Asagao's Affliction // Creative Retrospective feat. Cara Hillstock

hearing that normal boots intro triggered a physical response in my body, again a very good piece of art. I've thought many times about why I do what I do and what I want to make in the future. I'm very young so it's not an urgent question to answer but I feel like I try too hard to be unique, to find my own style but that in it's own way ruins my work. I have been inspired by so many people and when making whatever I make I try my hardest to push those away to find my own voice, but maybe the best thing is to use those inspirations in my work to create something better than the sum of it's parts or different than the sum of it's parts I should say. I'm really glad you made this video and I'm grateful for all your past videos for getting me to think about these things and sometimes getting me out of my own head for a while to get a new perspective on who I am. I've been trying for so long to put out something that I am proud of and I always have to reconsider what/who I'm making it for, how did I get here? I don't know why I'm writing this comment, it's probably something I should be thinking about in my own head but maybe sometimes it's better to distance myself from my head. That's why I write and draw and play games, to distance myself from my emotions and maybe that's a dysfunctional thing to do but that's the only thing I know. Anyway great video.

It’s really interesting because I still follow pretty much all these guys almost a decade after I was introduced to them, I no longer hero worship them (except Jirard, I aspire to one day have a beard that great) but that’s kinda apart of growing up I guess. And without them I wouldn’t have been introduced to Cara (tho I knew her as Ms Editor when I watched Jared’s LP channel.) and a lot of others, and I got into visual novels because I found out she helped make it. Even if you don’t really know them outside their content, they can still have a positive influence on your life so I’ll always appreciate that.

This has been an incredibly emotional watch for me. Thank you for this :) You did a wonderful job, and much love to Cara, truly one of the best people I've had the honor to work with!

This video was a fascinating watch to me, as I think it's really the first time I've heard someone's thoughts on Asagao outside of when it was initially a big deal. I'm personally really fond of this game, it's one of the few times I caught that flash in the pan and had eyes on what I was doing, and that's leaving alone just how fantastic of a visual novel it is. Your points on its current context and how it's going to continue to age as time goes by were really quite on the nose, and I found myself genuinely emotional at times as you were discussing the difficulty in drawing that line between inspiration and new work, and just how TIRING it can be to make something only for it to fall flat. If I'm at all honest, I think that hit me because I find it relatable. To make a long-winded comment short, I think this is a fantastic analysis of a game that was sorely needing it. Here's hoping I can find that momentum to put my work out there again, and if it's any help to you? I'll definitely be digging further into your stuff as this level of production needs more of a following!

In Cara we Stan. Excellent video, great thesis. Your use of music to bring out emotion really stood out for me. Keep it up!

Another excellent video. I love how you can make me care or think about stuff I normally wouldn’t care about at all. I bought To Be With You almost the instant you started talking about it and plan to play it when I get some free time.

The windex lolol Great video btw - really cool way of exploring art and inspiration. Cara is amazing, what insight and lived experience.

glad to have another fantastic video that i'll spend the next 2-3 weeks slowly watching through!

You're a damn good interviewer. I was questioning if you were really gonna go ahead and ask some of the harder questions but you did, in a direct yet respectful manner. I imagine that if I was interviewed, your style would help me feel comfortable answering a lot.

Bro what a video! (Is mostly how I feel when I watch any of your videos) This video has made me think about whether I should pursue video making and if I do how can I make it my own. Creating something that I feel is important and special.

a friend linked this video while we were talking about normalboots - one thing you didn't bring up that i thought was interesting is that the dating sim genre itself has roots in self-insert fantasies with real people. miho nakayama's heartbreak high school is considered the first dating sim, and it was based on dating a real-life jpop idol. but it's interesting to see the stark differences between a heavily-curated commercial product like that and a fan project done out of love for the vn genre also those clips from the autarch of flame/joschscorcher video gave me hives bc as soon as they started playing i was like fuck i remember watching this 😭

hi, i know this video is a couple years old by now but do you still have that full interview with Cara? i'm really interested in it (this game genuinely fascinates me as like a time capsule) and it doesn't let me sub to your patreon

I loved this video and I agreed with everything you said, I have found your channel and am binging through it. I would like to mention one thing that bothered me a bit, it's in regard to reverse racism. I am sure this doesn't matter enough for me to bring it up but something about dismissing reverse racism bothered me a bit. I think it's important to not dismiss as there have been historical times of, particularly jews, sometimes with white skin, becoming slaves to other races or experiencing discrimination (even from the same race) I feel that dismissing racism towards all people can be harmful in that sense, as it kind of forgets other historical contexts other than what might be perceived as not real on an individual level in the modern day. Racism also begets more racism it seems like. I know of places in Chicago, where I am at now, that you can't drive through if you are white. Of course, that hatred stems from the things white people have done through history. But nonetheless, it is discrimination based on the color of somebody's skin. Another example I could think of is in the sketchier night life scenes of Japan, some clubs will attempt to lure foreigners (of all races other than Japanese) into their clubs, drug their drinks, and steal their credit cards. Reverse racism doesn't exist, but that's because it's just called racism. That's how I feel at least. I'm not sure why I felt the need to comment, perhaps it is because you are also in a position of power and your words matter to me. I hope that made sense, and I am in no way saying that racism directed towards white people exceeds or even comes near that which is experienced DAILY by minorities. I loved your video, thank you for it.

:0