Seeing Vagabond here is a pretty nice surprise. You may or may not know this, but Nomura drew inspiration from Musashi and Kojiro and their rivalry when he was designing Cloud and Sephiroth.
I think Tim Rogers said (towards the end of his Let's Mosey series) that Cloud in FFVII is something like "baby's first Dostoevsky" and that really captured something for me that I hadn't fully appreciated before. I experienced FFVII as a tween. So identity & self-definition were pretty much all my little brain was swimming in. At a time when most of what I was consuming (game wise at least) was just pure 12-year-old-boy wish fulfillment: Tenchu, Goldeneye, GTA, etc. watching a protagonist who clearly "put on a front", was unsure how to be the person he thought he should be, was even unsure who he was supposed to be in the first place was low-key revelatory. It's interesting now to look back on that and see how it may have shaped my appreciation for introspective character work and more complex portrayals of self-doubt and self-determination as I aged into better rounded media consumption. It's also remarkable that tween me read the character so clearly even through the haze of blocky expressionless character sprites & a deeply janky English localization. It's also been fascinating to re-visit this multiple times now in adulthood. First with Tim's translation series and now with the FFVII-Remake series. In both cases seeing far subtler and more faithful versions of the characters presented in English. Re: Dostoevsky, _The Idiot_ is well worth the read. I'm sure it's the sort of thing that's worth exactly zero views in today's attention economy ("Reader reacts to the hot new media from 1868!"), but I recommend it to anyone I think would engage with the multiple intertwined layers of character complexity and genuine insight about the world and the people in it. Indeed, it has had as big an effect on my life as any single work of any kind that I can think of. Myshkin is such an interesting character and the book deals more seriously and thoughtfully with the thorny issue of what it means to be a good person (in a deeply apathetic & often directly hostile world) as anything else I've encountered. I consider myself an atheist, but I'd be happy to live in a world with more Myshkins (or Dostoevskys for that matter), whose vision of Christian virtue is as complex, interesting & full of useful insight as any of my favorite secular visions. _Crime and Punishment_ is obviously worthwhile as well. Indeed, it's probably the better book overall. Still, while many passages and ideas from C&P have stuck with me, _The Idiot_ is a part of me, part of my identity and worldview in a way few other works of art have been.
Hearing you talk about Vagabond I wonder; would you ever consider reading Eiji Yohsikawa's novel from which it is adapted? It would be a lie to say the recommendation is primarily because I think you'd enjoy it as I assume most of the characters and plot points are spoiled for you; but I am very interested to find out your thoughts on it. Particularly the characters as presented in the novel and the love story (which I understand is largely not present in the manga). The venn diagram of people who are not Japanese (perhaps I should say have generally American sensibilities), have consumed a meaningful amount of Japanese media, have also consumed a significant amount of modern fantasy and can be talked into reading Musashi is vanishingly small. So any possible addition to that conversation seems worth seeking out.
Seeing Vagabond here is a pretty nice surprise. You may or may not know this, but Nomura drew inspiration from Musashi and Kojiro and their rivalry when he was designing Cloud and Sephiroth.
I think Tim Rogers said (towards the end of his Let's Mosey series) that Cloud in FFVII is something like "baby's first Dostoevsky" and that really captured something for me that I hadn't fully appreciated before. I experienced FFVII as a tween. So identity & self-definition were pretty much all my little brain was swimming in. At a time when most of what I was consuming (game wise at least) was just pure 12-year-old-boy wish fulfillment: Tenchu, Goldeneye, GTA, etc. watching a protagonist who clearly "put on a front", was unsure how to be the person he thought he should be, was even unsure who he was supposed to be in the first place was low-key revelatory.
It's interesting now to look back on that and see how it may have shaped my appreciation for introspective character work and more complex portrayals of self-doubt and self-determination as I aged into better rounded media consumption. It's also remarkable that tween me read the character so clearly even through the haze of blocky expressionless character sprites & a deeply janky English localization. It's also been fascinating to re-visit this multiple times now in adulthood. First with Tim's translation series and now with the FFVII-Remake series. In both cases seeing far subtler and more faithful versions of the characters presented in English.
Re: Dostoevsky, _The Idiot_ is well worth the read. I'm sure it's the sort of thing that's worth exactly zero views in today's attention economy ("Reader reacts to the hot new media from 1868!"), but I recommend it to anyone I think would engage with the multiple intertwined layers of character complexity and genuine insight about the world and the people in it. Indeed, it has had as big an effect on my life as any single work of any kind that I can think of. Myshkin is such an interesting character and the book deals more seriously and thoughtfully with the thorny issue of what it means to be a good person (in a deeply apathetic & often directly hostile world) as anything else I've encountered. I consider myself an atheist, but I'd be happy to live in a world with more Myshkins (or Dostoevskys for that matter), whose vision of Christian virtue is as complex, interesting & full of useful insight as any of my favorite secular visions. _Crime and Punishment_ is obviously worthwhile as well. Indeed, it's probably the better book overall. Still, while many passages and ideas from C&P have stuck with me, _The Idiot_ is a part of me, part of my identity and worldview in a way few other works of art have been.
Cloud is one of my all time favourite characters so I'm going to check out all of these suggestions. Thank you!
Such a complex character, and so brilliantly written, especially given how he seems so cliche initially. I hope you enjoy the recommendations!
Love this!! (obviously 😅) Thanks for these detailed videos, they’re so cool!
Ah, thanks for saying that! It means a lot ☺️
Hearing you talk about Vagabond I wonder; would you ever consider reading Eiji Yohsikawa's novel from which it is adapted? It would be a lie to say the recommendation is primarily because I think you'd enjoy it as I assume most of the characters and plot points are spoiled for you; but I am very interested to find out your thoughts on it. Particularly the characters as presented in the novel and the love story (which I understand is largely not present in the manga). The venn diagram of people who are not Japanese (perhaps I should say have generally American sensibilities), have consumed a meaningful amount of Japanese media, have also consumed a significant amount of modern fantasy and can be talked into reading Musashi is vanishingly small. So any possible addition to that conversation seems worth seeking out.
All the girls go crazy for Cloud XD
Haha, not just the girls 😂