Anime Blog #17: Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3: "Act 28 - Ripples" Review (FIGHTING GAMES ARE DANGEROUS!)

For the third consecutive time, Sailor Moon Crystal has managed to captivate my interest in ways I never expected.  Yes, we knew Eudial was gonna fight the Sailor Senshi.  Yes, we knew we were gonna see Professor Tomoe for the first time. And yes, we knew Chibiusa and Hotaru were gonna go through that phase of saying "Hotaru-chan" and "Chibiusa-chan" over and over and over.  But we're not gonna get into that now, let's just cut to the chase and review this thing!

Picking up exactly where the previous episode left off - with Sailor Neptune and Uranus vanishing into the night - the mysterious frail girl manages to fully stand up, advise the gang to leave the academy as possible, and be on her way as well.  But before she departed, Chibiusa wanted to know the name of the girl who healed her wound.  With her somber emotion slowly growing to a smile, she revealed her name was Hotaru Tomoe.  As a result, Chibiusa was taken aback by her sincere happy emotion, briefly entranced by how beautiful she looked when she smiled.

Opening credits roll.

In the basement area of the academy, Hotaru could be seen having another seizure, unable to walk or stand.  A woman with long red hair in a lab coat rushes to her aid, calling her name in a familiar tone. However, Hotaru pushes away the woman in hostility, insisting she can get to her room by herself.  It was that moment a tall, slender man appeared.  He too was wearing a lab coat, and strangely designed spectacles, with one lens having a strange watermark of some kind.  The red-haired woman acknowledged her as the professor, and Hotaru acknowledged him as her father.  He insisted to Hotaru that the red-haired woman - whom he addressed as Kaori - only wished to take care of her since her mother passed away.  Despite his father's kind words, Hotaru vehemently cursed her name, presuming her as a homewrecker who only wanted to suck up to the professor for personal gain.

Later that night, as Hotaru tried to rest in bed, Professor Tomoe appeared in her room with the intent of having a heart-to-heart, while asking if she's been taking proper treatment for her illness.  Hotaru insisted that she has, but to no avail.  As the professor rubs her head, Hotaru sharply reacts for some reason, then the professor reaches into his coat and takes out an amulet with a large crystal shaped like a flower before leaving.  Shortly after, the illness Hotaru felt began to suddenly vanish. But Hotaru could still not get over the moment his father touched her.  His hand was unnaturally cold...

Back at the command center in the basement of the Crown Arcade, Usagi and the gang round up all the information they've obtained from last night's events-- the confirmed identity of the two mysterious figures, and the strange girl Hotatu Tomoe.  Meanwhile, Kaorinite - now confirmed to be Kaori's alter-ego - has taken a curiosity to Sailor Moon's source of power, the Silver Crystal.  She believes it to possess a power similar to - if not greater - than their own Taioron Crystal, and if proven true, she believes it would please Pharaoh 90 to obtain it.  However, she first tries to find meaning of the mysterious three lights which would bring forth a great destruction through the fountain mirror, but to no avail.  Simultaneously, it seemed to trigger a dream Mamoru awakened from as soon as Kaorinite lost visual from the fountain mirror.

Elsewhere, Michiru was making a similar reading through her Deep Aqua Mirror, but also had a similar interference.  Even so, she and Haruka both vowed to find all three talismans before the great destruction ever comes.

Mamoru goes to a library to do some research on the academy, with Michiru following and giving her input on the subject matter.  At the same time, she offers free tickets to her violin concert.  Meanwhile, Usagi runs into Haruka, and suspects she's a Sailor Senshi, despite looking like a male.  Haruka playfully mocks Usagi, asking if she's into fighting games.  Usagi's friends Ami, Minako, and Makoto intervene, thinking Haruka would cause harm to her.  But Haruka took a hint and left.

Usagi ponders about Rei's absence, and Makoto explains that she went to the mountains for self-purification on her 15th birthday today.  Concerned, the gang decides to visit her in the mountains.  Kaorinite then decides to sortie Eudial for the next mission to eliminate the Sailor Senshi.  Upon meeting Rei, a school training camp was conveniently taking place nearby, with Eudial recruiting new potential students for Mugen Academy.

Usagi and the gang decide to visit, observing a judo training session was taking place.  To their surprise, Haruka was there too!  It didn't take long before she began goading them into a judo match, where Makoto obliged, thinking it would be easy.  However, Haruka proved to be much stronger than Makoto anticipated.  Usagi's friends - thinking she was a male - believed she was being too aggressive on a lady.  Haruka nonchalantly rebuttals with a sexist remark.  Usagi and her friends then take their leave when Eudial suddenly appears on the scene.

That night, Eudial gathers the students outside, tricking them into a ritual that forced them to sacrifice their souls as Hostes for Pharaoh 90.  Sailors Mars and Jupiter prevent this from happening, and a battle ensues, with Eudial setting the woods ablaze with her Fire Buster.

However, Sailor Moon brings Eudial's inferno to an end with the Moon Spiral Heart Attack, with the remaining Witches observing her death.  Again, the mysterious Sailor that looked like Haruka appeared before Sailor Moon, and she was determined to catch her this time.  Losing track of her briefly, the mysterious Sailor gets her attention by speaking to her.  She then gives a warning to Sailor Moon:

"Don't get in our way.  Fighting games are dangerous".  

At that moment, the episode closes with the mysterious Sailor advancing toward Sailor Moon, giving her a passionate kiss on the lips.

It was that last quote in the end of the episode that kind of blew my mind. Knowing the franchise's history with fighting games, the most popular and competitively viable one was the Super Famicom version of Sailor Moon S.  Here, Sailor Uranus is widely regarded as a top-tier character with all the perks that made her soundly superior to the rest of the cast.  So to hear her say that in this game is quite ironic, and possibly a nod to the fighting game.

Overall, this show was extremely faithful to the manga, where the only notable - and much needed - change was how the battle with Eudial was executed. In the original manga, Eudial hardly used the Fire Buster as extensively as she did here, and when Sailor Mars used the Snake Fire, Eudial oddly transformed into a medusa.  To this day, I never understood the logic behind that, and it kind of took away from whatever personality the villain could've had.  Seeing this not happen in Crystal was a very smart move.

Once again the series delivers with an entertaining episode, and it can only get better from here, as the next episode will be focusing on not only my favorite villain of the Death Busters, but IMO one of my favorite Sailor Moon villains of all-time, Mimete.  I can only wonder how creative they'll get with her time in the spotlight, since she only has one shot to make it count compared to the 90s anime (where she was many times more entertaining and funny).  Please Toei, don't screw this up.

This week's episode is definitely a "Worth Watching" IMO.

Anime Blog #16: Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3: Premonition, Part 2 (Review with SPOILERS!)

This past Monday I have watched the second part of Act 27, and to make a long story short, the quality of the episode retained its consistency, which is to say it was entertaining to watch.  However, due to circumstances such as work and other side projects I've been doing, I've never been able to chime in my own episode review until now (and on the day before the next episode, no less).

So without further ado, let's get on to the summary.

The opener scene for this episode centers around Chibiusa teasing Usagi about Mamoru taking him somewhere, much to Usagi's annoyance.  In a bit of surprise, the scene dials back to the humorous roots of the 90s anime, which gave the franchise an additional charm the manga never dabbled on very much.  At the same time, it never overstays its welcome and still reminds us it's trying its best to remain as faithful to the manga as possible.

Opening animation ensues.

Luna and Artemis - at the command center beneath the Crown arcade - gather resources on the suspected Mugen Academy, while Kaorinite gathers her underlings - the Witches 5 - to explain their mission, which is to find the Sailor Senshi and kill them.

Soonafter, Usagi and the gang meet Mamoru, Chibiusa, and his fellow underclassman Asanuma at the park near Mugen Academy.  Chibiusa, already on the ferris wheel with her friend Momo, has her hat blown away by the wind just as the ferris wheel stops, and she runs to retrieve it, as her foster mother Ikuko gave it to her as a keepsake.  The hat blew its way into Mugen Academy, where Usagi and her friends would shortly investigate.

Usagi uses her disguise pen in order to use the academy's uniform to blend in,  Later, she and her friends are briefly distracted by a violin being played in the distance by Michiru.  Then suddenly Haruka would appear out of nowhere, leaving them with a warning not to get in too deep.

Later that night Chibiusa retrieves her hat, and conveniently finds a seemingly anemic young girl in the academy's school uniform.  Concerned about the girl, Chibiusa offers help, but the girl tells her to stay away and leave the academy, as if she were shaken with fear.

At that moment, Eudial plants a Daimon egg toward a stray cat, mutating it into a Daimon.  The Daimon lets loose on Usagi and Chibiusa, and are forced to transform and defeat the monster.  It is here we witness Chibiusa's full transformation for the first time, with a dual roll-call with Sailor Moon in tow.

Sailor Mars uses the Burning Mandala, Sailor Venus restrains the monster with the Love-Me Chain, and Sailor Moon summons more power from the Silver Crystal in order to use the Moon Spiral Heart Attack, transforming the Daimon back to the cat it once was.  The Witches 5, watching them in the distance, disappear shortly after.

Albeit injured in the battle and risking their identity to protect the mysterious girl, Chibiusa tries to calm the girl by convincing them they're not bad people.  Hotaru couldn't help but notice Chibiusa's injury and magically heals it with her hand.  Sailors Neptune and Uranus could be seen suddenly by Sailor Moon and the gang, and quickly vanish into the night.

While I do admit the decision to stretch Act 27 into a two-parter seemed to drag things on a bit, given the pacing is weekly instead of bi-weekly, it's a little more forgivable.  And besides, the new direction being taken for Crystal is a bit more promising, and brings back a bit of the charm which made us fall in love with the 90s anime.  It's a perfect blend by far, with none of the blandness that seemed to hold the first two seasons back.

This episode gets a "Worth Watching" in my book.

Anime Blog #15: Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 - First Impressions (SPOILERS!)

NOTE:  The following blog may contain spoilers based on pre-existing source material, and isn't suited for viewing by less-than-jaded fans trying to get into the franchise.  If you fit this criteria, continue to enjoy the episodes and conserve your suspense... trust me, it's gonna be awesome.

As for everyone else, welcome to my humble Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 review and impressions for Act 27: Infinity, Part I.  And without further ado, let's get started!

As everyone knows by now, Sailor Moon Crystal's inception was a result of the 20th anniversary celebration of the globally beloved Sailor Moon franchise, and is mainly about a bun-headed high-school student who - upon meeting four unique friends, two talking cats, and an older male student who she is destined to be together with - is revealed to have been the heir to Silver Millennium, a kingdom rumored to be inherited by successors of the moon goddess Selene.  Her four close friends are revealed to be princesses of their own respective planets of the Milky Way as well as the guardians of their planet called Sailor Guardians, sworn to defend Silver Millennium and its heirs.

Now reincarnated in the present, they have overcome the Dark Kingdom ruled by Metallia, and the dark planet Nemesis which Death Phantom merged itself with.  And so a new evil runs astir... that evil is none other than the Death Busters, ruled by Pharaoh 90.

The episode opens up with said new antagonist narrating his intentions and making his objectives clear to his subordinate magus, Kaorinite. (Surprisingly, Tayaka Hashi's performance for Pharaoh 90 sounds a lot like Arago from Samurai Troopers / Ronin Warriors).  Then it cuts to Hotaru's bedroom, with a voice beckoning her to "awaken" because a great destruction is coming.  We see brief shots of Sailor Pluto and two new Sailor Guardians carrying a mirror and a long sword (Neptune and Uranus, no doubt), and then it cuts to Mamoru and Usagi waking up, which heavily implies more than one person is having the same dream simultaneously.

The next morning Usagi wakes up late as usual, with Chibiusa already having her fill of breakfast thanks to their mother Ikuko.  Usagi rushes to see Mamoru, and Chibiusa follows, giving her the lunch she forgot to take.  Meanwhile, the scene cuts to an upper floor of a tall building, where an aqua-haired girl can be seen taking a casual swim by the pool in a white one-piece swimsuit.  Upon exiting the pool, she checks her cell phone and gets ready to board her helicopter, the Kaiohmaru.  Elsewhere, the scene cuts to a racing derby, where a young man (or is he?) named Haruka Tenoh is scolded by the pit team that he's straining the new car's engine too much.  Brushing it off casually, he boards a second helicopter called the Tenohmaru.

The show cuts back to Usagi hanging with her friends at the Crown plaza, where a racing game fancies her curiosity.  Suddenly, Haruka enters the scene unnoticed, showing off his skills with the arcade game, much to Usagi's frustration.  However, Haruka comforts her in almost a flirtatious manner, encouraging her in a way by saying she may be cut out to be a racer someday.  Meanwhile, the aqua-haired woman (now identified as Michiru Kaioh) is in a brief intervention with Mamoru, strangely telling him his eyes give a regal aura about him, as if he were a prince in his past life.  Haruka meets up with Michiru and they both leave for a school called the Mugen Academy - a gathering of elite students destined for greatness in the world.

Incidentally, there were reports of a monster attack, and the very monster goes to possess a girl from the Mugen Academy.  Luckily, Usagi and the gang were on the scene, and in typical fashion, they transform into the mighty Sailor Guardians we know and love, with new (and VASTLY IMPROVED) transformation sequences and roll calls.  The fight is briefly wrapped up when Sailors Venus and Jupiter perform their newest attacks - the Wink Chain Sword and Coconut Cyclone, respectably - to defeat the parasitic monster and restore the girl to normal.  The gang finally deduces that their new enemy is connected to this elite school and will stop at nothing to defeat them.

While this episode only tells half of a single chapter in the manga - whereas in the past they told the full chapter as an episode - the fact that this new staff direction improved the overall quality of the episodes - particularly in animation - was more than enough to hold me over to want more.  The prologue was dark and gripping, and the pacing was what I had come to expect given this is faithful to the manga (so far). The characters don't seem to have dry expressions and seem to be closer to the lovable 90s anime. Junko Minagawa's performance as Haruka Tenoh was the premiere standout voice talent, and has already proven to be more than enough to match - if not surpass - her predecessor Megumi "Aniki" Ogata, whom gracefully approved her to carry on the iconic role in her absence.

But what really caught my eye for this episode is the transformations.  OH GOD, THE TRANSFORMATIONS.  They're beautiful, just beautiful. I'd dare say this is not only the best we'll see for this remake of a series, but the best yet in the series' history. Gone is the CGI transformations that many believed to be out of place with the otherwise 2D environment.  What we get instead is tried-and-true 2D animation which is a sight to behold at 1080p. Add some inspiration from Pretty Cure, and you got a labor of love that just shows you that Toei takes its constructive feedback from fans VERY SERIOUSLY.  This, my friends, is what stole the show for me this episode, along with the beautifully animated Wink Chain Sword and Coconut Cyclone attacks.  And the show can only get better from here if the animation remains this consistent, unlike its previous seasons.

Luckily for us, we won't have to wait 2-3 weeks for another episode.  That's right!  Every Monday for what I believe will be the next 3 months we'll get a new episode.  And even better, next week you'll be formally introduced to the Witches 5 as well as Neptune and Uranus.

Scores are pointless to me, so I'm gonna instead give this a "Worth Watching", if only for the transformations and improved action alone.  It brings back the spirit of the 90s anime while still being its own thing.  This is the Sailor Moon Crystal we deserve.  An essential season to keep on your radar.

DOA Community Blog #13: Final Round 19 - More Than Just Another Tournament

It's been a long time since I've done a blog, but now I have a lot on my mind that's worthy of being expressed in such a format.  And what a better time to write a blog than after a great weekend in a tournament major?  But this was no ordinary tournament experience for me, much less a bad experience.  No.  This Final Round tournament in this year has taught me a lesson that I couldn't accept for the longest time...

But first, I wanna talk about the pre-tourney preparations.  This was probably one of the most complicated preparations I ever made for attending a tourney, as I had to somehow break even with the hotel fees while still having enough to cover other financial priorities this month.  As a result, I began reserving for the Hilton.  However, I had forgotten I had reserved for the La Quinta Inn resort several months prior at a cheaper price.  Be that as it may, I spent the last several months making offers to people interested in lodging, with Bruce L (aka Nujin / Sho'nuff) as the initial definite, since he had no transportation of his own. Close to the week before the tourney, I canceled that reservation for the La Quinta Inn and went for the Hilton for the sake of everyone's convenience.

However, the previous fall after Anime Weekend Atlanta, my car got into an accident, and my hood and windshield were damaged.  Since I was unable to pay out of pocket for repairs for a while and I was having trouble settling in someplace else to move in January, things were looking very grim. Despite this, I eventually got help and ultimately moved in with a friend of a co-worker, though the car repairs would have to wait.  But this wouldn't deter me from trying to make things happen with Final Round 19, even if my car was in no shape for long travel.

Originally, my plan to get to FR19 was to have the current landlord drive to Gwinett County, pick up Bruce, then drop us over to the Hilton while the others meet us there.  The landlord would then pick us up Sunday evening at 6PM, and everything would be golden.  Unfortunately, due to an unforeseen personal conflict that had nothing to do with me, he was unable to do so, and I had no choice but to pick up Bruce in my damaged car, much to my disappointment. What's worse, I had to drive on a donut due to one of my tires being slashed apart, avoiding the freeway entirely.

Thankfully, my car was able to endure the ride to Bruce's house that Thursday night.  Unfortunately, there was some miscommunication on Bruce's part, and I ended up having to camp someplace else until he was ready sometime after 6AM.  Using the phone's GPS, we ventured on to the Hilton avoiding the freeway.  Little did we know we ended up in another area entirely, and the phone was dead.  So we camped at Burger King to charge the phone for the time being, while I killed time playing Final Fantasy IV on the PSP.  Ultimately we were 2 hours behind schedule, and I was afraid Bruce would never get a chance to register as a spectator (though I personally wish he had actually competed this time).

We arrived sometime after 9:30 AM at last.  However, our room was not ready yet.  At the time, the following patrons were confirmed to be rooming with us for the event - Gregar6, Keyonno, Terrin, and BlackJDragon,  DrowninMan was also planning to hang out at our room that day, but not to stay as he was taking the bus back and forth.  While Bruce got his registration out of the way, I went to McDonalds as a means of temporary internet access in the hopes of finding out about the status of other people attending.  Unfortunately, the connection was too slow, so I went back to the venue after loss of patience.

Around 11PM, Gregar, Keyonno, RiptheJacker, and DrowninMan arrived, along with Blackmoonrisingx and Onsen, who already had their room prepared for casuals. Seeing as Bruce's phone did not work because it was only able to via MagicJack, I had to physically look for him in order to keep him in the know on what was going on.  After we all settled in our room, the gang went over to Blackmoonrisingx's room to play DOA casuals, while I waited for Bruce to arrive.  During that time I had a conversation with RiptheJacker, keeping up with a lot of things that happened since the previous Final Round event.  I would later meed JDE, BlankOctober, and DesjahRae for the first time in person, who would later dine with us Saturday evening.

Terrin would soon text me, telling me he was within the hotel.  So I went to look for him as well as Bruce, who had yet to show at the time.  I gave him the information on the room, and all that was left was BlackJDragon's arrival to the Hilton.  I decided to tell Bruce the room numbers of where we might be at, and went on ahead to Blackmoonrisingx's room to play a few casuals, meeting BlizzagaDragon and Nykko in the process.  Sometime later, BlackJDragon would text me to inform that he'd be arriving to the Hilton shortly, and with all the patrons accounted for I finally went to the Delta Credit Union further down the street to deposit the money collected.  The hotel fees were finally behind me, and I could enjoy the rest of the weekend.

It wouldn't be long until everyone would want to get something to eat for the evening... so after about an hour or two of making up our minds, we went separate ways as far as eating is concerned.  Bruce, Terrin, Bertell, Gregar and I decided to go to the Irish Bred Pub along with BlankOctober and his friends, and this is where things got interesting.  We talked about all kinds of silly stuff spanning from Street Fighter 5's potential to be a better game than its current state, older fighting games, and even spun old insurance company mottos into fighting game lingo (Saving 15% or more on meter management, anyone?).

By the time we got back to our room, Keyonno was out like a light, and we played some more casuals before watching Project A-Ko, then Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.  While we were talking about random stuff like Boku no Pico, Bruce then decided to grandstand and have his own little Eddie Murphy moment talking about a hilarious incident with a former friend of his who was showing off the anime.  Needless to say, everyone was laughing their asses off, myself included.  Be that as it may, we needed to get sufficient rest for the tourney Saturday morning.

Prepared for the tourney, we headed to the lobby together, only to find out it was being delayed due to the unforeseen hot mess of SF5 brackets consisting of nearly 1,000 players that was still going on since 4AM.  Instead of 10AM as planned, the DOA tourney would start at 12PM.  Despite SF5 being a hot mess full of unwarranted disqualifications, our tourney went smoothly enough.  I was in the next-to-last pool, did my best, and unfortunately didn't break top 16, losing to both Kwiggle and HollowIchigo.  But even though I was disappointed about how I did for a while, something hit me... I wasn't dwelling on it nearly as hard as I did the last few years.

 After underperforming in tournaments I've attended, I've constantly beaten myself up over it, even going so far as to believe that the only way to have fun in a tournament is if you win or place respectably high.  My friends would often tell me "go for the experience", but the fact that I was met with much negative backlash online and losing some friends over how I performed didn't help matters much, and I was led to believe that as long as I didn't do well, it will always be a bad experience for me. This year, I was proven wrong.  I somehow still had fun, and there were plenty of people still willing to accept my company.

During the tourney  I would meet HajinShinobi and BboyDragon again (the latter I haven't seen for two years in person, mind you), but for the first time ever, I would meet L0rdXavier, the Hitomi player I apparently introduced to the DOA community through a match or two in DOA Dimensions 5 years ago.  I would also meet SkatanMilla, an international fighting game player who I haven't talked to since the DOA4 days that was involved with the now-defunct CGS and has since been focused on Street Fighter.  I had planned to invite him to have dinner with my folks, but due to the stressful and lengthy nature of the SF5 brackets, it was nearly impossible to schedule without him missing his own bracket matches.  Later after the tourney, I would formally meet DM Recluse in person, whereas in the past we only met online.

Originally, we had planned to go to Spondivits to get our evening grub on, but since it was a lengthy wait and we would most likely not be able to sit together as a group, we detoured to the Ruby Tuesday across the street.  Here, we would congratulate and celebrate a toast to DrowninMan (our local GA player), Nykko, and HajinShinobi for making top 8 before the discussion turned into talking about ratchets (and clanks)... which is an inside joke you had to be there for to comprehend.

Afterward, we headed back to Blackmoonrisingx's room for more casuals, where I worked a little on some videos containing my archived music/BGM loops of the past.  As far as casuals go, I ended up playing Onsen and DM Recluse for the most part, then I decided to head for the lobby area and see what was going on in the retro gaming area.  Having already missed out on playing a retro-gaming tournament scheduled for 4PM, the least I could do was play Burnout 3 and WWF No Mercy, which thankfully was available.  Sometime later, I decided to accompany Jyakotu and watch the remainder of the top 16 matches for TTT2 before ultimately heading back to my room to play more casuals with Gregar, Bertell, and Bruce, which pretty much wrapped up Saturday night.

That morning,  we had to wrap things up and clean house for checkout, heading over to McDonald's shortly afterward and then taking a group picture of ourselves at the event.  DrowninMan met up with L0rdXavier for warm-up casuals before top 8 matches started at 2PM, Keyonno and Gregar6 were leaving at noon, and Bruce and I killed time playing the arcade boards for Vampire Savior and Soul Calibur 2, respectively.  During the top 8 matches, I tried to support DrowninMan in the hopes he could overcome Nykko's Leifang, but to no avail.  Be that as it may, what he did was an accomplishment nonetheless.  In the midst of the top 8 brackets, I found out my phone was dead again, and I had to step outside the room to charge it, 'cause it was the only way I could navigate Bruce safely back home.  Therefore, I missed the rest of the top 8 matches, but was aware that HajinShinobi made top 3 at least.

The entirety of the DOA community congregated at the Finish Line Diner in the lower lobby, where Bruce would talk extensively with BlackmoonrisingX, Jyakotu, and myself later on with words of encouragement, as well as his plans for the future as far as the FGC is concerned.There was just one loose end before leaving the venue, and that was ensuring that Terrin and Bertell could get out of the hotel without paying a parking fee.  Overall, I genuinely had fun this past weekend.

It took me four years to actually believe it, but after this past weekend, I finally convinced myself that going to a tournament is not about placing high nor winning just to feel "permitted" to have fun or to contribute and give back to the community I support.  The experience I should've been going for had nothing to do with that, and the sooner I figured it out, the easier it was for me to open up to people and be myself.  Granted, I wasn't able to talk to everyone, but I sure as hell was making much better progress than I was the last four years.

While the tournament I attended itself was the main event at hand, I wasn't nearly as stressed out about how I did compared to the last few I've been to.  Yes, the disappointment was still there, but the other things that were going on outweighed the importance of the tourney.

I've known Bruce and Bertell for as long as I can remember, but the new faces I met and lodged with were great company to be around.  Keyonno was calm and reserved, Terrin was a kindred spirit with an affinity for retro anime as much as I do, and  Gregar was truly like the little brother I never had.  I didn't believe he looked up to me as much as he does, much less inspire him, but it's true.

I have these guys to thank for letting my tourney experience be a fun one despite my own way of thinking.  We talked a lot, played a lot, and laughed a lot.  It's because of you guys that I can still go on playing DOA competitively and making it easier for me to ignore the toxic online drama I've unwittingly walked myself into.  This is why I believe this Final Round was more than just another tournament for me.  This is the tournament where I truly understand it's more about the experience than it is the social status gained through doing well in one.  That being said, I don't feel obligated to prove myself to anyone anymore. I don't feel like I have to impress anyone anymore.  There are plenty within the community that are just happy with me being myself.  Now it's just a matter of me accepting that and moving on.