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https://blacknerdproblems.com/hirayasumi-vol-3-why-slice-of-life-is-worth-reading-in-manga/

Words and Art: Keigo Shinzo

Publisher: Viz

Translation: Jan Mitsuko Cash

Touch-Up Art & Lettering: Elena Diaz

Design: Jimmy Presler

Editor: Holly Fisher

As I mentioned in my review of the second volume of Hirayasumi, I love every volume of this series that I can get my hands on, and this second volume reinforced why the slice of life genre is king. There is a need for stories that flourish in this genre, and Keigo Shinzo’s pen does incredible work bringing up the mundane and extraordinary of everyday life. Reading along to see these, 29-year-old, carefree Hiroto Ikuta, his cousin Natsumi, Hiroto’s best friend, Hideki and Yomogi, the bustling real estate agent, in their quest for purpose and finding or maintaining that place of home, that place of comfort and belonging is happily one I vow to continue reading.

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In the opening chapter, Natsumi stars as the main character who hurriedly runs off to meet the editor for the publishing company who wants to meet her and talk about her manga. Hilariously, she gets lost almost instantly and thankfully finds the building and the person she’s meant to find. Personally, I loved seeing Natsumi first when opening up this volume as her character development as a young adult putting effort into growing up, taking accountability, and doing her best to enjoy the college experience has been marvelous to read. We learn in the last volume, the manga that she had been secretly working on, won an award and the eyeballs of an revered editor in the manga space. Things are finally looking up for her and her artistic expression is finally growing wings and showing her that everything was not for naught.

With Hirayasumi, Keigo Shinzo creates these really well thought out parallels between Hiroto and Natsumi that blend in so well with the story. After Nat recounts the grand story of meeting the manga editor to her older cousin, she exclaims that she’s going all in and will try her best. With her words, Hiroto has a flashback to when he first came to the city and had started his acting career–he found that same youthful energy. He thinks back on feeling on top of the world even though he was struggling and first setting out as a young adult–the world and all its opportunities looked endless. The cousins, their paralleling experiences separated by time, bring the first chapter of this latest volume to a close with Hiroto with loneliness creeping for him while the nostalgic faze fades for him.

When Yomogi, the overworked real estate agent returns to the pages of the manga–I knew that I was in for a treat. Ever since she first arrived on the page in Hirayasumi, I have loved seeing her butt heads with other characters because of her headstrong personality, especially Hiroto. She is someone who could really benefit from a slower pace of life and enjoying the little things that lovable Hiroto and crew have going on. A new client at the real estate agency who appears super standoffish gives her a run for her money as she works hard on trying to please. This ends up as some of my favorite set of pages in the volume as a surprise romance starts blossoming, and there are a lot of laughs to be had following along the interactions of these two total opposites.

I really like that new and blossoming connections were the main theme of this second volume of Hirayasumi. The chapters detailing the upcoming festival at Natsumi and her dear (and only) friend Akari’s college campus also play into this volume. Look, the festivals covered in the manga are always the best parts of the glue that binds the rest of the story together. Natsumi just barely makes it to a required project critique (her manga making efforts taking up too much of her time and time management skills, unfortunately) thanks to an eccentric but popular upperclassman. This revelation of showing progress in college and making connections brings even more much needed growth to this struggling yet so precious Natsumi which ripples throughout the next chapter. Seeing the supporting cast grow bigger with each volume adds to that overarching message that Hirayasumi continues to bring back every time: enjoy life as it comes and take pride in who you are and what you bring.

My all-time favorite pages in the third volume of Hirayasumi would have to be the chapter with a surprise cameo by a well missed character, bringing us back to the past via a flashback from Hiroto. The reintroduction to Granny was a surprise and an emotional lift back to Hiroto’s narrative in all the best ways. The pages from her point of view upon waking feature split panels helping readers see just how all alone and lonely she was, living and shopping by herself. The page where Hiroto finds her at the store and instantly brightens her day, despite her sour attitude and grumbling, made me fall back in love with their initial story of found family meeting each other at the right time. The artwork in these pages really pull the readers back to the premise of the series and the one responsible for the catalyst of Hiroto having this house in the first place.

Seeing Granny’s expressions and her body language transform her into a happier (but still grumpy) person with her not-grandson are worth their weight in gold. Seeing the older of the two commit to trying something new and the younger of the two work to meet people where they are at, visually make Keigo Shinzo’s efforts another must read. So when that flashback ends on Hiroto’s end and we find him texting his younger cousin Natsumi on making sure to enjoy herself and try new things, it feels full circle and right back in that Hirayasumi energy that the mangaka has created and nearly perfected.

I know that in my review of the first volume, I came to the conclusion that Hirayasumi is a story about family and being able to come home to a home when life’s got you down. I love every volume that has cemented this and newer smaller lessons. For example, in my review of the second volume, I found that the manga was choosing to remind us why happier memories of the past can fuel us for the days to come and remind us why such relationships are important.

I’m sure that the core message in this third volume of Hirayasumi, includes why being courageous and putting ourselves out there is ideal for personal growth. From characters choosing to trust themselves to trying something different to being more honest and not running away from wanting to change themselves, their routines or how others perceive them, this volume was another wholesome banger to read and have in my library. I’ll reread to sate myself until the next volume comes out as rereading the volumes in this series is never a chore and always a treat from the realms of manga.

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Hirayasumi Volume 3 is published through Viz and can be found where comics and manga are sold.

Thanks to Netgalley and Viz for allowing me to have a review copy!

Love reading manga? See more on our site!

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The post ‘Hirayasumi Vol 3’ Re-enforces Why Slice of Life is Worth Reading in Manga appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

https://blacknerdproblems.com/30-years-of-playstation/

I turned on the PS5 to give people the business get my shit rocked Marvel Rivals and a logo I haven’t seen in thirty years appears on the screen: the original PlayStation logo. The PS5 tells me that it’s been 30 years of PlayStation. At the moment of writing this, I will be turning 40 years old in a month. Thinking back to 30 years ago feels real “Let’s do the time warp again” but thinking about all the different iterations of the PlayStation over the years. I realize it’s always been there at these different points in my life. From middle school through college, it has legit been 30 years of PlayStation always being in the entertainment system waiting to be turned on.

30 Years of PlayStation Gaming

The PlayStation first dropped back in ’95. When I think back to when I first saw the system, I’m ten years old again. My older sister and brother Travis have come to visit mom. My sister, Kece, is 20 and is playing cards with mom (in an hour they goin to be going at it over somebody cheating). Travis, my brother, is 16 years old and the coolest guy in the world to me. He plops down this cardboard case in front of the tv and pulls out this gray boxed console from it. I remember figuring out we had to run the AV cables through my father’s VCR. I think the first game we played was Jet Moto. Why did they make a video game about folks racing on jet skis? Because it was the fucking 90s baby. Keep up. I can’t tell you the number of hours I’ve clocked watching my brother play single play games like Tomb Raider (chasing an urban legend code).

Oddly enough, one of my fondest memories is sitting and watching my brother play Metal Gear Solid. Travis was trying to beat this tank, and I told-advised him to toss a grenade into the opened entry point on top of the tank. I got a “shut up Omar,” but when he checked in with HQ in the game for tips, they said the exact same thing I did. When Travis was trying to figure out how to get by infrared lasers, I said, “use your cigarette smoke to see the lasers.” I remembered it being a thing in movies and figured it might work here. This time he didn’t tell me shut up. Instead, he checked in with HQ and when they told him the same thing, he acted as if he was HQ and said, “Just listen to your younger brother.” I think I look back on this fondly because, it showed me that I could help out even if I didn’t have a controller in hand.

Now when i did have a controller in hand? Life couldn’t be any better. I’m younger than my brother by 6 years. Being able to play a two player is fun, but you ain’t trying to be the weak link. This shit is a performance review. You don’t wanna be the one letting the team down, and when it’s a fighting game you wanna at least be able to compete. Right? Travis was good at fighting games. I’m talking in the lab getting combinations down for difficult moves JUST in case someone wanna step up. That boy loved him some Tekken but the games that stuck out the most to me tho? Battle Arena Toshinden. Listen, that game was so cold. I loved playing Eiji and seeing that blocky ass fireball move across the screen. Travis’ favorite character was a gunslinger named Vermillion. I spent countless hours trying to close the gap from across the stage as he kept jumping in the air to get his shots off.

There was one game though, where the fighting was on a level playing field. That game was Bushido Blade. I’ve always been a fan of swordsmanship. Bushido Blade was bout that action. It was a 3D fighter, but the big difference was if you were hit in a limb, you lost use of that limb during the fight. This game was ahead of it’s time. You could even run into different stages. So often, my brother and I would be one hit away from death and then just book it. Characters had a projectile they could toss like a kunai or a fan. We’d chase each other and try to nail one another with the projectile for the win. It got to a point where that became the highlight of the fight.

Travis and I also loved the game Road Rash on Sega Genesis, and when it came out on PlayStation, it was a must have. What I remember most is the music from the game and hearing these songs from garage bands that would then later have mainstream success. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t great at playing, but I didn’t care cause I got to play with my brother. If I had to say what game we put the most hours in tho? It must have been Twisted Metal. Travis has always been big into cars and motorcycles. If it has wheels and a motor, he loves it. He even had a dirt bike and raced competitively. Knowing all that, Twisted Metal being his favorite game makes sense. Folks in trucks, cars, and bikes battling it out? We clocked hours in that game.

30 Years of PlayStation Memories

When Travis came to live with us, he didn’t want me playing the PlayStation without his permission. Mind you, I’d come home and see him and his friends having a grand old time playing my Sega Saturn. I’m talking knee slapping and joy in abundance on all their faces. Maaaaan, the first time he was gone back to his dad’s for the weekend and Mom took me with her to Blockbuster Video, I grabbed so many PlayStation games them shits were falling outta my hands. (To my defense, Blockbuster never had Sega Saturn games to rent.) We get home, and I turned that PlayStation on so damn fast. I was playing this horrible 2-D fighting game where you played as different monsters. It was so ass, but it was fun because I got to pick it.

While I was playing, I got this feeling I couldn’t shake – that something I was doing was wrong but I couldn’t quite name it. I said this aloud to my mom. She knew I wasn’t supposed to be playing Travis’ PlayStation. She came out the kitchen, drying a dish, to tell me what I was feeling was guilt. “Oh,” I said to myself… then when right the fuck back to playing that game. Whatever, yo. I’m a younger brother. If you don’t want someone touching your shit, don’t have a younger brother. I’ve never been a good liar cause I don’t like it, and I’m honest to a fault. When Travis got back, I told him what I did. I don’t remember him being mad. I think he just smiled, because 1: he would have done the same thing and 2: because this is what comes with having a younger brother.

My absolute favorite memory is the video game I got my brother for Christmas. Now, I had been wanting roller blades all year (I think cause of Skates from Streets of Rage). My mom took me to Toys R Us, and I remember barely being able to carry the rollerblades. As I walked down the aisle towards my mom, I looked to my right and saw Twisted Metal 2 was out. I told my mom that Travis wanted that game. Mom told me that if I wanted to get that game for him, the skates would have to be for my birthday. To my mother’s surprise, I immediately turned around to go put the skates back. When I gave Travis the gift (it was so badly he wrapped he removed one piece of tape and the case slid out and hit the floor), Mom came from out the kitchen to make sure he knew what I gave up for him to have that.

When Travis left for the Air Force, I was gaming by myself until I met my childhood friend Phil. Phil and I played wore out our consoles. We had WWF No Mercy on Nintendo 64 working over time. When we went to the video game club after school, everyone was playing the PlayStation’s wrestling games. The WWF Smackdown series. Phil and I were great at tag team matches; it didn’t matter the console. We got that game and learned the mechanics. My favorite moment was that we found games that we liked that were niche. Phil but me onto Dynasty Warriors. The game was based of these legendary Chinese figures in history that were at war. The game was based off the book called, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is a fictionalized retelling of historical events in China (based on some actual sources). In the game, you got to play as these legendary fighters from three separate kingdoms: Shu, Wu, and Wei. You got to play as each warrior and see their stories and participate in the same battles they did. You out here striking down hundreds of enemies at once, stepping to other generals, and completing missions that these characters actually did.

I’ll never forget how Phil sold me on this game. “There’s a dude named Xiahou Dun, right? He was taking folks out and caught an arrow to an eye. He pulls the arrow out, and says, “Essence of my father, blood of my mother. I cannot throw this away.” He eats his eye….and keeps fighting.” I said, hold on… he swallowed his own eye? Why? Phil shrugged his shoulders. I had to know more. I got that game, and he was the first character I picked. It was dope seeing that scene play out and then the evolution of his design in in the sequel games. Dude had a whole bandana over his eye instead of an eye patch on some gangsta shit. I was sold. There so many times after track practice or during the weekends Phil would come over, I’d put the playlist on from the computer, and we’d just get to rocking in Dynasty Warriors. This game was so niche man. We felt like the only ones playing this in the school. We ran into a friend on the way home, and he said, “there’s this dope game I heard of with a bunch of fighters in it. It’s about battles in Chinese history. I think it’s called Dynasty Warriors.” Phil and I yelled with excitement. We were so excited, and Alex was surprised at our reaction but was so glad to see we knew what he was talking about.

It should be mentioned that Alex is Asian, Phil and I are Black, high school kids in New Jersey going crazy over Chinese history. Phil and I were telling Alex that he had to get the game. To this day, we believe the game developers at Koei knew about our excitement of this series somehow and said, “Oh yall fuck with that? Okay. Were going to do the Japanese version of the game and call that shit Samurai Warriors.” Some of the most fun I ever had was just hanging with Phil, taking on waves of enemies just hacking and slashing with square and triangle till we got our musou attack (special attack) meter full and went crazy on the battlefield. What’s crazy is that it’s 2024, and Dynasty Warriors is still being redone and retold. To be alive to see that all these years later and still be able to look forward to it with the same enthusiasm as I had back when I was a teen is… something special.

30 Years Later

Hindsight can be a very sentimental and emotional thing. PlayStation is all about gaming, but there’s moments that don’t involve gaming that I think back on. I’m 15 years old, Mom lifts the PlayStation 2 controller, and I tell her, “Whoa. Mam, do you know what you doing right now?” She’s confused. “Yo, I need you to put that controller down, mam. You picking up that controller means you challenging me. I can’t have that. That controller in your hands means you trying to throw hands…I know you don’t want that. I know you don’t want this.” My mother looked me dead in my face, dropped the broom, and said, “turn it on.” Another time, clear as day, I remember my mom sitting on the couch learning how to use the PlayStation 2 to play DVDs. It was the cutest thing.

I’m 21 years old. The PlayStation 3 is the first console I saved up enough to buy. I’m 35. William Evans and I hand in the final draft for the Black Nerd Problems book of essays. I buy a PlayStation 4 for the house to celebrate. Tasha’s inner gamer resurfaces. We do a Samurai Shodown Tournament every Friday on Twitch with Jordan and his nephews. I cry while playing Ghost of Tsushima. I nervously raid with Will, Kaveh, and Jose in Ghost of Tsushima: Legends. I’m 37. Tasha, Jordan, Tiffie, and I, beat the 7 modifiers in Ghost of Tsushima: Legends. I’m 38. My family is playing Overcooked on PlayStation 5. I’m 38. Kece swears she and I can get the orders out faster than Tasha and her son are. When it’s our turn, I show her how to navigate the controls. For a moment, I look at her and see our mother again…PlayStation controller in hand. I’m 39. I watch my nephew play a fighting game and input the quarter circle forward motion for the first time ever. When his character throws a projectile showing him he did it correctly, I yell “FUCK YES!” in sheer pride.

In one month’s time, I will be 40 years old. Hindsight will have me look back on how everything has changed. I’ll turn my PlayStation on, then in the reflection of the tv I’ll see myself over these past 30 years looking back me, and see that through all these years, that excitement to play hasn’t changed.

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The post 30 Years of PlayStation Being in My Family appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

https://www.essence.com/fashion/katherine-mateo-stylist-interview/

Courtesy of Katherine Mateo By Mecca Pryor ·Updated December 13, 2024

The Stylist’s Notebook is a new series centering the career >multi-hyphenates. While some focus on specific disciplines like design, styling, photography, or art, many are driven by a desire to master it all. When speaking to one of my parents’ peers recently he spoke about how much he admired our generation’s comfortability in changing careers and not staying somewhere they do not have a desire to be. We understand not only that it is okay to move on but also to have mastered multiple areas. 

Here enters 32-year-old stylist and casting director Katherine Mateo who appears to effortlessly juggle two different career >Who Decides War, Hanifa, and others as a casting manager. Her styling projects have included Wonderland magazine and countless other noteworthy projects.

“Getting a roller set, hearing your mom gossip with the other women—that’s something I grew up with and still carry into my adult life.” Recently, she worked on a styling project with New York City-based brand Awake, where one of the models had her hair pinned up in a doobie, further highlighting her cultural influences. This speaks to the longstanding influence of New York’s transcendent and generational target="_blank"> View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ⠏⠥⠗⠗⠗⠗ (@purrrrdykat)

Was there a moment in your career when you’re like I’m here, and I’ve made it? 

I’ve been grateful for a lot of different steps in my career, but the biggest thing that puts me right back into my childhood state, or there’s no way that you would have thought this would have happened at that moment. It would definitely be working with the Jordan Brand team in any capacity, let alone them sending me sneakers. These sneakers I used to beg my mom to buy, and drag her from Payless to Footlocker. This is something that I can’t believe is happening. that you know, like, I get to work with the Jordan team and have my hands in so many different things. 

From my clients, Who Decides War to the Jordan team reaching out to me, to speak on a panel, things like that I would have never known would be in my cards. It’s surreal. So, whenever I get a box from Nike, I am like, This is crazy. So that is for sure. And then, my moment of, wow, I’m doing the things that would be two years ago, [when] I target="_blank"> View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ⠏⠥⠗⠗⠗⠗ (@purrrrdykat)

What advice would you give to young creatives looking to break into fashion? 

One of the biggest things that worked for me, and that I still do, is not being too good to get your hands dirty. You’d be surprised how many people in front of you sometimes also need help. Honestly, although I went through hell working at all these different places and gaining all these experiences, I’m very grateful for it. Being able to go from a brand to a public relations company, to Marie Claire, to freelancing, social media work, and then doing casting and styling, I now understand the fashion industry as a whole because of this background. 

To me, you can never think, “Oh, I’m the best. I’m done learning.” You’re never done learning. There’s always someone you can help out, and always someone you can learn from. It doesn’t matter how many years someone has under their belt sometimes it’s okay to listen to the interns or the assistants.

TOPICS:  Black stylists

The post Katherine Mateo Is Redefining New York City Style On Her Own Terms appeared first on Essence.

https://www.essence.com/news/40-black-women-appointed-federal-judges-biden/

Saul Loeb/AFP/ Getty Images By Melissa Noel ·Updated December 13, 2024

President Joe Biden’s judicial appointments are making waves in his final weeks in office. With the confirmation of Judge Tiffany Johnson to the Northern District of Georgia this week, Biden has now appointed 40 Black women to lifetime federal judgeships—more than any president in U.S. history, according to The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

This milestone is particularly significant in a judiciary long criticized for lacking diversity. However, with a divided Congress and the prospect of a second Trump presidency, Biden’s picks could serve as a critical counterweight to policies that might target civil rights and marginalized communities. 

But as Biden prepares to leave office, pressing questions remain about the lasting impact of these appointments and the challenges of maintaining progress in the face of political opposition.

In total, Biden has appointed 62 Black judges, the most by any president in a single term, according to The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Among these appointments are historic firsts, such as Tiffany Cunningham, the first Black judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and Dana Douglas, the first Black woman on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Approximately 40 percent of Biden’s confirmed Black judges come from diverse professional backgrounds, including civil rights lawyers, public defenders, and others who have dedicated their careers to protecting civil and human rights. “Even before taking office, President Biden signaled to the Senate that he wanted to make sure that people who had been historically excluded from our judiciary were included,” said Lena Zwarensteyn, senior director of the fair courts program at the Leadership Conference, in an interview with NBC News. “This isn’t just about fairness—it’s about better decision-making and restoring public trust.”

Zwarensteyn explained, “The research shows that when you have more judges with different perspectives—because they’ve worked on different types of issues or come from different communities—it improves decision-making and certainly boosts trust in these institutions.      So, ensuring that we have fair-minded judges at all levels is really important.”

Biden’s most visible judicial appointment, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, made history in 2022 as the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. Her confirmation was a defining moment of Biden’s presidency and underscored a campaign promise to create a more inclusive judiciary.

While Biden’s record-breaking numbers are notable, they also highlight a stark contrast with his predecessor.

Donald Trump appointed only two Black women to the federal judiciary during his first term. In comparison, President Barack Obama appointed 26 Black judges over his eight years in office and former President Jimmy Carter, a previous benchmark for diversifying the bench, appointed 37 Black judges during his presidency.

As Trump prepares for his second presidential term, with vows to  dismantle key agencies like the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Biden’s Black judicial appointees could become pivotal in defending civil rights, voting protections and other democratic norms that may be under threat. 

TOPICS:  black women in politics Joe Biden

The post 40 Black Women Appointed Federal Judges Under Biden, Setting Historic Record appeared first on Essence.