My look back on 2025
...at least we didn't crumble entirely this year. But I can't say if it's a good thing we didn't.
2025, a major pivot point where nothing truly changed for me. Except for the fact that everything around me did and a whole host of complicated problems just managed to squeeze itself together until there was nothing left. I wish I could say that everything I did was worth a damn, but...I don't think I ever managed to get that far up the hellscape that is trying to live a life.
I wouldn't say it was a terrible year because the orange fascist got back in the office again, but I can't say it was ever so great either. This year proved many things true:
- I'm still completely volatile when it comes to things I love. Especially when it gets snubbed so badly.
- I get the feeling that I'm just not suited to have a career period. I've been trying to earn some money, but when nothing seems to be heading that way, and your parents suddenly lose your jobs, the pressure to get one becomes extremely difficult to overcome and as such, I just couldn't have much to do in terms of what to buy without exhausting my bank account, which I did unfortunately.
- I still think I'm not ready to come out of the closet. If anything, our family's relationship to our trans sister is still on shaky grounds, but we are still trying to get business done. And I need to get my life straighten out (but not in a sexual-oriented way) before I consider coming out as gay.
- Also, coming out in a country that promote far-right conspiracy bullcrap all the while companies like Nexstar, Sinclair, and Paramount Skydance are trying to ruin media is not ideal. I would still love to leave, thank you.
- I think I hate internet providers. Wow, imaginative, but from constant issues trying to set up Plex to continuously problematic connections through my Nintendo Switch, this year proved that I still suffer the worst internet possible. Thanks T-Mobile! Thanks MetroNet!
I think I've stated how tired I am with this year. Nevertheless, I endured most of this bullcrap by sticking to the one thing that I am good at: watching...a ton of shit.
I started this year off by watching Delicious in Dungeon (Dungeon Meshi), an anime not complete yet, but still an enjoyable experience; seeing these character craft food out of fantasy-like wonders.
This was followed up by Squid Game season 2, which was moderately fine, and twelve completely unrelated movies under "Twelvenuary", not tied together thematically, but probably only by death if we're being honest.
It was my first encounter with the 2024 movie Flow after a win at the Golden Globes, and it would become a detriment later down the line thanks to my initial reaction of "it's meh" and the critical acclaim that followed that not only damaged my interest in animated movies, it also kinda created a sort of...push towards more non-animated movies.
Alas, Flow could not stop the countless animated TV shows I watched, and what followed Dungeon Meshi included The Owl House, an amazing Disney show that quite honestly puts the rest of their catalog to shame;
Digimon Adventure 02 with my favorite blue derg funny runny happy friend Veemon and his other friends dagyaa and worm even if the show ultimately has some issues down the line;
And Violet Evergarden, a show that I was first introduced to through listening to music from the show eons ago and never knowing the context of the pieces back then.
But Digimon Adventure 02 and Violet Evergarden were both part of a theme that I call "V Stands For...", which...kinda was a dud. Sure I played Viewfinder with that annoying narrator gal, and the game I played with people on a server did made me draw a couple new art pieces, especially in my new refined art style this year, but the movies from this theme were not so much a hit, aside from Hurricane Touchdown, which was the best one by far.
Really, the rest of my February was dominated by award season talk, and while we could talk about Flow again, let's also mention the good stuff. Out of all the nominees for the 97th Oscars, the only ones that peaked my interests were I'm Still Here, a Brazilian film about Eunice Paiva that I had a hard time watching because my AMC theater screwed up the subtitles (though that theater would become home to many, many watches from me in general);
Sing Sing, an amazing movie about the Sing Sing Rehabilitation Through the Arts program;
No Other Land which remains as relevant as ever;
And Conclave, with all the thrills of what would not be the pope election this year.
But other than that I had to see shit like The Brutalist, Flow (ofc), and Emilia Perez win awards over anything else I loved.
So with all with that in mind, I was pissed off, and spent the rest of March into April and May just going around to...well..fill out some directors who primarily dabbled in live-action.
Bong Joon-ho was a director I had encountered previously with his films Parasite and Memories of Murder, and after watching his catalog again, I can say for sure that he works when his stories are set in South Korea.
Wes Anderson I also encountered previously with an array of films that dazzled my screens at every turn, especially when the train rolled up for The Darjeeling Limited. Alas, his recent work could use improvement.
Christopher Nolan also previously encountered. He definitely is the right guy for the thrillers in mind, except for Tenet and The Dark Knight Rises which proves that sometimes a man with a vision can't make his best sometimes.
And then there was Denis Villeneuve, a director that I only knew from his Dune films but opened a huge can of worms with Incendies, Perisoner, and Blade Runner 2049 (I did also watch the original Blade Runner but I think my money is on 2049). Incendies in particular was so fucking amazing that I wish I could watch it all over again, without knowing that twist. I mean I did have to watch it again before the end of the year because of obligations, but still.
Regardless, my spring was on "The B.A.N.D.", with only minor sprinkles like Cinema Paradiso, the other Hunger Games films, Sinners, and Princess Mononoke in IMAX, which was one of the best movie to watch in that format.
...not to mention the infectious Minecraft movie which I had to unfortunately watch.
And while that went on, my TV show binge took on a baby blue. Breaking Bad was the show that finally did mental damage to my brain. No, not from the crystal blue meth that Walter White produced. I have never once in my life seen much of this show, and every moment counted. The story of Walter White and his family as they go from humble dad teacher with a cerebral palsy son to a drug lord empire that truly destroy not only his family, but hundreds of lives. All for him. With characters like Jesse Pinkman, Gus Fring, Mike Ehrmantraut, and Saul Goodman.
The latter of whom also stars in Better Call Saul, another amazing show I saw with Kim Wexler, Howard Hamlin, Chuck McGill, Lalo Salamanca, and Nacho. Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are truly the pinnacle of late-night television...and meth operations. Bravo Vince!
But as I wrapped up Breaking Bad, I spend the rest of spring going through other TV shows here and there. I watched all of Knuckles with a friend group, got psychological with both Serial Experiments Lain and Digimon Tamers, got funny and silly with Smiling Friends, only to be reminded I don't have a working job with Severance, and capping the spring season off with a bit of Dan Da Dan.
Plenty of amazing shows all things considered, though Severance is the best highlight of them all, with such a concept related around work and the psychological of having two version of yourself. As for Dan Da Dan, I didn't really like its season 1 ending, but I got to see more of it later down the line.
And later it would be, as my summer was dominated by my animation Letterboxd theme "A D.I.S.N.E.Y. Film", something I had planned before Flow ruined everything. It was mostly whatever going through the endless Disney movies and whatnot, but some of my highlights include The Missing, an underrated animated Filipino film with a seriously fucked up synopsis;
The Legend of Hei, with an adorable black cat so good, I sought out the sequel in theaters when it was announced;
Night is Short, Walk on Girl, a very fascination anime from Masaaki Yuasa of Inu-Oh fame;
One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island, the only other Mamoru Hosoda film aside from the recently released Scarlet I haven't seen that I enjoyed even without watching the 1000+ anime episodes of One Piece;
Perfect Blue which fucked me up; and Akira which also fucked me up.
Plenty of other notable movies that summer include the Cornetto trilogy, The Social Network, The Life of Chuck, and Brokeback Mountain.
There was also...the Nintendo Switch 2, the console that came out at a bad time and was overpriced as shit. I really need to say that out loud so you don't judge me by the end. At the same time, Deltarune Chapter 3 and 4 also released, and did numbers to Asgore and Noelle. Unfortunately the month of December might have been ruined at this point.
Alas, after the animation theme, I went back to my same sentimentality on animated movies. On the TV side, along with Better Call Saul, I also watched more Dan Da Dan, Squid Game, and new shows Cultural Exchange with Game Center Girl and Digimon Frontier, under the "The World of Spirits, Lawyers, and Gamers" theme. First, Squid Game season 3, which fucking blew by the end for just giving more Squid Game without the sauce. Dan Da Dan season 2 took quite a lot of time with Evil Eye, but I was satisfied with its ending nevertheless. Cultural Exchange was a show that definitely went too far, and the only reason I cared was because of the English dialogue by characters. And Digimon Frontier sucked. Shames, I love Chackmon.
Midway through the year, we had to pack our bags and head toward Barcelona, for a 7-day cruise that toured the Mediterranean Sea. I had my time touring the cities of Italy, part of France, and some of Spain, but while that lasted, I spent my cruise watching Digimon Savers (or Data Squad), a show that was heavily underrated for having huge Digimon.
I ran back home to play more of that Nintendo Switch Online: Playtest Program, all the while my eyes still had to do summer school work, all the while I started my Criterion Challenge on Letterboxd, all the while my eyes were distracted a bit from watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, Cowboy Bebop, and Nichijou.
A lot went down in August, and all the shows I watched that month were amazing. Cowboy Bebop truly is the best anime no doubt about it. It would be one thing if you could make me care about a group of ragtag bounty hunters, but they did it, and they made that shit work. Nichijou too, in particular led to CITY: The Animation, another excellent comedy anime show from the same creators.
As for the Criterion Challenge, instead of doing one category bit by bit, I had to do 'em in order, which made things interesting as I progressed the ladder. But nothing ever felt the same after watching a couple of these movies. Do the Right Thing, No Country for Old Men, Tampopo, Come and See, Malcolm X, Secret Sunshine, Roma 2018, All of Us Strangers, Blue Velvet, Se7en, Hunger 2008, Trainspotting, Double Indemnity, Happiness 1998, Anatomy of a Fall, Dr. Strangelove, and Ikiru.
Seeing all these diverse movies for the first time felt truly amazing. All because one movie that I didn't want to win, won. It may have been grueling to try to commit, but I did it for the sake of the game and to spite animated movies at the time for supporting a film I didn't like. And my reputation as one who cared for animation started to shatter more and more.
I went to the theaters more for instance, only caring more about non-animated movies from Sorry Baby, Twinless, and the biggest disappointment Him. But nothing carried this year like One Battle After Another. A truly marvelous movie that I watched with my own eyes, and for the first time truly knew what a revolution could be without being televised. And it led to me There Will Be Blood, another Paul Thomas Anderson classic. I do plan on giving the man more of my time soon, and he will be rewarded with my attention.
Truth be told though, September was the roughest month for me with shit like Digimon Xros Wars which while I enjoyed overstayed its welcome for one of the worst episodes in the entire franchise, and Digimon Adventure tri. which also overstayed the entire Adventure franchise and should have never existed.
But I did get good times with Digimon Universe: App Monsters, which I argue is better than Digimon Tamers in terms of story and engagement. And after watching Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna...I had to take a small break from watching stuff all the time.
So you're probably noticing that I haven't talked much about video games, and this year proved that I didn't play much. As I said, I played Viewfinder in February, and then while watching Breaking Bad, I had minor stints with a couple other indie games, and Wanderstop of which I had highly anticipated for years. But as I began my journey with movies and shows, I neglected my video game self, aside from a couple mobile apps I kept playing along the way.
I didn't even play a Jackbox game from January, until October that month with the release of The Jackbox Party Pack 11, which is a solid pack but has yet to stand its ground as I did with Pack 10. That said, the long break from Jackbox made me excited to play these game again after periods of burnout and unamusement from them.
By October, I did started to game around with PowerWash Simulator 2 and Is This Seat Taken?. Both solid games, but I have to give kudos to Is This Seat Taken?, a wonderful puzzle game about putting people in their place.
But October was not only my birth month, it was also the spookiest time of year, so I had to go all in on a bunch of horror films in "Octo-ohh the Horror!", mostly iconic horror flick aside from fucking Northman.
I also watched both Dead End: Paranormal Park and Ash vs. Evil Dead. And I had a good time with all the horror stuff I saw that month even if I can't be truly ever scared again. Unless it's in my sleep...
And as the months started ticking by, I started to cap out the last remaining films that year. I saw the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy within a week, sprinkled with a side of Neon Genesis Evangelion, and served with a platter of Bugonia, Dead Poets Society, Swing Girls, and Nobody Knows before ending it off with a dose of Little Amelie and The End of Evangelion, which in my opinion is one of the best film I watched this year, period. Can't stress how much a movie means to me when you're all alone, no boyfriend in sight, and feeling like the entire world is better off without you.
...yeah that sounds a bit bleak.
I spend the rest of the year trying to be jolly through my "SnOW 2025" theme, all about hitting two birds with one stone. One goes to revisiting the movies I watched this year, the other on jolly Christmas movies...like Die Hard! I loved The Holdovers though, and It's a Wonderful Life deserved the name. Alas, it was not all jolly and fun, with Eight Crazy Nights and Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer truly ruining my joy.
It's not enough though as I also capped my TV show line-up off with Pluribus, another "Bravo Vince!" show; more Smiling Friends; and Schitt's Creek, one of the best sitcoms I've seen so far, and one that deserved all the Emmys. I am eager to wait for The Crows Have Eyes 3 though...
And with the Christmas season in check, ofc I would get the Nintendo Switch 2 system, and my impression so far is definitely an improvement, if not a decent step up from the Switch itself. It kinda gets tiring when all you hear about the Switch 2 is the overpriced conversation and like, yeah and so is everyone else in the fucking tech field, RAM prices are at a all time high as well. Again, not a good time to be shopping tech stuff, but it is annoying to hear so many people complain about the same stuff over and over again.
...which reminds me of something.
I have been shitting on Flow for the entire year if we're being honest. A movie that continued to baffle me all these months and with no end in sight over how "overrated" its popularity felt, I felt severely annoyed whenever a conversation about the movie cropped up. At the same time, I was starting to feel like what I did with Flow was unforgivable. A few days ago, I finally decided to publicize that I owned the Flow Blu-ray since October this year and rewatched it thoroughly this time to see what I missed. And y'know what...I think I let my own biases and self-hatred get in the way of this great movie that I truly didn't see value at first. But ultimately, Flow just became a scapegoat for my rational to watch less animated films, and I kinda regret doing shitting on the film throughout this year.
I guess that summarizes how I felt with 2025. It was shitty of course, but even if I didn't spend enough time with friends, even if I mostly became arrogant to many due to my opinions, and even if I wasted over a thousand dollars due to my unemployment...the little things kinda mattered. Watching a lot of non-animated movies kinda pushed me away from my love of the medium of animation, but at the same time, I also let myself watch tons of animated shows in general. Though both did also led me away from playing video games, and that kinda messed up a lot of things for me.
This oversaturation of movies and shows too is why I didn't do a video this year. Sorry, there are a lot of things that I want to put on, and if I tried to do that, I would be over-stressing myself more than I should. So for now, I leave you with this image from the movie that I used to hate but now feel okay with it.
Hope you have a swell New Years, and I hope to see you next year!
