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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.

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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.

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Another year; another Artfight. It's crazy to think I'm getting closer and closer to my tenth year participating. I set my goal a little too lofty this year, but I certainly got close! I can't be disappointed at all. I think I could've grinded a little to reach it, but I don't want to burn out!

I feel proud when I look back on the years where I struggled to make many attacks. My relationship with art has healed so much in the past year. I made 30 attacks last year, and I'm so glad I've been able to keep up the momentum!

This was the first year (genuinely!) I've had OCs with stories! People complimenting my stories, or even making art incorperating pieces of them has motivated me so much to keep sharing more and more. Overall, I had a really different and exciting Artfight. It's definitely helped re-motivate me to post publicly and start using some of my social media accounts again. I miss interacting with other artists. We'll see!

Where from here? I haven't had much time since my holiday and Artfight, so I'm full to the brim with ideas! I'm working on a short story to turn into a comic. It explores themes of loneliness, friendship and nostalgia; that's all I'll say! Maybe I can show it off some time. I'm so much more aware of the type of stories I want to tell, and I hope I can share my inner self with the world one day.

Alongside this, I've been floating around the idea of a merch shop or convention vending again. My relationship with selling my art is still a bit complicated, so I want to ensure I'm in a great place before I leap into this. I've been sketching up lots of ideas though! I have so many!!

If you can't tell... I'm trying to be more personal here. It's scary! However, I've been trying to transfer my "loneliness" into my art. My art can be so much more than the pieces I've been sharing online, and I want to fully unlock that side of myself without fear or restraint. Let's create something wonderful from our hearts! I'll never give up!

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I'm glad that I still love taking planes. I hadn't taken one until 2022, and I still think it's an incredible thing to experience. Being above the clouds; we take it for granted!

Anyway, this was officially our first day in Kyoto since landing. The weather was warm with big white clouds and a deep blue sky. My absolute favourite, despite a forecast of overcast and rain. There was no plan for today, just how I like it the most. We walked where my heart wanted to go, that was all!

We found a cafe themed after movies which was cute, then a small shrine by the road where we fed the fish in the pond. The hydrangea flowers had bloomed too; my favourites!

We carried on walking towards the mountains in the distance, exploring everything we saw on our way. I loved seeing so many different animals. Even turtles! I saw a kid wearing a mask and talking to himself. It was really giving Keita to me, LOL. I hope he was having fun.

My favourite sight of the day was a small shrine we found in a forest at the foot of a hill. It was hidden out of sight and we came across it by chance. I love the feeling of being deep in the woods on a warm day... We had to leave when we saw a few giant hornets though...! Otherwise, it was so nice.

In total we walked 40K steps on this day. I... don't know why we went that hard! Hahaha. Our feet hurt so much by the end of it and it was hard to keep walking, but I think this first day was probably one of my favourites. I'll have to make a folder or page here to share more of my photos in the future.

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It's 4:50AM, and I just finished my replay of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky. I paced myself with this one, and it ended up taking me over a year to complete everything. It was a nice change of pace, and felt like a really nostalgic way to play.

I won't make this too long since I have a page specifically to talk about games, but so many moments in this game stuck with me. I remembered this being "my favourite game ever!" after I first played it, but I really didn't anticipate how well it would hold up today.

My characters were based off something meaningful to me, and I felt the emotional moments between them very deep in my heart. It really reminded me that whilst games with giant budgets and gorgeous graphics are great, they're not a necessity for telling a heartfelt story.

Something about stories like this really gets to me for some reason... I just wanted to remember the day I finished this.

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Today I went with my friends to Stratford-upon-Avon as a pre-birthday treat! We started with big Tesco for treats, then my friend drove us all the way. The weather was so nice all day, and it felt just like Summertime!! There wasn't a cloud in the sky!

The butterfly farm itself was amazing! It was really hot inside, it felt like we'd been transported to a tropical island. Getting to see the huge butterflies all around was so much fun! We also saw lots of ants, caterpillars, stick insects and various other critters. It was the perfect place to visit~

Afterwards, we rode on the ferris wheel! It went around really fast, and it was a lot of fun getting to see the views from high up. We got ice cream and explored the town afterwards. We even saw Shakespeare's birthplace (which had some kind of Shakespeare cosplayer taking photos outside of it, lol.) Before the end, we walked alongside the river and played at the playground. They had a zipline!!

My friends gave me really nice cards for my birthday, and thoughtful gifts too. It made me really so, so happy. I hope I can always remember it! Today was one of the best days. Thank you!

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Tonight I'm going to watch the Inazuma Eleven GO movie with my friends from work. They don't even know the series, but they asked to see it with me. It's a very warm feeling that I wanted to write down so I could remember it.

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The first entry in my new journal! I might write up the old entries some time, so I don't lose them, but we'll see. Today I went to see the movie "Flow" in the cinema. I wasn't sure what to expect but I realised just how much I've always wanted an animal film without any dialogue or narration. It reminded me of Night on the Galactic Railroad with the repeating theme of being kind and self-sacrifice. I really loved it! Especially the more abstract moments. I know it's only April, but it's most definitely going to be my film of the year!

I've been feeling happy this week! Things have been nice. I was invited to a small server with some friends, and it's been a lot of fun. I feel very accepted. Part of this site has been to help express myself online, and it's definitely served that purpose so far. I hope things can continue to get better and better.