While watching the final rendered version of this video, I realized that I really ought to have done more research into the development of Shin Godzilla. I had tried to read up on the subjects of Wa, Honne, and Tatemae, and even spoke with a Japanese immigrant and her daughter at my Church to see if I was on the right track. I put some time into confirming the inspirations for all three films. Yet I establish a lot of theories about Hideaki Anno’s intentions without having read any interviews to even confirm if they might be true.

Live and learn.

I’m still proud of this video. Even if someone comes in and says “you’re wrong about Anno’s intentions, here’s the source”, I at least provoked some thought and encouraged discussion. That is what I’ve determined my channel is for at this point. I need to update the cover art and some of the about information to make this clear, but I no longer view the channel as a place for me to “teach” or “educate” others. That is a position of hubris and one in which I will constantly feel self-conscious about every decision. If I actively aim to come forward to simply communicate – to discuss my thoughts and feelings regarding the things that I love – as opposed to assuming a position of knowledgeable authority, then I will have far more fun with this channel than I had in the past.

Despite how long it took to put this video together, it was one of the more enjoyable, least stressful processes I’ve experienced in a long time on this channel. As fun and enjoyable as the Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy IX videos were, trying to work on their scripts, emphasizing everything important without droning on needlessly, and the sheer amount of time it took to capture the footage, it was all stressful. Part of what made this script a lot easier was… well, experience, firstly. While I had technically made modifications to early parts of the script while working to complete the first draft, I largely had a sense of what I wanted to say, and discovered more and more how to say it as I progressed. The help of Post Mesmeric was also immense. He has been a very supportive YouTuber, and in addition to his notes for changes and other suggestions, he included a positive comment regarding the thesis. It really allowed me to feel like I had something special.

In the past, I never let anyone look at my scripts. Of course, I didn’t have other YouTubers I could really rely on to support me in such a manner, either. As I haven’t done film content in a long time, I felt it might benefit me to reach out and get assistance from others. It turns out that was a good decision, and I’ll be doing it again in the future. I feel like it could really help keep me from succumbing to the self-conscious thoughts and doubts that tend to plague me in the script phase and get a good gauge of where I stand.

I’m going to try and work on completing footage for Darksiders so that I can have that video out by the end of December. It’s not a very long game and I already have two dungeons completed and recorded. I can probably even start work on the script before recording has completed, which is a nice change of pace. However, I also want to spend a bit more time getting some thoughts out of my head and onto the blog. I’ve been itching to write more, to really exercise the linguistic differences between speech and the written word. So I’ll likely take another week or so to just write stuff out.

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this video. I don’t know if I’ll immediately jump into more Godzilla films after completing Darksiders, as I’d also like to begin analyzing some anime as well. It all depends on how I feel in the moment, I suppose. I promise this won’t be a Shadow of the Tomb Raider situation, however. I actually look forward to discussing more Godzilla movies, whereas I have no interest in playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider again.