, and, as Major Armstrong would likely agree,

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 Revel in the the truth and justice that is your sparkling freedom in writing. 

 

 

Writing Comics and All That Comes With It…

Comics have always been a part of my life. Rolling back the years to my childhood at my hometown in Madurai, India, I can distinctly remember the excitement I felt every weekend awaiting the delivery of the weekly comics magazines that accompanied the local newspaper.

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Siruvarmalar and Thangamalar, the literal translation beings “Kids’ Flower” and “Golden Flower,” provided a mashup of a children’s activity book mixed in with folktales, fables, and short stories presented in the format of a comic book.

           

(Left) Sample cover of a Siruvarmalar  issue, and (Right) a sample comic strip from within detailing a mythological tale of the Hindu God Shiva. The characters observed are of my native language, Tamil.  

I would spend hours on end pouring over the enormous collection of said magazines that my grandfather stored away in his closet, and that would be a weekend well-spent.

My family’s departure from India to Egypt would result in a break of sorts from comics and my full-fledged introduction to their animated counterparts in cartoons and anime. A few more years down the road, and following the commencement of my post-secondary studies at university, I would rekindle my love for comics in Japanese manga, and other Western staples including DC, Marvel, and an assortment of graphical novels.

As an avid comic-book fan and as an aspiring writer, the goal of kick-starting my own comic-book had always been on my mind. Now, two weeks into writing the script for what I hope will be my first graphical novel, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the diverse challenges that seem to crop up on every front as I try to bring my story together. A large part of these challenges originate from my unfamiliarity in tackling not only a new genre of writing but also a new medium.

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It’s a steep learning curve, but one worth embarking on. 

So, what have I learned so far:

1. Writing a comic is not exactly the same as writing a novel. They say a picture is a thousand words. That has become the driving motto of my work thus far, being that I spend a lot of my time imagining the outline of my story before settling down on the script. It is like constructing a silent motion film in my mind.

2. Attention to detail is important, but so is also being concise with what you want to convey to your readers. In writing the script, I found my greatest challenge in getting used to the fact that my dialogues would remain in a world separate from the art work that will serve to provide the emotions to my story. Thus, I had to keep my dialogues effective, concise, and kind of resonate with the emotions I wished to convey in the scene.

3. Writing a script may seem relatively easy ONLY at the start. This was somewhat of a lesson in humility. I began with lofty expectations, assuming that I would be able to complete the script to my comic over the period of a weekend. Boy, was I wrong! Let’s give it at the least till the end of summer, or maybe the end of the year.

4. Don’t overthink. Every writer has a quirk that makes them unique. Overthinking may be a popular category for many writers, and I can certainly be counted in that special group. It’s difficult but sometimes the best way to go about writing a script, not to mention a story in general, is to not overthink to the point where you hinder your own writing.

5. Temper your expectations. This is more of a personal challenge, in that I’ve always been the greatest critic of my own works to the point that my expectations get heavier and heavier. In writing my script, on several occasions, I had to step back and tell myself to relax and not place lofty expectations on myself, especially when it was my first outing in a new medium. Most importantly, I’ve learned my lesson in patience and perseverance. 

What I’ve said thus far may make it seem that resultant process of writing my novel script has turned me into

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The reality is quite different. As frustrating as the process can be, I’m relishing in the challenge, and it has only motivated me towards my goals. In 2 weeks, I have written 2 chapters, and that’s great while trying on one hand to balance my PhD studies. I hope to keep up the pace, maybe even go a little faster, and keep the ball rolling. Once the script is done, my efforts will be fully directed toward the necessary art work, but that’s a story for another day!

Braving The Storm

It has been a while since my last post. I have been busy all the while braving the storm that has been my PhD studies. While I’m only three months into my new degree (and a good 3.75 years remain until its completion), not surprisingly enough, I’m swamped with work. Thankfully, it is the enjoyable kind that comes with a research topic of my liking.

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Nevertheless, it has been slightly frustrating that I haven’t had the chance to post as frequently as I would have wished on the blog. 

But, the prodigal has now returned, and he does hope that he would be able to keep up with his blog posts as he deems it to be in the coming weeks. The brief respite that Halloween offered came with a sweet dose of playfulness as I carried out my annual responsibility in scaring the shit out of my girlfriend…

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And deservedly getting my ass handed to me afterward. 

Winter is most certainly here as well, the first snowfall caressing Edmonton in what began as a slush soup of snow rain that alerted me of its presence most distinctly through the water that slipped through the newly discovered gaping hole in my shoe. With only a few more weeks to go before classes end for the semester, and the age of final exams to come, I hope to put up a good number of posts that I have kept waiting for too long.

I will begin with keeping my word on the anecdote I wished to write on meteor showers. The Orionid showers occurred just a few weeks ago, and I’m looking forward to the Geminid showers which will hit in December. Apart from this, I will soon be pulling my book, A Little Bit Of Everything, out of Amazon KDP Select so that I may distribute it through other e-book publisher chains online. The book remains available on Amazon, and hopefully the redistribution will allow for further promotions in the future.

Having closed a chapter of my life with the completion of the book, I’m also working hard on setting the stage for a trifecta of stories that I’m hoping to work on over the next few years. Two of these stories will take the form of comics, for which I have been diligently taking art classes on human anatomy, while the last will be a novel, which remains in the back-burner of ideas, and a whole load of brainstorming.

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It is pretty much a blank slate for now, but the emptiness of it evokes the certainty of greater ideas and explosive creativity.

So, for now, I leave you all with this short update as I busy myself with another late night of catching up on my art practice and contemplation on my stories. I hope to have another post up by the end of this week! Until then, toodles!