I am 51 now but in 2018, while still in my forties, I had to have multiple major emergency heart surgeries. I was hospitalized for a week and bed ridden for about a month altogether. During that time, all I had for entertainment was my PS Vita. I decided to buy and play Persona 4 Golden blind and I spent those weeks drifting in and out of consciousness while making friends, fighting monsters and hanging out with high school students in that make believe world instead of focusing on my near death experience or the possibility of financial ruin thanks to medical bills.
I will never judge anybody that is moved by or comforted by things like anime or JRPGs. I get it.
I will always be grateful to that hospital. I was expecting to owe $300k+, it turns out the total bill over $550k, but the hospital fought with the insurance company and got them to pay for most of it leaving me with a balance due of $10k. When I called to set up a payment plan, the lady on the other end said that they would forgive all but $996. I paid it and as soon as I hung up, I was sobbing. $550,000. What is the point of surviving if you are going to spend the rest of your life slaving away to pay off you're debt.
This is heartbreaking. I can't even imagine how awful it must've been for you during that time, not knowing if surviving was even worth it (in a broader sense).
Thinking back, if I would've had to think about that too during my chemotherapy 8 years ago (was 24 back then) I don't know if I would've survived. That, or I would've become a criminal afterwards as I was still fighting with trauma as well; it would've probably pushed me over the line of being convinced the world was inherently evil.
It's good you found something to distract you from all that suffering and happened to be put in such a great, great hospital. Hope you found back to full health.
The guys be like, "I play Yakuza for the gritty depiction of organized crime", and then spend 12 hours giving women makeovers in the cabaret club minigame.
I highly recommend Yakuza 0. It's an origin story prequel for the series and personally I think it has by far the best storyline. It also has the caberet club minigame!
Odd question, but how much of it (and the newer games) are fully voiced? That was the main thing that turned me off playing them was how much of the content was just reading popup boxes of text.
I spent 40 hours in the Mahjong parlor, waiting for my businesses to drop off their monthly profits so I could invest it again. It is an accurate depiction of being a crime boss, dammit!
I learned it by looking up a guide on how to win at the Mahjong minigame in Yakuza 0. The guide existed. It was a crash course on how to play Riichi Mahjong.
I also played a lot of Mahjong Soul after that. It's a little easier to open a website than having to walk over to the Mahjong parlor every time, but a lot less atmospheric.
It's unnecessarily limiting the audience. High school is relatable because everyone does it. Not everyone goes to college or works in such and such field.
When it comes to the human experience, we start to diverge pretty early.
US is actually in range of 60%. Apparently 62% of high school graduates enrolled last year. Although that's graduates and not all people graduate, but also some people do go back later in life too.
I think the real issue is that college doesn't look the same to everyone. You may commute, do part time, different majors. However, middle/high school are a bit more uniform so the tropes/trends will resonate with most people.
This is one of the reasons I liked Aggretsuko as much as I did. She was out of college and starting her career at a company which is still younger than me but at least its MORE relatable.
my personal rule is that, now that i'm an adult, i will generally not watch or read anything where the main characters are high schoolers. it has served me well
my experience has been that those kinds of shows are more likely to have characters that behave like high schoolers. more drama, impulsiveness, etc. i also find it frustrating when i’m watching a show and the characters do things that, in my opinion, don’t make any sense. i also don’t enjoy it much when the major plot points are about high school relationships.
i’m sure there are many shows that don’t fit into this characterization i’ve described, but my experience has been that they tend to be the exception rather than the norm. and there are only so many shows in the world that i will have time to watch. i’m not trying to say that shows about high schoolers are objectively bad either, just that they aren’t for me, in this stage of my life.
i always happy to recommend new tv shows. recently i’ve liked
better call saul.
severence.
kaos. (i’m still not really sure how they managed to pull that tv show off, but they did in my opinion)
dark.
snowfall.
lupin. (kind of silly and over the top but still fun in my opinion)
mindhunter (but they canceled it after 2 seasons after ending on a cliff hanger)
maid (2021)
maniac (2018)
chernobyl series on hbo.
some of these are stronger than others, but i enjoyed all of them and thought they were quite good. i also tried to make the list have a decent range. also my experience has been that the netflix descriptions of tv shows are just universally pretty terrible and i probably wouldn’t have watched many of these shows had i paid attention to the description.
I started reading HoriMiya out of curiosity after some r/animeirl post about her loving it when he yells at her. I was like, ok, wtf is going on here. Next thing I knew I'd read the whole manga and watched the anime...
I probably shouldn't Google the second title in your post so I don't go down another rabbit hole lol.
I did end up googling it, of course lol. Definitely looks interesting. I have so many animes I want to check out atm so I guess I'll just add it to the pile.
What I liked most about HoriMiya really was the slice of life stuff and then the silly romance stuff was the icing. Getting invested in their relationship is definitely what kept me reading though, for sure. Honestly, I think it's the first romcom book or manga I ever read.
Same thing with One Piece. They had this great opportunity to deeply explore Kuma's and Zoro's values in the end of thriller bark, instead nothing happened.
I am 51 now but in 2018, while still in my forties, I had to have multiple major emergency heart surgeries. I was hospitalized for a week and bed ridden for about a month altogether. During that time, all I had for entertainment was my PS Vita. I decided to buy and play Persona 4 Golden blind and I spent those weeks drifting in and out of consciousness while making friends, fighting monsters and hanging out with high school students in that make believe world instead of focusing on my near death experience or the possibility of financial ruin thanks to medical bills.
I will never judge anybody that is moved by or comforted by things like anime or JRPGs. I get it.
Thanks for sharing and I hope you didn't experience financial ruin because of it
I will always be grateful to that hospital. I was expecting to owe $300k+, it turns out the total bill over $550k, but the hospital fought with the insurance company and got them to pay for most of it leaving me with a balance due of $10k. When I called to set up a payment plan, the lady on the other end said that they would forgive all but $996. I paid it and as soon as I hung up, I was sobbing. $550,000. What is the point of surviving if you are going to spend the rest of your life slaving away to pay off you're debt.
This is heartbreaking. I can't even imagine how awful it must've been for you during that time, not knowing if surviving was even worth it (in a broader sense).
Thinking back, if I would've had to think about that too during my chemotherapy 8 years ago (was 24 back then) I don't know if I would've survived. That, or I would've become a criminal afterwards as I was still fighting with trauma as well; it would've probably pushed me over the line of being convinced the world was inherently evil.
It's good you found something to distract you from all that suffering and happened to be put in such a great, great hospital. Hope you found back to full health.
The guys be like, "I play Yakuza for the gritty depiction of organized crime", and then spend 12 hours giving women makeovers in the cabaret club minigame.
Everything I hear about the Yakuza games make me want to play them.
I highly recommend Yakuza 0. It's an origin story prequel for the series and personally I think it has by far the best storyline. It also has the caberet club minigame!
I think I might have that one!
BWREAKING TAEH WAOURLD
I'll second the Yakuza 0 recommendation. Lot of nice cathartic emotional gut punches :o
I third playing Yakuza 0. If you like it, you'll more than likely like the whole series.
Odd question, but how much of it (and the newer games) are fully voiced? That was the main thing that turned me off playing them was how much of the content was just reading popup boxes of text.
IIRC, Zero had the most voicelines from the first 6 games.
It's an amazing experience, I wish I could play it for the first time again.
They're pretty great.
I spent 40 hours in the Mahjong parlor, waiting for my businesses to drop off their monthly profits so I could invest it again. It is an accurate depiction of being a crime boss, dammit!
How did you learn to play Mahjong?
I lost my money on the fights... and some on billiard. I just wanted to beat Erika.
I learned it by looking up a guide on how to win at the Mahjong minigame in Yakuza 0. The guide existed. It was a crash course on how to play Riichi Mahjong.
I also played a lot of Mahjong Soul after that. It's a little easier to open a website than having to walk over to the Mahjong parlor every time, but a lot less atmospheric.
That's exactly it - those games just breathe atmosphere, and even the minigames add another layer to it.
Sit down, drink up, then throw darts into the wall, cause you've had too much.
perfect/10, will play every game of the series, and then Judgement.
I'm just optimizing stats dad! I swear to God. I'm not playing dress up!
way worse when it's a fucking banger of a love story but they're middle schoolers for some goddamn reason
got something specific in mind, right?
bokuyaba/the dangers in my heart
it's a brilliantly written coming of age romance that wouldn't have lost a damn thing by just aging the characters up a couple years
take a shot everytime MC says "YABAI" (bad)
But no that was definitely one of my favorites during that season
agreed, that's the best of 'em!
Pseudo Harem
Absolutely adorable.. And it has an ending
absolutely, love it! but that one was high school. if we start with that then the flood gates are open. (and I can name a hundred recommendations)
Shit I didn't read the prerequisite
Ahem. 36 episodes about highschool volleyball. I do not play volleyball.
Haikyuu is top quality!
Hey! Dan da Dan is great! I'm not being defensive! I'm fine!
Grandma help, my friend lost his balls.
Can they, for once, be college students or maybe high-school seniors?
It's unnecessarily limiting the audience. High school is relatable because everyone does it. Not everyone goes to college or works in such and such field.
When it comes to the human experience, we start to diverge pretty early.
Internets says that 61% of the Japanese population go on to higher education. That's pretty high compared to Americans at 39%.
US is actually in range of 60%. Apparently 62% of high school graduates enrolled last year. Although that's graduates and not all people graduate, but also some people do go back later in life too.
I think the real issue is that college doesn't look the same to everyone. You may commute, do part time, different majors. However, middle/high school are a bit more uniform so the tropes/trends will resonate with most people.
This is one of the reasons I liked Aggretsuko as much as I did. She was out of college and starting her career at a company which is still younger than me but at least its MORE relatable.
The best anime/mamga about college is Grand Blue, cant't recommend it enough
they can be but then the MC is a 40 year old office worker while she has a troubled past and daddy issues
my personal rule is that, now that i'm an adult, i will generally not watch or read anything where the main characters are high schoolers. it has served me well
I mean, you do you. I enjoy watching them.
Any particular reason why?
my experience has been that those kinds of shows are more likely to have characters that behave like high schoolers. more drama, impulsiveness, etc. i also find it frustrating when i’m watching a show and the characters do things that, in my opinion, don’t make any sense. i also don’t enjoy it much when the major plot points are about high school relationships.
i’m sure there are many shows that don’t fit into this characterization i’ve described, but my experience has been that they tend to be the exception rather than the norm. and there are only so many shows in the world that i will have time to watch. i’m not trying to say that shows about high schoolers are objectively bad either, just that they aren’t for me, in this stage of my life.
Very fair. Resonates with me somewhat, tho I still come to the anime well for comfort vibes.
What kind of shows do you watch instead, care to recommend some?
i always happy to recommend new tv shows. recently i’ve liked
some of these are stronger than others, but i enjoyed all of them and thought they were quite good. i also tried to make the list have a decent range. also my experience has been that the netflix descriptions of tv shows are just universally pretty terrible and i probably wouldn’t have watched many of these shows had i paid attention to the description.
Thanks! I've only seen two of those, will check them out for sure. Severance especially looks right up my ally.
Severance is amazing. Highly recommend.
Severance is great and has a second season coming out soon.
Seems like stories like that may make them feel uncomfortable. Probably a personal reason.
...HoriMiya and The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten...
I started reading HoriMiya out of curiosity after some r/animeirl post about her loving it when he yells at her. I was like, ok, wtf is going on here. Next thing I knew I'd read the whole manga and watched the anime...
I probably shouldn't Google the second title in your post so I don't go down another rabbit hole lol.
https://media1.tenor.com/m/BtfBFFAp00AAAAAC/the-angel-next-door-spoils-me-rotten.gif
Its so good, i think its getting a second season this year too
Fantastic choice to watch on a rainy/cloudy day
I did end up googling it, of course lol. Definitely looks interesting. I have so many animes I want to check out atm so I guess I'll just add it to the pile.
What I liked most about HoriMiya really was the slice of life stuff and then the silly romance stuff was the icing. Getting invested in their relationship is definitely what kept me reading though, for sure. Honestly, I think it's the first romcom book or manga I ever read.
Hey, i'm in this meme and don't like it
Ugh I get such feels from those shows quintessential quintuplets had me openly crying..
Why can't real life dating be even remotely like that.
I watched the trailer and was like, "Ew harem."
Then I proceeded to binge the series and movie.
Solid show.
[dropkicks a man through a fourth-story window]
"I've never killed anyone in my life."
Shut up. I dont need your judgement just because nothing happens in 200 chapters of Akutsu san
Same thing with One Piece. They had this great opportunity to deeply explore Kuma's and Zoro's values in the end of thriller bark, instead nothing happened.
186 episodes of Baseball
Our country doesn't even have a baseball team :p
Creepy