Dragon Ball: The Path to Power (1996 - Dir: Shigeyasu Yamauchi): A Cartoon Review

(Wow, it's really been nearly two years since I lasted posted anything on this blog. I guess I've not really needed to put anything on here, which is normally what I've tended to do. And yeah, I've got something to post today, as the Cartoon Milk blog I normally post cartoon-based articles on is acting a bit wonk at the moment. Dunno if it's on my end or if that's the case for anyone else, but until it gets resolved, I'm going to post this article I had (more or less) ready to go.)

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It's hard for me to find the words, and even the feelings, to talk about the recent passing of Akira Toriyama. Although I only know him for Dragon Ball and his character designs in various video games, his work spans too many mediums and generations to concisely summarize. He's touched the lives of all kinds of people, directly and indirectly, and countless numbers have expressed their joys, their sorrows, their experiences in remembrance of what he was able to do across his far too short life.

There's a lot about myself that wouldn't be there if not for Toriyama, but I don't know how to express it. Certainly not in a way that feels sincere and uncompromised, without feeling self-conscious at the weight of emotion expressed by what feels like the rest of the universe. It's not hit me as hard; maybe it's not even quite hit me beyond a quiet sort of melancholy.

I'm not sure, but I'd like to try and express something, in my own weird way of commiseration. So let's talk about Dragon Ball: Path to Power, a film I ended up watching the day after I learned about Toriyama's death.

Read it below the break!

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Reminiscing with "Flowery Wind"

I was talking to some friends online about excellent orchestral music in video games, and as I often do whenever the subject comes up, I brought up the fact that Koei strategy games from the early 90s had numerous examples of gorgeously composed and arranged orchestral tracks. I picked one piece at random, "Flowery Wind" from the PC-98 version of Nobunaga's Ambition: Tenshouki/Chronicles of Heaven, composed by Yoko Kanno and performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra back in 1994.

I chose this one because it had been sampled in one of the songs that a friend used as part of an animator reel for the wonderful and inventive Koji Nanke.

This reel was made back in 2016, which was around the time I first heard this piece along with others from that Tenshouki soundtrack. And for whatever reason, when I remarked that the reel was made years ago, it kinda made me freeze.

2016 was years ago. Six years ago. Somehow, that feels more distant now than I thought it would just saying that out loud (or typing it out loud).

I remember listening to "Flowery Wind" a lot on its own, or while playing open world fantasy games like Dragon's Dogma and Skyrim. I often made custom soundtracks for these sort of games, but this was my first time doing that for orchestral game and anime music in particular, since I also used pieces from Bleach, other Nobunaga's Ambition games, and even a piece from Disney's Pocahontas.

For me, listening to this piece takes me back to that point in time - I can still strongly recall sights or memories from those games whenever I go back to this piece. It was also my first time seriously investing in and appreciating orchestral music, which is something that soon led me to becoming part of the Big Orchestral Action Music Thread on the old FFShrine forum.

The community in that thread (now moved to SquidBoard since FFShrine's sudden implosion at the end of 2019) has played a big role in recent years, as I got to learn and appreciate of many composers & works that have gone on to inspire me in one fashion or another. It also got me passionate about composing music in a way I hadn't been prior, and pushing to better understand terminology so I could comfortably discuss it. That resulted in me attending my last two college courses, which resulted in its own series of adventures, friendships and beyond.

I first visited that thread back in 2016. That thread, my friend's Koji Nanke reel, my memories of playing random games - all six years ago now. All tied together by this piece of music for a strategy game.

It's almost nostalgic, listening to "Flowery Wind" now. It's not just a beautiful, melancholic piece; it's also a link to the past. A past that I always used to feel was recent enough (and is, cosmically speaking), but now feels far enough away for the passage of time to hit me in a way nothing else really has. I guess that's what growing up always entails.

This song is early 2016 personified to me.

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-Jim/Dougal/Apollo (28th April 2022, listening to what do you think considering the subject of this blog?!)

Peepoodo: Understanding Through Sex (NSFW)

For nearly two years, I've been writing for the animation blog Cartoon Milk. It's been very enjoyable trying to look at cartoons from all manner of different angles, and attempting to express thoughts and ideas I can't really do elsewhere. One of these ended up a rejected article for the cartoon Peepoodo & The Super F*** Friends, as it was a bit too explicit for the blog. So I've decided to put the article on here for people to read.

Read it below the break!

(WARNING: The cartoon discussed in this article is extremely NSFW, featuring tons of explicit sexual imagery and discussion. There are no images accompanying the article, but if you are under the age of 18 or you have a weak constitution, please don't read this.)

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An unused review for Zero Tolerance (Mega Drive)

I've been writing for the video game website Hardcore Gaming 101 under the accidental pseudonym of Apollo Chungus for nearly five years now. I've written over 50 articles for the site, some of which have been published in books such as NES Cult Classics and The Guide To Retro Indie Games Vol. 2. One of my earliest articles even inspired a fan translation, for the obscure puzzle adventure game Noobow on the Game Boy.

I'm lucky to say that I've never had problems writing for the website in all that time. However, there is one article I wrote which can't go on the website. Not for any bad reasons, don't worry.

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An opening post

Hullo there.

My name is Jim McGrath, though if you're reading this, chances are you know me better as either FrDougal9000 from the Cartoon Milk blog or Apollo Chungus from Hardcore Gaming 101.

I've written plenty of things over the years, and sometimes I end up writing things that I never fully complete, ideas that don't have an outlet, ramblings, or articles that can't be used for the above websites. So I thought I'd create a place for these things to exist, outside of my head and perhaps for someone to find, maybe look at and possibly(?) think "well, this is quite interesting".

I'm awful at trying to hype myself up, mainly because I don't want to be the sort of egotistical ponce who thinks anything I say is automatically interesting because I'm the person saying so it's therefore interesting.  I believe all opinions and thoughts are compelling in some way, detached from whoever they come from, and I hope that whatever I write on here will be at least be enough to make the reader think... Well, just to make them think at all would be enough, to be honest.

I hope that you might be one of those people. But I guess we'll see.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day.

-Jim/Dougal/Apollo

(26th March 2022, listening to - Unforgettable, arranged and performed by Tomoyuki Asakawa: