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At last, it's a lovely day after months of rain! I went for a walk along the canal and bought some treats for my praying mantis.
It insisted on eating grubs directly from my hand... There was no other way. But it was pretty interesting to watch. They were cute, so I hope it's nice up in grub heaven.

But hey, what's that? Where'd all my entries go?!

Well, I made the tough decision to get rid of the ones before my Inazuma Eleven posts. For most of 2025, I felt like I was going through some kind of insect transformation. This was just one of my strange beliefs, but isn't it nice how things work out? At last, I have great big wings!

Year of the Horse makes me feel very strong, and I've finally been able to stand up to so many things. I'll be working on my site again from my most sincere heart!

Something else noteworthy to announce is that I've finally started roleplaying again! Yay! Roleplay forums are what drew me to the internet back in 2006. It's always been one of my most cherished hobbies. The change in atmosphere online has certainly driven rp out of popularity, and it's broken my heart for a long time.

But it's back! I feel so incredibly lucky. When I was initially encouraged to make an oc, my internal reaction was "Ah! I'm scared!!" It's been such a long time, but I fought my feelings. Cause, hey! Life's a performance on the fly, after all! I'm really glad that I did, and I'll be eternally grateful to my dear friends for encouraging me.

Getting to play like this is just too much fun! I finished up a page for my rp character already. Setting it up reminded me fondly of the notebooks I used to fill with roleplay details and drawings back in the 2010s. Ah!

Unfortunately, the break out of my slump means the stories I want to tell have changed pretty drastically. But I've been writing a lot; playing a lot; and making lots of ideas every day! My creative muscles are finally in full swing, and I'm hoping this can be the year I fall in love with my own original concept. We'll see... But either way, I'm gonna keep on having fun! Meteor Fire Tornado!

I truly understand how tough it can feel at times, but if you read all this, I hope you never give up!

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After almost two weeks of playing, I finally finished the story mode in Inazuma Eleven Victory Road. I want to summarise my thoughts here, but where do I even begin...

I'm so glad my excitement never wavered, and was rewarded in full over and over and over again. I never thought I could experience an Inazuma Eleven series with my whole heart for the first time again, and I'll treasure this opportunity forever.

Let's get the minor stuff out of the way: inaGO is finally canon again? I can smile forever. When I saw Keshin were back I had to pause my switch and go a bit crazy. Then Mixi-Max too?!!?! And the Football Gardens from Galaxy! Oh my god!!! And the fact the Raimon team know a handful of staple techniques from the revolutionary Raimon team, I... Well I'm very happy, alright!!!! This story did an amazing job of giving everyone a little treat, while still letting the new characters take over the main stage.

Onto what's most important: The new story. Wow. I know the delays on this thing were a joke, but I have to seriously admire throwing your towel in and going "that direction was wrong" and starting again. The story really is beautiful... I don't know where to start at all...

I always thought the twist of having Raimon as your rivals this time was really fun. Giving you the choice to play as them in the final, though? I didn't see that coming... I've never played an Inazuma game before where I was genuinely unsure where things were going and who was going to win the final match.

And the final match... haha... I was literally crying during half time. Which is a nice transition: The scene titled "Haru visits" makes me cry no matter how hard I try not to. It's... really beautiful. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. Haru and Unmei's friendship makes my heart ache. I adore stories about two characters coming together in spite of their reality. It just, really meant a lot to me.

I don't know. I just love the game. 10/10, I can't put it into words right now beyond what I've made. It might be my favourite entry in the series after Holy Road (which has a tonne of bias behind it...) which I feel says a lot.

I've mentioned it somewhere on this site, but basically: Holy Road means so much to me in its messages that I once quit my job during a replay of it. It was one of the best choices I ever made. This game was the closest I've ever had to that feeling of a games messages really touching my heart. I feel a lot of inner strength right now. It really was a lovely story written with a lot of sincerity.

I'll never give up trying, again and again. I will always love Inazuma Eleven.
Life's a performance on the fly! Even if you fail, just gotta try again.

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Long time, no entry, huh? I've been focused in on making comics, so my site-hobby-time got a little squashed. However, it's time for a break, because...

Inazuma Eleven Victory Road has finally released!! For the sake of reference: I have not seen Ares/Orion due to them retconning parts of the series, so the gap in Inazuma Eleven has been since Galaxy for me.

Here are my Day 1 thoughts!

I was so excited that I couldn't sleep last night, I just ended up napping before the release time. There hasn't been a new Inazuma Eleven game since I still lived with my mom... It makes me reflect on so much. There's so many people that have come and gone over the last ten years, and so many life-changing things that have happened to me, but I always had my most beloved series through it all. My heart aches in a really unique way... I dont even care if it's dramatic, Inazuma Eleven means so much to me.

I'll admit I initially spent a whole bunch of time on Chronical mode. I haven't rewatched/played the original Inazuma Eleven in over a decade, so it was really nostalgic playing through the old matches. When they said they added this mode, I expected it would just be standard competition route matches recreating the old teams, but nope... they went the whole way with it. I cant believe its got so much voice acting and the correct music and everything. When Tachiagariyo! started playing I was in so much disbelief and I realised I couldnt stop from smiling. Then when the song reached my favourite part (kono hibi no doryoku mo...) I felt so overwhelmed with happiness and my memories, I couldn't help but sing along. GAHHH!!!!

This is a tangent, but back when I discovered the series, I refused to watch past the first series of Inazuma Eleven for some reason. I would rewatch the football frontier over and over and over again. I remember spending a summer playing the first game and falling in love... Revisiting it like this brought back my memories, and I appreciate they made a love letter to the series like this.

It's... gonna take a while to reach InaGO, but we roll..! Thankfully I do enjoy this trip down memory lane.

Anyway, between matches I chipped away at the Story mode Chapter 1. I already played it in the demo, so I was just trying to get through it. I adore Chapter 1, but I was itching to see the rest.

Finally reaching Chapter 2, I... Wow. Okay, well I adore the cast so far. I'm beyond glad that the chat feature has returned just as good as before. It's so funny!! I'm so glad the series hasn't lost its sense of humour. I've been taking it slow and doing side quests and just soaking up the world. Unmei is a brilliant protagonist, and his unique personality brings out such fun dynamics with the other characters. I'm so glad they went with something different. I adore Endou and Tenma as protagonists; they both embody the same archetype whilst approaching it with a different personality. (I'm very passionate about their differences, lol!) but I'm glad they went with something new, so I'm not stuck comparing Unmei to characters I've loved for over a decade. While I'm here, the music is just brilliant. I recommend playing the game with headphones, for definite.

Anyway, it really hit me how much I love this game during the Raimon match cutscene. I kept getting chills when Haru was on screen. They've done such a creative route with what could've been such a basic story, ugh…

And then Haru said all he wants is friends and I just went "ughhhh" out loud and closed my switch to take a break and write this out. He might be a favorite, we will see where he goes.

I really needed this game right now. Like I said, I don't care if it's dramatic! The past ten years have contained a lot of things I've come close to healing from. Having something like this feels like a physical manifestation of a new era. I'll always love Inazuma Eleven.

Basically 10/10, I love soccer forever. Soccer, I love you. Thank you, soccer. I know it's been watching over me too.