Stuff I'm Looking Forward To In 2021 (In January and February Alone)

Well, that was some year, huh? Let's hope this new one is much, much better. So far, it seems like it's lining up to be, at least as far as pop culture is concerned...

WandaVision (January 15)

I love alternate reality/multiverse-type stuff, so I'm really looking forward to this one. Plus, I think I've been having MCU withdrawals.

Cobra Kai (January 1)

Apparently, the release date for Season 3 has been moved up from the originally-planned January 8th to tomorrow, woohoo! You can read what I had to say about this awesome show in this previous post.

Doctor Who Holiday Special (January 1)

Seems like I might have a lot to do on New Year's Day? Then again, I'm assuming that the BBC will be airing this episode (subtitled "Revolution of the Daleks") sometime in the evening after my regularly-getting-woken-up-by-cats-at-330am-self has gone to bed, so I'll probably catch it via On Demand the following morning.

Joel Suzuki, Volume Five: Ballad of the Bluerock (January 7)

That's right, an official release date! We'll have an entire post dedicated to it next week.

Glorified, Issue #3: "Broken Ecstasy" (date pending)

Signed copies will be sent out to our Kickstarter backers in a few days, and it should be available for general sale on IndyPlanet soon.

Four-D: The Winter Suite EP by Second Player Score (February 4)

Four new songs! This release will also get its own post on the day it comes out.

Happy Holidays!

From all of us here at the Brian Tashima Blog and the Joel Suzuki Series, we hope you have a wonderful and safe holiday season.

Felicity: Oh, so you think you're cute with your marginal Microsoft Paint skills, huh.

Brian: Yes, I do.

Felicity: Those are terribly-drawn hats, dude. Even worse than the ones you did last time.

Brian: I dunno, I think they're okay. Joel?

Joel: I agree with her.

Brian: You do?

Joel: Yeah. They're not the correct shape.

Felicity: Right? They're missing the pointy bit at the top.

Brian: There wasn't any room for that.

Felicity: An actual artist would've figured something out.

Brian: I never claimed to be an actual artist.

Felicity: Then stop drawing stuff on our pictures.

Brian: I think it gets the message across.

Felicity: Badly.

Joel: It does match your dress. And the background.

Felicity: Whose side are you on?

Brian: Okay, okay, let's stop arguing. It's the holiday season, after all.

Felicity: That's the perfect time for a family argument.

Joel: Except we're not really family.

Felicity: True. But whatever.

Brian: How about we eat dinner and open presents instead?

Joel: Sounds good.

Felicity: Now you're talking.

Volume Five Proof!

It's always exciting when the first printed copy of a new volume arrives, even if it has a "not for resale" stripe splashed across the cover.

Everything came out perfect, so we are on track to have an official launch date soon! Oh, and in case you missed it, here's the back cover copy again (WARNING: CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR VOLUME FOUR):

"After a disastrous concert festival that claimed the lives of thousands, Joel Suzuki's archenemy is now, quite possibly, all-powerful. The only way Joel can undo the damage and save the universe is to return to Spectraland, complete his training, and fulfill his destiny as the Virtuoso - the greatest Wavemaker of them all.

Trouble is, Joel is stuck on the Bluerock (Spectraland's name for Earth) with no idea of how to get back, and he has only a few months before the gateway between the two worlds closes forever. What's worse, the one person he thinks can help him - and that he can trust - doesn't believe his story.

Then there's the pesky private eye on his trail, investigating the disappearance of Joel's friend Felicity, who was tragically killed at the concert festival. Or was she? With no solid proof that Spectraland exists, Joel starts to question whether the island of music and magic was even real in the first place...or was it all in his imagination?"

Joel may not have solid proof that Spectraland exists, but we do have solid proof - see what I did there - that this book exists. 'Cause, you know, this is a proof copy, and...okay, sorry, never mind. The humor in the book is better, I promise.

Haiku Hour, Mou Ichido ("Once More")

Hey, remember when I wrote some haikus back in July? Well, I figured enough time had passed by that it was all right for me to try again. As a reminder for those who don't know, a haiku is a Japanese poem that consists of seventeen syllables divided into three lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Traditionally, they include references to seasons and/or have nature as a topic, but, well, whatever. Hajimemashou!

Spinach eggs and spam

With some cheese toast on the side

Breakfast for dinner

Big furnace filter

Sold out almost everywhere

After the fires

Now how did this work?

Book design, so tedious

Joys of D.I.Y.

Awesome Zelda game

Minus all the hard puzzles

Button mashing, yeah!

A pint glass with the

Second Player Score logo

Chalice of power

Okay, I'll stop now.

Volume Five Cover Reveal!

Here it is (sans text), courtesy of artist extraordinaire Jill Colbert of Manfish Inc.

If you missed the post with the title reveal and the back cover copy, it's here.

Stay tuned for an official release date!

Thanksgiving Fun Fact

Hey there! A big thank you to everyone for reading this blog, supporting my various projects, and generally being awesome through what has definitely been a challenging year for us all.

I'm going to keep this one short, but here's a fun Thanksgiving fact: in case you didn't already know, the entire story of Joel Suzuki, Volume Four: Fable of the Fatewave - and the beginning of Volume Five, Ballad of the Bluerock - takes place on Thanksgiving day, Thursday, November 22, 2012, the same day that this previous blog post was written.

Of course, Joel goes to Spectraland during that day and has a whole host of adventures before returning to the same place and time that he left from (owing mostly to the temporal differences between the two worlds - time moves much more slowly on Spectraland than it does on Earth), so there's enough goings-on to fill a whole 361-page book, but still, it's essentially a Thanksgiving story.

And no, he never does finish his pie.

TV Roundup, Episode Four

As you may know if you've been following this blog, I watch an incredible amount of anime. But I also watch an incredible amount of non-anime shows as well. Of course, since I'm a writer, it's all in the name of research, homework, and inspiration...and not me simply being a lazy couch potato...okay, well, that may be part of it too. Fine. Anyway, I've recapped a few of the shows I've seen in these previous TV Roundup posts, and now here's the latest batch!

Cobra Kai

I admit, I resisted watching this one at first, partly because it was on yet another subscription service that I didn't have, and partly because I thought, "it's probably just trying to cash in on cheesy '80s nostalgia." Then I started hearing good things about it. Then it moved to Netflix. Then Onofre Ramiscal of Taking the Lead Media appeared as a guest on my band's podcast and highly recommended it. So then I was like, okay, fine, I'll give the first episode of season one a chance. And boy, am I glad I did. Onofre, you were right. This show is one of those where I say out loud to my TV several times an episode "this is so good!" Sure, it references the original films and packs in the Easter Eggs for those of us who are fans of them, but you don't even have to be familiar with them to enjoy this show. It's fast-paced, balances drama and comedy with expert precision, and plays the "nobody is actually the good guy, we're all just flawed human beings" card to maximum effect. And the scenery is sooo Los Angeles (despite most of the show being filmed in Atlanta)! If you haven't already, do yourself a favor and watch Cobra Kai immediately. I can't wait for Season 3 in January.

(on Netflix)

Tokyo Girl

I had heard that this one was sort of like Aggretsuko minus the death metal karaoke, which provoked a mixed reaction from me - I mean, I love Aggretsuko (still my second-all-time-favorite anime), but without the rage-screaming, how fun could it possibly be? Answer: lots. A made-in-Japan dramedy, it follows the life of a woman from age 23 to 40ish as she navigates the choppy waters of work, relationships, and all sorts of existential first-world angst. Once I got used to the numerous fourth-wall breakage narrations (which are delightfully Japanese in nature, by the way), the jarring time jumps, and an initial teenage version of the main character who looks nothing like the older version you see throughout the rest of the show, I was hooked.

(on Amazon Prime)

Blood of Zeus

I loved Greek mythology as a kid, and the Percy Jackson novels as an adult, so I should've been all over this one right away, but for some reason it languished in my queue for a while until the bass player from my band recommended it. So then I watched it and was like, okay, yeah, I should've started on this earlier. Netflix calls it an "anime" but I'm including it here in TV Roundup as opposed to an Anime Roundup post because I'm one of those annoying purists who consider "anime" to be, by definition, an animated show produced in Japan. How about we call it "anime-style"? You know, like how I call the Glorified comic book series "manga-style"? Anyway, it has a cool retro animation look that I envision could be used for a possible Glorified anime - I mean, anime-style - show, and it is oh-so-gory. It also employs the "nobody is actually the good guy, we're all just flawed human beings (and superpowered godlike beings)" trope, which I always enjoy. You can hear me talk more about it with the guys in my band in episode 59 of our aforementioned podcast.

(on Netflix)

Dash & Lily

Okay, as a writer of young adult fiction, I watched this one - which is based on a popular YA novel - purely for research purposes. So, when you analyze the - oh, who am I kidding. I'm a sucker for light and fluffy rom-coms, especially when the leads are introverted bookworms whose courtship takes place not in person but via anonymous written messages in a notebook that they pass back and forth...which I guess makes it, instead of a Death Note, a...Love Note? Sorry, couldn't resist. Anyway, I binged this thing in less time than the male lead's namesake from The Incredibles would take to run a 100-meter, um, dash. Sorry again. ANYWAY...

(on Netflix)

Kim's Convenience

I actually watched all four seasons of this show a while ago, but I love it so much that I just had to include it in this roundup (which is saying something, because there have been a lot of other shows that I've really enjoyed that have never been mentioned in this blog for space and timing reasons). About a Korean-Canadian family who runs a convenience store in Toronto, it's sharp, witty, and laugh-out-loud funny. And it's been renewed for two more seasons, hooray! Oh, and for fans of The Mandalorian - Captain Carson Teva from the second episode of season two is the family patriarch in this show. And for Marvel fans, his son is going to be Shang-Chi in the upcoming MCU film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Anyway, I'm going to plug my band's podcast one more time and say that you can hear us talk about Kim's Convenience in episode 42. Okay, see you!

(on Netflix)