Why Are Anime Theme Songs So Good?

If you're a fan of anime like me - or even if you're not - you may have noticed that anime theme songs totally rock. Or "slap," as the kids say. Do they still say that? Or is that a Millenial term, supplanted by another word that Gen Z uses? (to an old Gen Xer like me, Millenials and Gen Z are all lumped together in the "kids" category.) 

Tonikaku ("anyway"), what was I saying? Oh yeah, anime theme songs: SO GOOD. I enjoy them so much, often playing YouTube mixes of them while I do chores, that at one point I decided to try to figure out why they are so good. This reverse-engineering process led me to a couple of interesting discoveries:

1. A lot of anime theme songs (and just J-Pop/Rock songs in general) tend to use a similar structure that goes something like this:

- Instrumental or vocal introduction

- First verse

- Pre-chorus that increases the tension

- HUGE CHORUS

- Instrumental or vocal break (usually 1/2 of the original intro)

- Second verse, usually with an additional element that differentiates it from the first verse

- Pre-chorus

- HUGE CHORUS

- Instrumental solo

- Bridge

- HUGE CHORUS

- Outro (usually a reprise of the intro)

Two songs that are good examples of this structure (and are personal favorites of mine) are "Shunkan Sentimental" by Scandal (from Full Metal Alchemist) and "Zankyou Sanka" by Aimer (from Demon Slayer).

2. Anime theme songs tend to have vocal melodies that "tell a story" in the chorus, as opposed to a lot of western-hemisphere songs that rely on the "repeat the same line 4 or 8 times" method. A classic example of the "tell a story" melody is the "Happy Birthday" song (sing it to yourself and you'll see what I mean):

- Happy birthday to you (introduction, like you're setting out on a journey)

- Happy birthday to you (rising action)

- Happy birthday, dear Brian (climax)

- Happy birthday to you (resolution)

A couple of good examples of this are "Blue Bird" by Ikimono-Gakari (from Naruto: Shippuden) and "Gurenge" by LiSA (also from Demon Slayer). These songs also utilize variations of the song structure I went over in point #1 above.

In addition to making them rock/slap/whatever, utilizing these techniques allows these songs to be shortened down without diluting their effectiveness into the one-minute-or-so range that animes will use over their intro or closing credits. So keep them in mind if you want to write a song that would make a good theme for an anime (and optionally, maybe also consider learning Japanese)!

Our Mr. Matsura

This past Sunday I had the privilege of attending a screening of Our Mr. Matsura, the latest documentary from my friend and filmmaker extraordinaire Beth Harrington at the Kiggins Theatre in beautiful downtown Vancouver, Washington.

Readers of this blog may remember a little over two years ago when I was a production assistant on Beth's set during a three-day shoot in Seattle, getting a crash course in filmmaking prior to starting production on Hold My Beer. It was really cool to see the finished product, which was both amazing and inspirational. To recap: it's about a photographer named Frank Matsura who traveled from his native Japan to Washington state in the early 1900s, making friends, touching lives, and uniting communities along the way. If you're a fan of historical documentaries and/or just great human interest stories, I highly recommend trying to track it down if it comes to a festival or screening near you!

Give More 24!

After a couple of years, Give More 24! is back to its previous form and time here in September. If you forgot what Give More 24! is, it's 24 hours in which you can make a positive difference in the world by donating to any one of the awesome nonprofit organizations based in the Southwest Washington area. "Sounds great," you say, "but which organization should I donate to?" Well, each organization is definitely worthy of your support, but allow me to make a suggestion: Autism Empowerment.

Why, you ask? Well, because not only are we dedicated to improving the quality of life for people and families in the autism and neurodivergent communities both locally and worldwide via our various programs (like the Neurodivergent Creators Collective), support groups, events, resources, and more, but also because we promote a global culture of acceptance for people of all abilities.

If that sounds good to you, then simply go this link and make a donation. Even just the minimum of $5 will be greatly appreciated. All donations are 100% tax-deductible, and best of all, giving feels good! I know this first-hand, because I donate to Autism Empowerment (on an ongoing basis) one dollar for every Joel Suzuki book that is sold.

Thank you! Mahalo! Arigatou Gozaimasu! Gracias!

Rock & Brews For Suicide Prevention

This Saturday, my band Second Player Score (yes, we are sometimes a band) and our friends Old Cross will be playing a benefit show for the Oregon chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention!

(The flyer says the show includes special guest Animation Eddie, but unfortunately he had to cancel. You should still check out his awesome stop motion animation on his YouTube channel.)

It will be from 6pm-9pm at Loowit Brewing Company's downtown Vancouver, WA location at 507 Columbia Street. September is National Suicide Prevention Month, so come and enjoy cold beer and hot punk rock tunes while supporting a great cause.

Hope to see you there!

I Am Now On TikTok (Gasp!)

Nearly three weeks ago, I took the bold step of finally setting up a TikTok account!

Some backstory: Andrew York, the star of Hold My Beer, had recommended that I get on TikTok because of a trend known as "BookTok," where authors post videos talking about their books and their personal writing journeys. Apparently, this trend had - and is helping - some authors gain new readers, which is something that the Joel Suzuki series could sure use. 

But while I appreciated his suggestion, I didn't do it at first, for two main reasons: (1) I had an iPhone 6, which, because of its inability to update its operating system, had a hard time running apps and was only good for texts and phone calls and (2) I was terrified of TikTok.

I had never used TikTok before, even just to watch stuff for fun, and the thought of creating an account and posting videos of myself was very intimidating. But then I remembered that I'd actually been doing similar things using other platforms like Facebook and YouTube for years. I also took the momentous step of getting a new phone. At that point, I had no excuse.

So I set up an account and lurked for a while, watching videos from other authors as well as from different kinds of creators, and then, once I got my courage worked up, I took the plunge. And honestly, it's been going pretty well so far! I've been trying to do at least one post a day, and I've been focused on telling the story of how the Joel Suzuki series got started, how it evolved, and where it stands today.

If you'd like to follow along, you can find me at: www.tiktok.com/@brian.tashima.author

Moral of the story: face your fears!

Story Structure Breakdown: KPop Demon Hunters

Yes, I am a fan of the recent hit movie KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix's most-watched movie of all time). Partly because it encompasses multiple elements that I support, including Asian representation, musical magic (or is it magical music?), and the fact that it is a new, original work of IP (intellectual property).

But also because I am 15 years old at heart.

So, after watching it once, I decided to watch it again - yes, I know, I'm waaaay behind those of you who are on your 500th viewing - but this time, I wanted to break down and analyze its story structure to see why it's so effective.

(Note: the folks at Save the Cat beat me to this by one week. Check out their analysis here.)

As I've mentioned in this previous post, I mainly used the books Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell and Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder (highly recommended for aspiring authors and screenwriters) as my story structure reference guides for the Joel Suzuki series. So, applying their formulae to KPop Demon Hunters, this is what I came up with, after the jump (warning: spoilers):

Book Coaching Business

I'm proud to announce that I've started a book coaching business!

My goal is to help aspiring authors (especially those who write from or about marginalized or neurodivergent perspectives) share their stories with the world, drawing on my experience as an author and an instructor for Autism Empowerment's Neurodivergent Creators Collective. My specialties include:

- Science Fiction

- Fantasy

- Action-Adventure

- Middle Grade

- Young Adult

- Autistic and Asian American representation

- Independent publishing

- First-time authors

- Authors who are starting later in life

(Basically, everything I learned from writing and publishing the Joel Suzuki series).

If you're interested in learning more, email me at brian.tashima42@gmail.com!

Anime Roundup

It's time for another Anime Roundup!

(Warning: major spoilers to follow)

The Apothecary Diaries

Set in an alternate-reality version of 15th-ish-century China, this one follows a young girl who is kidnapped and sold to the Imperial Palace as a servant, where she proceeds to prove herself smarter than everyone else there (she was raised by an adoptive father who used to be a doctor, and apparently he's passed all of his knowledge and then some on to her). Because of this, she's quickly promoted from servant to a job that seems to informally combine the tasks of apothecary (kind of like a pharmacist), food taster, forensic pathologist, and private detective, and she goes about solving crimes and mysteries in a somewhat Scooby-Doo-meets-Wednesday Addams-like manner. Also, between you and me, I swear she presents as autistic; she appears to have difficulty with social interaction and expressing emotions, and she has a special interest in herbs and poison that borders on obsession. This was a fun show that for some reason gave me Legend-of-Korra-without-the-bending vibes, probably because of the animation style, music, and Asian-inspired setting.

Oshi no Ko

Okay, this one was totally not what I expected. I thought it was going to be a light and breezy story about a J-pop idol group as they rose through the music business from relative unknowns performing in divey live houses to huge stars selling out the Tokyo Dome.* As it turned out, it was sort of about that, but then there was also a reincarnation storyline (a subgenre of anime in itself) and a Madoka Magica-level (or Game of Thrones if you're not familiar with Madoka Magica, although you really should be) shocker at the end of the feature-length premiere episode. All subsequent episodes after that, even during moments that actually were kind of light and breezy, carried a dark and sinister undertone that kept me on edge the whole time. So yes, even though it wasn't what I expected, I really enjoyed this one (probably even more than if it was what I expected). There's also a live-action adaptation that I watched immediately after and is, despite some pretty major changes, equally delightful (and awesomely meta - the part where the characters were obviously mocking their own show was incredible and hilarious).

* although I suppose the somewhat edgy opening theme song, which I had been hearing for a while before I ever watched the show, should have given me some clues about the true vibe of the show

Witch Watch

A teenage witch (no, not Sabrina) starts living together with her childhood friend, a teenage ikemen (hot guy)-looking ogre whose ancestral duty is to protect her from harm. As you might expect, this premise lends itself to light and breezy rom-com territory, which is where the show lives most of the time, but every so often it veers off into serious, dramatic areas before course-correcting. At one point (episode 14, to be exact - see, I'm taking notes!) it even goes off the rails altogether, as it begins as a completely different anime called "Uron Mirage" (complete with its own theme song and opening credits) that made me wonder if I had clicked on the wrong thumbnail in Netflix until I remembered that "Uron Mirage" is an in-world show that the Witch Watch characters are, um, watching. Speaking of Netflix, they are doing the slow-drip, one-episode-per-week thing with this one, so I think I have about 4-ish? episodes left to go - lots of time for the show to do more weird stuff.

Tonbo!

A light-hearted, feel-good show (why does it seem like all movies and shows about golf have a lighter tone? Why not a dark, dystopian tale about people killing zombies with 5-irons? Hmm, I may be on to something here...) about a washed-up pro golfer who discovers a young prodigy and takes her under his wing. I'm a golf fan, even though I haven't picked up a club in what feels like forever, so I enjoyed this one. It has a similar premise to the Apple TV+ series Stick, which I watched concurrently (or maybe I should say Stick has a similar premise to this show, since the manga that it's based on started back in 2014). I also recently watched Happy Gilmore 2, so my life has been kind of full of golf-related stories lately. A sign from the universe that I should dust off my clubs? Eh, probably not.

My Deer Friend Nokotan

This was another one that wasn't what I had expected. Ostensibly, it's about an overachieving high school girl with a hidden delinquent past who meets a hybrid deer-girl (which reminded me of the Netflix show Sweet Tooth) who threatens to reveal her secret unless she starts and runs an after-school "Deer Club." And I guess it is sort of that, but then it veers off into all kinds of strange directions, sometimes within the span of the same episode (or even part of an episode). This is not to say I didn't enjoy it; I actually found it quite entertaining, especially after I had moved it to my evening watch slot (which takes place after I've had a couple of beers). It was very meta, which I always appreciate, and all the constant deer-related references brought back memories of the time I went to Japan for a college study tour and was mobbed by a herd of deer in Nara Park. Good times!

Is Anybody Out There?

Every once in a while I wonder how many people actually read this blog. If you're currently reading, that's me in the (admittedly somewhat creepy) picture looking at you through the window of my computer screen. Thank you for being here!

I mean, I know for sure at least some people read it. One reader brought a printout of this post to the Volume One Relaunch Party back in April 2013. And my speaking engagement for The Green Apple Project in Lewiston, Idaho in 2017 was a direct result of one of their board members coming across my blog.

Besides that, Blogger tells me that I've had hundreds of thousands of total views over the blog's lifetime since it started in 2012 (of which only about a thousand or so are me), and my per-post view count spiked up pretty significantly after I announced that I'm neurodivergent this past May.

Still though, despite all that, to this day the blog only has a total of 27 comments spread across 711 posts. Eleven of those comments are from for-sure real people (seven from the same one), five are from me, and eight are obvious spam. That leaves only three comments that may possibly be from other readers that I don't already know.

I mean, I get it, believe me. I'm not a big commenter myself. For example, I've been an avid reader of the Seattle Mariners-related blog Lookout Landing since the early aughts, but yet I think I've only commented...maybe twice? Three times? That's right, I'm a lurker of the highest order. So maybe my blog simply attracts readers of a similar nature (great minds think alike)? Or maybe my posts just aren't the kind that really invite discourse? Or maybe...

A good amount of those thousands of views that Blogger tells me I'm getting are (gasp) bots?

I'm hoping not. So this week, if you would be kind enough to humor me with an experiment: if you are a real reader, please leave a comment on this post. It can be as simple as "Hello" or "Yes, I'm real" or as detailed and opinionated as "Brian, that picture of your eye is SUPER CREEPY I HATE IT NEVER DO THAT AGAIN." Either way, I promise I will reply!

Movie Roundup: Autistic Representation(?) Edition

I recently came across this article on Autastic.com (a neurodivergent-led website for adult-identified autistic BIPOC, good stuff, check it out) that lists movies and TV shows featuring characters who are autistic or coded as such, and are women and/or minorities. Now, I pride myself on my familiarity with autistic representation in popular media, so imagine my surprise when, after going through the list, I realized I had seen only seven out of the 36 films and shows they mentioned! After that, my completist tendencies kicked in and said, "Challenge accepted" (I love checking things off lists), and I proceeded to sit down and binge-watch. Here's my progress thus far:

Chocolate

A Thai movie about an autistic girl who uses her exceptional martial arts skills to collect money owed to her dying mother from various gangs, this was obviously a low-budget, independent production (nothing wrong with that) that had, in my opinion, some awkward pacing but absolutely incredible fight scenes. Which, really, is kind of the point of a movie like this. I tried to find out if the star is actually autistic, but wasn't able to. My guess is not, but let me know if you know for sure.

Temple Grandin

This is a biopic about Temple Grandin (you know who she is, right?) that is based on a couple of her memoirs, including the fantastic Thinking in Pictures. Claire Danes, who I am quite sure is not autistic, portrays Temple, but apparently they met and Temple approved, so I assume we're all good there. Speaking of meeting Temple, did I mention that I met her some years ago at an autism conference in Portland? She autographed my copy of Thinking in Pictures, and I even gave her a copy of Joel Suzuki, Volume One and asked for her advice on how to promote my book. Her reply was something along the lines of, "Don't just focus exclusively on the autism part of it." Noted!

Jane Wants a Boyfriend

A sweet little rom-com about an autistic young woman who, well, wants a boyfriend (as they say in show biz, it does what it says on the tin) but is smothered by her well-meaning, overprotective older sister. As a fan of rom-coms, I liked this one, even though the actress playing Jane isn't actually autistic (but she is one-quarter Japanese, which I never would have guessed), and I found myself at certain points saying out loud to my TV, "you know, you don't necessarily have to set up autistic people with other autistic people." At least Kerry Magro was a consultant on the film.

Loop

This is a short film from Pixar about a couple of kids, one of whom is a non-verbal autistic girl named Renee, who go paddling at summer camp. Renee is performed by an actor named Madison Bandy, who is actually non-verbal and autistic, which makes this film the only one in this roundup with a confirmed autistic actor (hence, the "?" in the title of the post). The film also apparently used consultants from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network.

The Accountant 2

This one wasn't in the Autastic article, but I'm including it here because I just so happened to watch it before I saw the list and figured I might as well lump it in. I had a lot of the same thoughts about it as I did the original, which I wrote about in this blog post from 2016. And yes, there are flaws. But overall, I found it pretty entertaining, even though having some actually autistic actors would have been nice (although I suspect that there are a lot more autistic actors working in Hollywood than are letting on).

Speaking of which, if you want to see a film with an actual autistic actor playing an autistic lead character along with other autistic actors (some of whom are playing neurotypical characters!), check out a little something called Hold My Beer on YouTube...

Benefit Show For Autism Empowerment

Believe it or not, Second Player Score is occasionally a band! And we will attempt to prove it by playing our first show since last November (man, does time fly) at Ole's Outpost in beautiful east Vancouver, WA this Saturday.

We'll be opening the night at 6:30pm, followed by our friends Flying Whammy. And best of all, the event is a benefit for Autism Empowerment!

So if you're in the area, head on down to 11202 NE Fourth Plain Blvd to enjoy some great beer and rocking tunes while supporting an amazing cause. Hope to see you there!

Third AE-NCC Workshop!

The third workshop of Autism Empowerment's Neurodivergent Creators Collective (AE-NCC) is this Saturday!

And the instructor will be...yours truly! I'll be giving a high-level overview of what goes into writing and publishing your own book, based on my experiences with the Joel Suzuki series. I'll be covering topics like:

- Do you need previous writing experience or credentials?

- What are some good resources to help you get started?

- Are you a Plotter or a Pantser?

- How to set goals, overcome writer's block, and stay on track

- Options for publishing your book

And much more!

If you're in the Vancouver/Portland area, please join us at Stephen's Place, 501 SE Ellsworth Rd, Vancouver, WA, from 2:00pm - 3:00pm Pacific Time. It's free, but space is limited, so prior registration is recommended (you can sign up here). If you can't be there in person, it will be simulcast via Zoom; you can get the link via the same registration page. It will also be recorded and available to watch later.

Hope to see you there!

Overcoming Writer's Block

One of the tips I like to give about overcoming writer's block is this: just write ANYTHING. There's a scientific term called "activation energy" that basically refers to the amount of energy needed to start a chemical reaction, which is usually a larger amount that it takes to maintain said reaction. Think of it like starting your car (this may or may not be an accurate description of activation energy; I'm a writer, not a scientist). The idea is that getting started is the hard part. After that, it's easier to keep going.

So in the context of writing novels, this means having your characters doing any sort of random, silly activities, even if it makes no sense to your overall story. Like, say you last left off with your protagonist having narrowly escaped from a treacherous dungeon with a number of serious injuries and no healing potions or spells, but you're not quite sure where to go from here (even though you have an outline - you do have one, right? - sometimes you find yourself having to fill in gaps along the way). Instead of banging your head against the keyboard several times before giving up for the day, simply switch gears and do something like this (paragraph breaks and lack of indentations are for blog format purposes):

Joel looked up to see an outstretched hand near his face. He realized he was lying prone on a hard, flat surface. He craned his neck a little further and saw that the hand belonged to Felicity.

"C'mon, dude, get up," she said.

"Um...what happened?"

"What do you mean, 'what happened'?"

Joel took Felicity's hand, and she helped him up. "The last thing I knew, I had escaped from the Caves of Wrath," he said. "But now, I'm..." He glanced around. To his left was a GameStop store. To his right, a Hot Topic. The distinctive smells of Cinnabon and Hot Dog on a Stick wafted through the air. "...at the mall?"

"Of course you're at the mall," Felicity said. "Where else would you be?"

"Um...outside the Caves of Wrath?"

Felicity shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about, dude." She sniffed. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I..." Joel inspected himself. He remembered having multiple lacerations on his arms and torso, and his standard Spectraland-issue vest had been torn to shreds. But now, he was wearing an intact T-shirt (short sleeved, green, with the Hyrule logo from The Legend of Zelda emblazoned on it), and his wounds were gone. "Yeah, I guess I am."

"Good," Felicity said. "Well, let's get going."

"Where?" Joel asked.

"To Mount Doom."

"What?"

"I'm kidding," Felicity said. "To the shoe store. Remember? We're here to get you a new pair of Chucks."

"We are?"

"Hmm." Felicity narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Joel wasn't sure, but he decided not to pursue the matter any further. "Um...yeah," he said. "Yeah, I am. Let's go."

** Back to Blog Post **

See how that works? I just started writing anything - in this case, Joel and Felicity shopping for shoes at the mall - and ended up with 271 words, which is a little over one page and could very well have met my word count quota for the day (my most common previous quotas for the Joel Suzuki series were 400 or 500 words, but 250 was still considered not bad). And I could have easily kept going.

Besides getting you into a writing mode, there's an extra bonus to this exercise, which is that sometimes you may actually end up with something useable! Maybe not at this point in your manuscript, or even for this particular book, but possibly in the future (this has happened to me on multiple occasions).

So the next time you encounter a blank page and feel stuck, give this idea a shot. At the very least, you'll make progress toward what Ray Bradbury said were (and I paraphrase) "the million bad words that every writer has to get out."

Happy writing!

Start Writing Your Book With...Math??

This week, in an exclusive special article just for you blog readers, I'm going to share some specific details about how I wrote the Joel Suzuki series!

And it all starts with...math.

Not because I'm Asian, mind you - I actually didn't like math as a subject in school. I think it might have more to do with my neurology.

But anyway, after Volume Two (that book and Volume One had their own somewhat messy origin stories) I had not only finalized my characters, themes, and worldbuilding, but I'd also arrived at a system for starting a book that I applied to the rest of the series.

It goes something like this: I'm a plotter, not a pantser, which means I outline my books before I start writing them, as opposed to authors who just dive in and see where the story takes them (looking at you, Stephen King. I have no idea how you do it). So when building my outline, I begin with a target word count, and then I break it down from there, using a structure that combines concepts from both Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell and Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder.

So, say you want to make your book 75,000 words, or roughly 300 pages (assuming that a page is around 250 words, which is pretty standard). You then want break it up into Acts, which, because each Act should land at a particular point, leads you to this outline (this is an actual example from an early outline for Volume Three):

Act I: pages 1-60

Act IIa: pages 60-150

Act IIb: pages 150-225

Act III: page 225-300

Then, decide how long you want each chapter to be. I like my chapters to be around ten pages each, or 2500 words. So based on the above outline, I now have this structure:

Act I: Chapters 1 through 6

Act IIa: Chapters 7 through 15

Act IIb: Chapters 16 through 22

Act III: Chapters 23 through 30 (I know, the math isn't perfect)

Then you want to break that down further into Story Beats. I won't get into that here, but you can learn all about them from the two resources I mentioned earlier (the Save the Cat! franchise even has this handy free tool on their website that will do the Acts & Beats math for you).

After that, you'll want to write short summaries of each chapter. There's always a chance that things will change as you write - Joel and Felicity would often take matters into their own hands once I got into the weeds with them - but it's good to have a general idea of what should be happening and where you want to go. Think of it as a travel itinerary that leaves room for on-the-fly detours and alternative plans (which, if you've ever traveled, you know there almost always are).

If you're starting out with your first book (or a new book, not a continuation of a series), you'll want to establish things like character, arc, theme, and worldbuilding before you do this. But once you do that, it's time to crunch some numbers! Personally, I found this method to be very helpful in getting started and staying on track, as opposed to just opening a blank page and trying to spit out words (again, Stephen King, you are amazing).

Hope you found that helpful, aspiring authors!

Zythos: The Legend of H.M.B.

Remember back in February, when I said that the tie-in video game for Hold My Beer had arrived? Well, since then, I've been kinda-sorta working on developing the larger Zelda-style game that I talked about in that post.

And yes, that's a hand-drawn map (on graph paper!) of the village of Vanwa, where the game is supposed to start out. Old school, woohoo!

I've been slowly learning about how to develop entire RPGs, and let me tell you, it's not easy. Not that I thought it would be, but man, there is a LOT that goes into it. I mean, there's a lot that goes into writing a novel, or making a film, or recording an album, but making a video game of this scope basically requires you to do all three things, plus more. Much, much more. It's like the final boss level of creativity.

Obviously, I'm still just in the beginning stages, but so far, I've scripted the game up until the "inciting incident" point, where the player will choose whether to accept the mission presented to them or not (actually, spoiler alert: they don't have a choice).

I've also started messing around with RPG Maker MV, just as a way for me to get acquainted with gameplay logic. After just a few hours of going through the tutorial, my already-high admiration for people who can create assets, write code, etc. from scratch has multiplied a hundredfold (and trust me, I won't be doing any of the actual art or coding on the final game. I'm just a humble writer).

Oh, and I think I've settled on a name for the game. Instead of the original idea of Hold My Beer: The Adventure Game, it will instead be called Zythos: The Legend of H.M.B., which I think is a much more video-gamey-sounding title. Would you agree?

("Zythos" is the Greek word for beer and also the name of the kingdom in the game, like "Hyrule.")

We're still working on securing funds for not only the game, but Hold My Beer, the episodic series. In the meantime, you can play the original keg-washing minigame here, and watch the original short film here. Cheers!

Volumes Ten And Eleven Status Update

Whoa...a Joel Suzuki series update? Are you kidding me?

Well, sort of. I haven't actually started writing Volumes Ten and Eleven yet, mind you, but I think I may have at least arrived at what kind of stories I want them to be.

Let's back up for a minute. If you've been following along, then you know that while the main story arc of the series ended with Volume Seven, I've had this idea to write four additional volumes ever since I changed the name of the series from the Spectraland Saga to the Joel Suzuki series back in 2017 (details are in this previous blog post). Why four? Because while each of the volumes in the main series corresponds to a particular color on the visible light spectrum (red, orange, yellow, etc.), there are four additional colors outside the visible spectrum, which are infrared, ultraviolet, black (the absence of light), and white (the sum of all colors). Plus, seven plus four equals eleven, and you can't have a book series that is based on rock music and not "go to eleven."

I've always sort of intended Volumes Eight (the "infrared book") and Nine (the "ultraviolet" book) to be short story anthologies about events that take place before or around the time of Volume One (the red book, hence, "infrared") and during or after the time of Volume Seven (the violet book, hence, "ultraviolet"). You can read prior blog posts about them here and here. But up until now, I've been undecided about what Volumes Ten and Eleven would be about. One idea I had was a duology about Joel and Felicity taking on an ultrapowerful adversary in a super-high-stakes adventure, but then I thought, well, (spoiler alert!) I've already kind of done that. Then I thought about doing a "Cursed Child" sort of thing, where the kids of the main characters in the original series get their own story. But that just didn't feel right.

So, I stopped thinking about it for while, especially since the entirety of 2024 and the beginning of this year was spent focusing on a little short film project you may have heard about. Then recently, my thoughts have been slowly drifting back to Joel and company, and I had this epiphany: what if, instead of a high-stakes adventure, I went the complete opposite way, and made the final (for real, this time) two volumes character-driven, almost literary fiction-like stories about Joel's ordinary, day-to-day life? Genre-wise, it could be like a memoir (which I've been reading a lot of lately), or "cozy fiction," or even a style of Japanese novels in which nothing really happens. I mean, I've read and seen a lot of posts and memes where people say they would watch a movie about the Skywalker family set in an alternate universe where Anakin never turned to the dark side and they just go about their happy, normal lives (as normal as life can get in a galaxy far, far away). Heck, I would watch that!

Anyway, we shall see if that idea holds. Even if it does, I probably won't start writing anytime soon, even though I do already have tentative subtitles for each volume (which I won't disclose just yet). But who knows. Stay tuned!

Second AE-NCC Workshop!

The second workshop of Autism Empowerment's Neurodivergent Creators Collective (AE-NCC) is this Sunday!

Program Co-lead and professional actor Gwyn LaRee will be introducing the most common voice over opportunities, and then AE's Executive Director Karen Krejcha will talk about what a podcast is and why you should consider taking part in one.

If you are in the Vancouver/Portland area, please join us at Stephen's Place, 501 SE Ellsworth Rd, Vancouver, WA, from 2:30-3:30pm Pacific Time. It's free, but space is limited, so prior registration is recommended (you can sign up here). If you can't be there in person, it will be simulcast (I've always wanted to use that word) via Zoom; you can get the link via the same registration page. It will also be recorded and available to watch later.

Hope to see you there!

Hanging With The Autograph King

On Monday, I spent an afternoon doing a crawl of some cool retail establishments in Portland with Shamim Dana, aka The Autograph King.

Don't know who Shamim is? Well, you will soon. He's set to be the subject of a documentary called The Autograph King, which profiles his story of having been born with multiple intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism and cerebral palsy, and going on to live a fun and fulfilling life through the joy of pop culture fandom and helping others.

We met at the Autism Society of Oregon's 23rd Annual Walk in April, and since then, we've become good friends as well as partners in crime trying to get the Hold My Beer franchise produced. Through his passion of collecting autographs from celebrities, he's built an extensive network of show business contacts, some of whom just might be able to help us take the SPS-Verse to the next level.

The documentary, which was directed by Scott Zakarin (whose credits include Comic Book: The Movie, Mind Meld, Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters and Marvels, and the cult classic Creating Rem Lezar), is scheduled to come out in late 2025 or early 2026, but you can learn more about it and Shamim in the upcoming Summer 2025 issue of Spectrum Life Magazine, where he will be featured in an interview conducted by yours truly.

As for the places we visited, they include Video Game Wizards, Variety Records, and Movie Madness (pictured below), a very cool video rental shop and museum that even has its own miniplex theater.

If you're a fan of vintage video games, music, or movies, I recommend checking these places out!

Please also consider checking out:

Joel Suzuki - my young adult sci-fi/fantasy novel series about an autistic teenage guitarist who follows his dreams to a faraway land, only to find himself battling an unexpected enemy in a desperate attempt to save not one, but two worlds from total destruction. The first book is available for just $1.99 in Kindle format on Amazon here!

Hold My Beer - my short film about an autistic young adult who, after receiving a tough-love ultimatum from his parents, discovers a passion for craft beer and embarks on a mission to open his own brewpub. Watch it for free on YouTube here!

Doctor Whaaat??

I know this is late, because the finale of Doctor Who's so-called "Season Two" aired last Saturday, but...what the heck??

(Warning: in case you don't already know what happened - which seems unlikely given that it's all over the internet - major spoilers to follow.)

(photo credit: BBC/Disney)

So yeah, that happened. I have to say, I - and a ton of other folks, apparently; good job in preventing leaks, BBC - was totally caught off guard. When Ncuti Gatwa said "I like this face," I was like, "Wait, um, what? No way!" I was expecting a fake-out regeneration like Peter Capaldi's Doctor did once, but, well, nope. Mr. Gatwa is done with the show after just two seasons, which feel like they went by really quickly.

And then. And then!

We'll see if Billie Piper really is the Sixteenth Doctor (you can find tons of speculation about it elsewhere online). Personally, I'm guessing that she won't be, or she'll be some kind of interim/uncounted Doctor like the War Doctor, or the Fugitive Doctor, etc. Either way, after that happened, I was like - okay, Billie Piper is awesome and all, but if they were going to make a former companion the new Doctor or Doctor-adjacent, they should have gone with Karen Gillan, because not only is she already in Disney's payroll records, but then she could've said, "Finally ginger!" (you fellow Doctor Who nerds know what I'm talking about.)

Oh well...

AAPI Heritage Month Celebration

If you're in the Vancouver/Portland area tomorrow, consider checking out Clark College's inaugural Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month Celebration!

Presented by the Clark College Korean Culture Club, the event will feature performances, a self-defense seminar, food and craft vendors, and...yes, yours truly.

From 5pm-6pm, I'll be giving a 20-minute-ish speech, followed by a screening of the Japanese-subtitled version of Hold My Beer. The entire event runs from 3pm-9pm and is free to attend (you'll have to pay for food and crafts, but if you're a Clark College student or faculty member, you'll get 15% off select vendors with your school ID).

Here are the full details:

Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month Celebration

Presented by Clark College Korean Culture Club

May 30, 2025

Clark College, Gaiser Student Center

1933 Fort Vancouver Way

Vancouver, WA 98663

3pm-9pm

Hope to see you there!

First AE-NCC Workshop!

The inaugural workshop of Autism Empowerment's Neurodivergent Creators Collective (AE-NCC) is this Saturday!

Program co-lead Gwyn LaRee and I will be presenting an introduction to filmmaking in which Gwyn will go over how films are made (as a professional actor, she has actual Hollywood experience), and then I will talk about Hold My Beer and how we did what usually takes a medium-size city's worth of people to do with just a relative handful of volunteer and tragicomically underpaid cast and crew members.

If you are in the Vancouver/Portland area, please join us in person at Stephen's Place (an assisted living facility that is gracious enough to allow us to use part of their space), 501 SE Ellsworth Rd, Vancouver WA, from 2:00-3:00pm Pacific Time. It's free (and I have been told there will be snacks)! You can RSVP in advance here.

If you're not in the area and/or can't/don't want to (I understand, trust me) attend in person, you can also join us virtually at this Zoom link. You will be on your own for snacks, however.

Hope to see you then!

Post #700!

This is blog post #700!

In the 12+ years since post #1 debuted back on July 12, 2012, this humble little blog has amassed a grand total of 206,552 views, all thanks to you, loyal readers (although I will admit that probably around a thousand or so of those views are from me, when I had to look up stuff for reference or I was just reading my own blog for fun).

It's been an amazing journey of random thoughts, shameless self-promotion, cat pictures, and much more. A big THANK YOU to all of you out there, whether you've been here since the beginning, or you just discovered this small corner of the internet last week, or somewhere in between. I'm so grateful that you're here.

Looking forward to the next 700!

Tying Up A Loose End

Some of you may remember this blog post from December 2022 when I announced that someone (not me, I swear) had created a page for the Joel Suzuki series on the TV Tropes wiki. I was, and am, honored and flattered by the inclusion of my humble set of novels in a database that consists largely of much bigger names in the world of fiction. And so, to whoever created the page, if you are out there reading this, I just want to say: thank you! I'm really grateful for your interest.

And also, I have one small request: do you think you could add Volume Seven?

I know that at the time the wiki page was made, Joel Suzuki, Volume Seven: Vision of the Virtuoso, had not been released yet. It came out the following year, in 2023. So it's been almost a couple of years now, and I, being a somewhat obsessive completionist*, have been occasionally checking back every so often to see if the final volume has been added.

* Which, now that I think about it, might be a sign of my neurodivergence? When I read books, I cannot stop until I reach the end of a chapter. I am mostly incapable of leaving a movie or TV show half-watched in my various streaming queues for too long. Joel is this way, as well.

Page creator, I will even send you a free electronic copy of Volume Seven, if that will help! Just email me at joelsuzukiseries@gmail.com. Please?

It's Official: I'm Neurodivergent!

If you read this previous post from last month, then you know that I had started on a journey of discovering if I, myself, am neurodivergent.

Well, the results are in!

Yup, that's right.

I'm really glad that the process of producing Hold My Beer not only resulted in a vehicle to showcase autistic and neurodivergent creators, but also in the revelation that I, myself, am a member of that group!

And probably the best part of all this is that my son, when I informed him of my assessment, said this:

"Welcome."

Big Weekend Ahead!

Lots of good stuff going on this weekend! First, Saturday 4/26 will feature the virtual launch info session for Autism Empowerment's Neurodivergent Creators Collective (AE-NCC), which I wrote about in last week's blog post. It'll start at 2pm Pacific Time, and you can join via this Zoom link.

Then, on the morning of Sunday 4/27, we have the:

I will be there along with a few other representatives of Autism Empowerment from 8am-12pm, talking about all the cool stuff our organization is doing, like the aforementioned AE-NCC, Spectrum Life Magazine, Hold My Beer, and more. It will be at Oaks Park, 7805 SE Oaks Park Way, Portland OR 97202. Parking is $4, but entry to the park itself is free.

Then, after a nap, we will be holding a Supporter's Night fundraiser for Autism Empowerment at Lone Wolf Watering Hole in downtown Portland from 5pm-7pm! The event, which is co-sponsored by Takara Sushi (see this previous blog post) will feature music by DJ Jordan Nguyen as well as a showing of Hold My Beer (complete with a short speech and Q&A session by yours truly).

Admission is free and open to all (minors are not allowed inside the premises while alcoholic beverages are being consumed, but they can sit in an outside area next to the waterfront). Craft beer, cider, wine, and, of course, sushi will be available for sale. Lone Wolf Watering Hole is located at 3870 S River Pkwy, Portland OR 97239.

Hope to see you at one or all of these great events!

Calling All Neurodivergent Creators!

If you're a neurodivergent creator, I have great news! Autism Empowerment is rolling out a new program called the Neurodivergent Creators Collective (aka the "AE-NCC," because we love a good acronym), which will aim to provide workshops, mentorships, and opportunities for aspiring adults and older teens who are interested in creative and artistic fields like acting, screenwriting, filmmaking, podcasting, music, video game development, and more.

Sessions will be both in-person and online, so anyone can attend whether you're in the Vancouver, WA area or somewhere else around the world. Plus, you have the opportunity to help shape the future of the program by telling us what you're interested in learning more about! For more details and to fill out an interest survey, check out the program's official webpage here. And mark your calendars for our virtual launch information session on Saturday, April 26, at 2pm Pacific Time (the Zoom link is on the webpage).

Hope to see you there!

Anime Roundup

Well, hey, look, it's time for another Anime Roundup! And it's only been eight weeks since the last one!

(Warning: may contain spoilers)

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

I love this show. I love the premise, which is basically: after the Demon King is defeated and the day is saved, now what?* Especially if you're an overpowered elven mage with a lifespan that can last thousands of years. And so, the story follows Frieren, the aforementioned elven mage, as she navigates what is essentially post-retirement for adventurers: searching for novelty spells, doing cleanup and maintenance work on statues and leftover monsters, taking on an apprentice, traveling to a resting place for souls to pay respects to her former party member who passed away, and eventually undergoing an exam for first-class-mage certification (which she only needs as a formality, as she's already way more powerful than any other mage in the entire world, with one exception).

There are occasional moments of suspense and conflict, but all of them (except for one big-boss-battle near the end) are swiftly resolved by Frieren's overwhelming magical abilities, and the majority of the show consists of her reminiscing about the past and doing everyday things with her apprentice Fern and eventually a warrior named Stark. And I love it. It shouldn't work, but it does. I also love that Frieren presents as autistic (there is some debate about this on the internet, but I totally think she does), and I love how, despite her immense power, she still gets stuck in mimics (in D&D terms, these are monsters that look like treasure chests). During the second mage exam, I think - spoiler alert - they should have tried defeating her replica by simply bringing one of the mimics they found earlier into the final chamber.

I also love how the show says that magic is a function of imagination and visualization. Did I mention that I love this show? The first 28-episode season ended perfectly, but - spoiler alert - an end card said that the journey will continue, and sure enough, I've heard there will be a new season coming in January 2026. Yatta (yay!)

* This is similar to I'm Quitting Heroing, but the execution is much different.

Sakamoto Days

The greatest hit man on the planet retires from the underworld to spend time with his family and run a mom-and-pop store (while gaining weight from eating too much instant ramen), but is still able to bust out his old skills when his past tries to catch up with him. What a fun premise! Just like with Frieren, I enjoy seeing these overpowered characters at the pinnacle of their professions totally dismantle their opponents without breaking a sweat, or batting an eye, or whatever cliche you want to use there. Do I really have to wait until July for the next season, Netflix? (Netflix: yes, Brian. Yes, you do.)

Mashle: Magic and Muscles

In a world (yes, you have to say it in that voice) where mostly everyone has some level of magical power, a boy with no magic whatsoever has to enroll in a magic school and become a top student in order to maintain his peaceful life with his adoptive father. It's a good thing, thanks to a life of intensive training and workouts, that he has enough physical strength to essentially mimic magical abilities (e.g., he flies a broom by paddling his legs really hard). It's kind of like Black Clover-meets-One Punch Man-meets Harry Potter, the latter of which this show is either really influenced by, or trying to parody, or both (probably both).

Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc.

In a world (yes, you have to say it in that voice) where "magical girl" is a real and respected profession and magical girl companies abound, a recent college grad goes job hunting and has no luck until she's hired by a magical girl startup firm. It's a fun and lighthearted take on the magical girl subgenre that subverts it in a 180-degree-different way than Madoka Magica, which I talked about in this prior Anime Roundup post (and continues to traumatize me to this very day). Looking forward to Season 2!

Look Back

Speaking of trauma...oof. This is a one-hour film (not a series) that follows the lives of two artists who meet as elementary school students and go on to become best friends and mangaka (manga creators). It's a beautiful, bittersweet story with a slight sci-fi element and a (mild spoiler alert) gut punch twist that will leave you scarred. Drop everything you're doing and watch this amazing film right now. I'll be here.

Did you watch it? Good. You're welcome.

Until next time!

Takara Sushi Fundraiser

If you're a sushi lover (like yours truly), I have great news! This month, the awesome and generous folks at Takara Sushi in Portland are donating 20% of their sales every Wednesday to Autism Empowerment!

I've had their sushi, and trust me, it's terrific. Also, the restaurant itself is a beautiful space right on the bank of the Willamette River. It's perfect for group outings, family dinners, date nights, or even solo dining! 

The first Wednesday of April has already come and gone, but you still have four more chances (the 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th) to experience a delicious lunch or dinner while supporting a great cause during Autism Acceptance Month. Takara Sushi is located at 1264 NW Naito Pkwy, Portland, OR, 97209.

Hope to see you there!

Mmm, sushi...