RIP Tomo Sakurai (1971-2025)

It is with great sadness I report the death if Tomo Sakurai, who has succumbed to cancer at age 53. The news was broken on her social feeds.

Sakurai's career began in the year 1987 with the idol group Lemon Angel, who debuted an anime that same year. She starred in numerous anime throughout her life, with a big one among younger generations being the Japanese voice of Sinnoh champion Cynthia in the Pokémon franchise. She even reprised the role a number of times; after a voice acting hiatus from 2016 to 2019. Other roles included the title role of Licca-Chan, Hinowa in Gintama and Kaede in Grandpa and Grandma Turn Young Again. She even had a handful of video game credits to her name, including Rimururu in Samurai Showdown III and Emma Granger in Super Dimension Fortress Macross.

I wish the best for Sakurai's colleagues and those close to her at this difficult time. May she rest in peace.

Pokémon Legends Z-A Countdown: 60 Days Remaining

Hey everyone- now that I'm back from my father's in CA (getting an Incineroar Amiibo and trying the Switch 2 during my visit to Nintendo SF); I will start with something simple to get back into posting: counting down 60 days remaining to the highly anticipated Pokémon Legends Z-A.

Courtesy: The Pokémon Company

As part of this weekend's Championship in Anaheim, a playable demo was made available; which filled all its reservations in just a single day. The demo was split into two sections of 10 minutes each. One focuses on the Z-A Royale, the other has the player tracking Zygarde 10% before engaging a rogue Mega Absol.

Both do a great job of showing off the new real-time battle mechanics; building on what was done in Legends Arceus. Rather than power points, each attack now is on a small cooldown that helps avoid spamming the same move repeatedly and encourages variety. I sincerely like this idea; and it builds on combat mechanics in and out of the franchise. It's actually not exaggerating when I say it reminds me of Souls-like titles in a good way; especially with the dodge rolls and stagger windows. I can now officially say it has less to do with the battles in Xenoblade and more with ones in Persona and the Ryu Ga Gotoku games.

Though I am not certain if the demo will be made available to all players ahead of the game's release; I am certain I will be preordering the game as soon as I have the money. That is all for now, and I will see you again soon- take care.