Hi. It has been a really long time. Almost a year, apparently.
Iām not sure how to describe this or start it off. I guess Iāll be straightforward - I donāt think this blog will be used again. After waiting and hoping for over a year that the passion I had for the Layton series would come back, unfortunately that has not happened, and I think I need to accept that itās probably not going to. Not in the same way it once was, at least.
I think first off, Iām frustrated with the direction the series took, and it played a role in souring the strong feelings I had for almost a decade. It turned a character that I saw myself in, that I looked up to and wanted to be like for years, into a selfish caricature of who he used to be. It hurt a lot.
I had tried going back to what it was that brought me to the series in the beginning, but it didnāt work. It felt like I had a limb cut from me and there was nothing there now, only void. Along with general disillusionment toward fanbases, I guess my brain had reached its breaking point of exhaustion.
Perhaps people will call me bitter, or hating change, or a bunch of other things I have seen get thrown around, but theyāre my feelings, and Iām allowed to have them. PL was with me for a very long time. and it was basically my identity. The art, the music, the characters, the stories. It was who I was. For years.
But I have to let myself move on, too. I canāt limit my whole self to one thing, and I have experienced so much detachment from myself as a result of those feelings stopping. I had no anchor. I canāt keep hoping over and over thatĀ āmaybe in another month those feelings will be back, that connection will be back.ā
Iām a different person now than who I once was, older, more familiar with the wild mess that is life, and I need to let some things go even if they were important to me for so long. It still had a huge impact on me, my art, and my growth as a person, and that will never have to go away and will always stay with me, but I need to allow myself to grow beyond that point, too. I canāt be hindered by that loss anymore. I need to let myself move forward.
I do have 2 pieces in the Justice for Flora zine, so you can consider that myĀ āso longā to the series for now. Maybe one day weāll meet again. And I will always know in my heart that Layton was present through all of his kidsā lives, and he and Claire live very happily in a little flat where their kids visit all the time.
Iām exclusively on twitter as of late, and my main interest has moved on to the WItcher series, in which I have rediscovered some love like I used to feel. My art account is @alexkyouju if you want to keep following my occasional art even if it isnāt PL related, and my personal is @strigascars.
Thank you so much for the support over the years. It really means infinitely more than I can express in words. Even though I wonāt be drawing PL things anymore, I hope what I have done in the past brought you some joy. Thatās all I could want.
