November Updates

Hey guys!

I hope you're all well. I've finally had some time to just chill out the last few weeks and mostly do whatever I want which has been great. I'm going to be looking for a full-time job come the new year, but until then I'm largely free! This of course also means that I have some more time for YouTube right now as well, and so I'm here to announce my next video: A Higurashi Gou/Sotsu Retrospective (preliminary title).

Yes, after much deliberation, I've decided to make The Video. It was a decision I had to put a lot of thought into. For one thing, while I think it would be a bit reductive to simply call this a "negative" video, it is going to be mostly critical, and in that sense, quite different in tone to my usual content celebrating works I love (albeit the criticism comes from a place of love for the original). Another thing I've had to consider is that I suspect this will be my longest video yet, quite possibly by a wide margin (my current record is 54 minutes). 39 episodes of anime is a lot to talk about, even in summary. Thirdly, I've had years to ponder over my other Higurashi videos before making them, and countless revisits to the source material to base my opinions in. I was initially worried about jumping the gun in this sense, as my thoughts and feelings on Gou/Sotsu will surely continue to evolve in the coming months and years, not least of all as Meguri progresses. All of these things mean that I've waited until I feel in my gut this is a video I definitely want to make, all these points withstanding. Unsurprisingly, I just haven't been able to stop thinking about these shows, and I feel like I need to do this before I can move onto anything else. I'll be striving to produce an analysis up to my usual standards, but for the reasons stated above, I've accepted that the video might end up being a little more fragmented than usual. I have so many disparate thoughts to share (I have to apologise in advance for how many of them you'll have likely already seen if you follow my Twitter -- I will be repurposing recent essays I've posted there for the sake of the majority of my audience who won't have seen them), but I think those thoughts are worth sharing even if they don't come together to form a perfect whole. The video will be as polished and cohesive as possible, but basically, please don't expect a breakdown of every episode/plot detail, but rather a looser series of sort of mini essays on various wider themes and ideas that I want to discuss.

I will be rewatching the two shows, rereading the Gou manga and likely parts of the original as part of the extensive preparation for this endeavour, and so I hope you'll understand why it's difficult to give an ETA for the final product. I can only really start getting an idea once things are properly underway. I would love to get the video out by the end of the year, but that may be unrealistic. I do enjoy long, challenging projects like this, and my abundance of free time right now is what makes this undertaking possible, but I am also unwinding after a very intense year and want to pace myself. Still, I'll be on hand with updates and previews where possible as I make my way through, and will be sure to ultimately come out with something worth the wait.

So that's all from me! While I can't make any promises about video content at this stage, if there's anything big or small regarding Gou/Sotsu you're particularly interested in hearing my thoughts on, feel free to let me know and I'll keep it in mind. I've heard so many different interpretations of the two shows and others have picked up on details I hadn't even noticed, so there's no saying you won't suggest something I hadn't even considered talking about. I really want to make the end product as enjoyable as possible for you all, so I'm eager to hear if there's anything that would contribute to that. Anyway, I'll check back in as soon as I have a progress update. Until then!