This Week’s Topics:
- Rundown Preamble Ramble: Devilman is DOPE!
- Saudi Arabia and Jared Kushner Now Own Electronic Arts (Because Of Course They Do)
- Beast of Reincarnation Patch Roadmap Announced (Guess I Gotta Delay My Review!)
Rundown Preamble Ramble:
Devilman is DOPE!
So, I went into this week unsure of what this latest preamble ramble could be, and decided that it had been a long time since I talked about a comic. I could have talked about any number of TSF comics in my backlog, but I wanted something older, something vintage, and something that I really ought to read. So I decided to read through Devilman by Go Nagai.
Now, I am not unfamiliar with Go Nagai’s work, and have even highlighted it on this site two times before with Game Fighter Animard and Change Sabu~. (Both of which were translated by my friend Chari.) However, his influence on the medium of anime and manga cannot be understated, and Devilman is easily one of his biggest and most influential hits. Just to give one statistic, Devilman is a 5 volume manga that has sold over 50 million copies, just in its original run. That is a rate of attachment only matched by Demon Slayer and literally nothing else.
Despite this, the series was relatively unknown in the west by virtue of localization quirks. Devilman originally ran from 1972 to 1973, well before anybody was localizing anything. The original manga was not localized until a 2018 release by Seven Seas Entertainment. It got two OVA released by Manga Video in the 90s, with a legendary dub. But the series was pretty unknown until the 2018 Netflix backed animation, Devilman Crybaby, which I’ve heard very positive things about. But I don’t want some adaptation made 43 years after the fact that makes loads of changes and looks wildly different. I want the original, what influenced a generation. I don’t need an adaptation, I want history, dang it.
So, I read the original comic… and it’s a goldarn masterpiece, that’s what it is!
Devilman is the story of Akira Fudo, a timid high schooler who is thrust into adventure by his friend Ryo Asuka. Through Ryo, Akira learns that demons are real, predate humans, yet have remained hibernating since the Ice Age, and are gathering their forces so they can exterminate all humankind. Driven by fear and a love of humanity, Akira follows the lead of his friend Ryo and partakes in a black sabbath that allows him to fuse with the demon Amon. Together, with the body of a devil and the heart of a human, Akira become Devilman, humanity’s best chance at salvation against the encroaching hordes of demons. …And it is genuinely one of the most passionate, dazzling, and poignant comics I have ever had the privilege of reading.
You might think you know what you are getting into with Devilman, but it keeps going deeper, reinventing what it is in the process. What starts as a dark superhero comic with some of the most evocative and skillful art direction I could even imagine from this era becomes a story that speaks to the nature of human society. It introduces concepts and parallels that manage to simultaneously speak to the worries, anxieties, and fears of Cold War era Japan and modern day… everywhere.
Sure, you can tell that the story was partially being made as it went along. Sure, some scenes are drawn out a bit too long for dramatic tension while others feel strangely missing. But the work never runs out of steam, never feels like it has a slow period. Everything is executed with such energy and liveliness behind it that it implores you to indulge in its world, and once you get in, you don’t know where it’s going to go next. And that’s thrilling!
However, the highest and greatest reason why I think anybody should read Devilman, other than it being a stellar and relatively short manga series, is how absolutely fucking vital it is to Japanese media of the past 50 years. Reading through it, I was constantly pointing at things Devilman did and how they laid the seeds that other creators followed, adapted, and incorporated into their own work. This is where plenty of tropes come from, was the clear inspiration for many character designs, and more nebulous concepts that were remixed by generations of creators who were all inspired by this work.
Reading through it, I kept going that’s Parasyte, that’s Chainsaw Man, that’s a goldarn Pokémon, that’s Trans Venus, that’s the basis for a Kill La Kill character. This is where SO MANY of the cool things that I adore in Japanese media come from, and it’s incredible. I believe that the creative process is iterative, that it is generational, that every creator is the synthesis of the things they love, and I want to know their inspirations. I want to see the ley lines connecting everything together and just bask at the pure majesty of humanity’s collective artistic endeavors. And after reading Devilman, so many little things just make sense now.
I don’t want to give away much past the first two volumes, but I do want to touch upon the ending in its broad strokes, as I think it is a truly beautiful and impactful message. …Which I think some people might not quite get. It’s easy to view the ending as nihilistic, as disparaging of humanity on some level, but I would argue it’s the opposite. It is not a condemnation of humanity and writing them off as being inept or predisposed to evilness. No, it’s a condemnation on fucking bigotry, on the act of creating demons, on societal and governmental demonization.
This is not even subtext, this is just text.
The more one brands others as a demon, the more they insist that there is an evil within a seemingly normal human, then humanity will not be able to prosper. So, to all the children who read this X-rated ultraviolent epic, the message is not that you should hate humanity, hate your neighbor, or distrust people. Because if you do that, everyone fucking dies.
I could talk about this comic more, but plenty already have, over the decades, and there are no shortages who have looked back on how the work influenced them as a creative. But I’ll leave the retrospective to them. I’m just some dork who read a comic from yesteryear… and walked away with a new all-time favorite.
Or in other words, please read Devilman, it’s fucking dope!
This is from the OPENING PAGES of the comic!
As a last-minute addition, I should clarify that I originally read a fan translation of Devilman before consulting the official translation. This release mixes in the original run with chapters from the expansion/sequel series, Shin Devilman, which ran from 1979 to 1981. I don’t like this approach, as these works were not made together, have four years between their production, and simply look different, as the standards and techniques around manga had changed over that time. They also do not add anything to the overall narrative, and take away so much of the pacing if read in a linear manner. Like, we DO NOT need to see Devilman bopping around time and the world, playing a role in big historical events across the west, but with demons.
That is NOT what Devilman is about. Devilman is set in the 70s 80s, in Japan, and that cultural context, and proximity to reconstruction after World War II is important in understanding the work. With Shin Devilman, Go Nagai likely wanted an excuse to write some historical manga, and the people wanted more Devilman, so he made this, and it’s nowhere near as good. If you buy the official release, SKIP chapters 6 to 10, continue with chapters 11 to 16, THEN read chapters 6 to 10, if you want to. They’re supplemental, don’t make sense with the continuity or themes of the original work, and detract far more than they add.
…Or just be a baby and watch your anime.
Saudi Arabia and Jared Kushner Now Own Electronic Arts
(Because Of Course They Do)
As I discussed in October 2025, Electronic Arts was eyed for an acquisition by a one-two punch of the worst people you know. The game industry destroying juggernaut Saudi Arabia— meaning the royal family— and Silver Lake— a private equity company run by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law. For a projected price of $55 billion, their stake was made, and everybody cried, as with two nations’ dictatorial royalty involved there was no question that this deal would happen.
Ten months later, and it’s official. Saudi Arabia and Jared Kushner now jointly own one of the biggest game publishers in the world. Needless to say, this is deeply upsetting, as this will only result in worse games, more layoffs, and more egregious monetization.
Where do I even begin in counting the ways that this will be terrible? Well, let’s state with why this is just a bad move from a business perspective.
This acquisition was executed as a leveraged buyout, meaning Kushner and the Saudis slapped EA with $20 billion in debt as part of this acquisition and now needs to work it off for their new masters. High interest rates means they will need to pay butt-tons in interest every year to pay down their debts, erasing what the company used to call its EBITDA into the negatives. Apparently that’s the fiscally responsible thing to do when you are thinking with B’s. This will either necessitate a deluge of hits, aggressive monetization, or a widespread restructuring to prevent EA from going underwater. As if that would be a BAD thing at this point.
The new ownership is largely clueless on games, so this will almost certainly lead to the end of any game that is not projected to be a massive hitmaker. The baby-brained billionaire class don’t like it when they need to juggle three things at once, so they will cut anything they deem to be 50 million dollar rounding error to make things easier for them to understand. (I’m not even being my usual dismissive cynical self, I have dealt with these people before, and they suck a hog’s hemorrhoids.)
However, even if the games are good and successful, that’s a bad thing. In fact, that might actually be the worst case scenario. Much of the reason for this acquisition is for Saudi Arabia to ingrain themselves into Western culture and wash their image. They want make themselves appear to be the Good Guys in the Middle East, who love the things you love and are patrons of your favorite sporting team. Similarly, Kushner understands the sports gaming are a great vehicle for propaganda, and as a 45-year-old, he intends on exerting influence over American culture to shape it in his image. Do I even need to say what that image is?
I highly suspect that this move will lead to an exodus of everything that does not fit the vision of Kushner and the Saudis, and every team working on anything but a sports game or Battlefield. Respawn? Probably not going to stick around much longer. Bioware? I would be shocked if they are still around this time next year. …PopCap is probably fine, as they are a hitmaker on occasion. Regardless of the studio, I expect a massive loss of jobs, of opportunities, and of art that was cut at the stem, stomped out as it was just budding. For that, I hate these people— these men— who view video games as nothing more but a tool to enrich and empower them.
In my purview, the only good thing they could possibly do is sell off their old back catalog. Old EA would not let anyone touch their IPs with a ten-foot pole unless it was under their dime. But now? Why not sell American McGee’s Alice back to American McGee? Better that than get a couple thousand bucks from it every year. Why not just let Richard Garriott own Ultima again, I’m sure that nobody involved in negotiations knows what an Ultima is. However, even highlighting that is just my way of coping with the fact that this is a terrible thing for the games industry. It is another instances of the industry being ransacked by entities that only desire money and power.
Mourn, get angry, do whatever, but the least one can do in these instances is divest and cease actively supporting these people with your dollars. If you buy Star Wars Zero Company when it comes out, or for anything close to its launch price, then you are either dense, or believe that the likes of Saudi Arabia and Kushner should have more power than they do. I’m not going to say it’s anything more than a minor faux pas to buy Titanfall 2 (2017) for $5, but try to remember that EA means Saudi Arabia, just like EVO and SNK (Saudi Nihon Kikaku).
Also, if you have an uncle, cousin, nibling, or loose friend is talking about an EA game, do not be afraid to tell them that EA is now owned by Saudi Arabia. Explain that they are trying to take over western sports as an institution.
Beast of Reincarnation Patch Roadmap Announced
(Guess I Gotta Delay My Review!)
For well over a decade, I have known that you should generally avoid buying or playing AAA games at launch. The game costs the most it ever will. You need to deal with any version one point oh problems that the game sports and haven’t been honed out, ranging from performance issues to god awful bugs. And all you get is a sense of community and being relevant. Still, I do sometimes fall for this trap, and generally allow myself to ignore this rule for certain Nintendo releases. They simply don’t have the same launch issues as other games, and never go down in price, as you must respect Nina Tendo’s divine measure of value.
I eschewed this rule with Beast of Reincarnation as I figured it would be a static and finite release. Unfortunately, I forgot to account for the fact that it’s Game Freak and Nintendo’s QA team wasn’t involved. The studio’s attempt to create a game that kitbashes Nier: Automata Horizon: Zero Dawn, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Ghost of Tsushima among others was received with a barrage of 6s to 8s, and I expected as much. I was still curious as to how it would be shaped, and how it would shape the modern state of Pokémon, as they are definitely going to recycle ideas and some tech used in this game, eventually. So I bought it and played it for two hours.
Then, two days after the game’s Monday launch, Game Freak announced that they plan significant alterations to the game. This includes adjusting the camera to be a bit wider, as it’s pretty tight around its protagonist. This, combined with the lack of a minimap or compass, makes navigation slightly warped. They are going to increase the text size because it’s so small that if you have vision issues, you might not be able to read it, period. “Story pacing improvements” was another area identified, which could be anything. While other bug fixes… do you even need to say that in 2026?
As is always the case, I am glad that the studio is going back to improve common criticisms in a game. Yet, I also want to shake Game Freak by the gooey bits and ask them why they shipped a game with so many OBVIOUS problems? Like, the text size is so overt, so egregious, that I thought it was a joke or something. You don’t just accidentally make the text size 8 when it should be at least 12.
Accordingly, I am not going to continue my time with Beast of Reincarnation until the patches have been applied, and will instead move on to… Fate Stay Night Remastered, once I have finished writing TSF Series #019.
Gosh, between this and Class of ’09: Puzzle Showdown, I’ve just been screwed over by new releases this past stretch. Remember kids, don’t rely on other people to make your schedule, they’ll just disappoint you along the way.
Progress Report 2026-08-09
I thought about doing a segment on Fire Emblem 18: Fortune’s Weave based on its latest Nintendo Direct, but I don’t have much to say about it. The fact that it is the most diverse JRPG in terms of character race and ethnicity is really cool, and wonderfully shows how you can adapt Black and Middle Eastern character designs to an anime aesthetic without “making it look weird.” I think the fact that you can play through all four of the protagonist’s stories is a fascinating approach, even if I can foresee certain problems that may impact a playthrough if you try to play them in parallel. The time management system are full of ways to boost stats and accumulate resources, seem to be designed to give players oodles of unique things to do. Normally, that would just be expected, but here it seems necessary because you are playing through four campaigns, and will want to do different things.
The game looks genuinely good, after Three Houses looked like they had to downscale the environments at the last minute. Though, I still think the “realistic scale” 3D models seen in the core gameplay looks unintuitive compared to the sprites of yore… that are still in the game. (I would say I think Fire Emblem Heroes is leagues easier to read, but that game has been feature creeped to hell.) The infusion of robots, mechanical lairs, and sci-fi guns is very… well, very modern anime RPG, as HOW MANY of them involve some ancient sci-fi flavored civilization? Dragalia Lost made a big deal of it, going so far as to add androids and guns, which was DOPE, but it’s strange to see that in what was a generally grounded sword and sorcery type affair. Emphasis on generally.
Oh, and the decision to have a five year time skip before you play as the real protagonist, who needs to go back in time to kill the demon dragon? It’s a neat idea, one Intelligent Systems clearly loves, but it makes me question the nature of a game with so many time-based and character-based systems. If your whole hook is time travel, I’m going to question why the game is not divided into smaller campaigns or timeline hopping. …Like Radiant Historia (2010)! What a game that one was!
It’s Three Houses 2, and I hope the game endears a similar amount of critical/cultural/commercial success after Engage was, well, Engage.
…Gosh, I should have played Three Houses.
As for the quarterly Nintendo financials, not much to say there. They got a nice kickback from the US government’s tariff refunds, did NOT pass it down to the customer, and are holding pretty strong at the moment with steady hardware sales and plentiful software sales.
…Though, people did not seem to understand the pretty intuitive chart included in the report, explaining what their digital/physical sales are like in this period. It’s currently 63.3%/36.7% for Packaged Software Sales this quarter, which is the breakdown you want to focus on. Last fiscal year, it was 52.2%/47.8%. Read into that however you see fit.
So, this is an extra short Rundown this week. I thought about talking about cloud gaming or something more political, but… nah. The last few Rundowns have been extra plump, so I don’t feel I owe you people anything. However, you will get the return of TSF Series by the end of the month, which WILL be an F2M incest affair, so defo not for everybody. I’ll deliver some M2F funsies and fantastical action with the one slotted for my birthday though.
2026-08-02: Watched Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 with Cassie and Shiba. Good times. Loved those movies as a kid, though I think Spider-Man 2’s romance subplot is fairly underdeveloped, like who the fuck is John, really? Wrote 3,100 words for TSF Series #019, making slow but steady progress. Finished reading Devilman, and that might just be one of my favorite pieces of media of all time. Just a damn masterclass, from 50 years ago.
2026-08-03: Had a patented 12 hour day at work, not because I was super busy, but because somebody had to hash out these journal entries for a side project. This place really screwed up their payroll, which is the worst thing to account for, despite being necessary, because America is a bad country. Bought Beast of Reincarnation, played it for about two hours, and I really need to do something about how soft the image is. Other than that, it seems like a solid if derivative action game that you need some time with to really get.
2026-08-04: Wrote 3,500 words for TSF Series #019, wrote the Devilman opening bit and read through Shin Devilman, that’s 1,200 words. Wrote the 800 word Saudi Arabia bit.
2026-08-05: Wrote 400 words for Beast of Reincarnation bit. Wrote 3,400 words for TSF Series #019. Slow burn, but progress is being made.
2026-08-06: Edited the Rundown while bossman was shakin’ the doe. Wrote 4,400 words for TSF Series #019. Not CapCap numbers, but Cap’s a freak with the pen.
2026-08-07: Worked until after 6:30, decided to play a demo for that new FuRyu project out of curiosity, it’s anime Control but also Resident Evil, and wound up chatting a bunch with Missy and Shiba. Only 2,100 words for TSF Series #019.
2026-08-08: Focused more on TSF Series #019, writing 4,400 words. Threw together 1,500 words for a segment on cloud gaming for next week’s Rundown. Also, found out that LittleKuriboh, the creator of Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged, is trans. I swear to GOD, if Recon A. Dye, Trevor Fayas, or David Anez ALSO come out as trans, I’m going to go NUTS, because HOW do so many people whose work SHAPED me wind up being trans? I love it, but also HOW does this keep happening? AAAAAAAA!!!
Natalie.TF 2026 Progress Report
- 2026-08-12: AI: The Somnium Files 1.5: No Sleep For Kaname Date DONE
- 2026-08-26 TSF Series #019: An Exchange of Flesh
- 2026-??-??: re:Dreamer Review #6
- 2026-??-??: Coffee Buns Review (TSF Game)
- 2026-??-??: Fate Stay Night Remastered Review (Shiba & Rain Request)
- 2026-??-??: A Mirror’s Curse Review (TSF Game)
- 2026-??-??: Thread – A Tale of Identity, Monsters, and College Review (TSF Game)
- 2026-??-??: TSF Showcase 2026-01: Chronicstuss (Ouran Request)
- 2026-??-??: Beast of Reincarnation Review
- 2026-11-18: TSF Series #020: Chateau del Bitz
- 2026-12-29: Natalie Rambles About 2026