“Okay… how the hell are they going to make an entire series out of this?”

And then somehow it works.

Give me strange worlds, bizarre characters, completely ridiculous concepts, and stories that refuse to behave normally.

Normal is overrated.

They can also trip over something incredibly stupid.

That’s one of the great things about comics. They can jump between massive cosmic battles, emotional drama, horror, comedy, romance, and complete absurdity.

There’s room for all of it.

But sometimes filler gives characters room to breathe.

Not every episode needs to advance the main plot. Sometimes watching characters simply exist, joke around, or experience something completely unrelated is part of the fun.

Filler can be annoying.

It can also be wonderful.

Not super strength. Not laser eyes. Not another version of telekinesis.

Give me someone who can manipulate shoelaces or control vending machines or weaponize an incredibly specific skill.

Sometimes the strangest powers make the most creative fights.

Sometimes a villain is just a villain.

And honestly? That’s perfectly fine.

A complicated backstory can be great, but sometimes it’s refreshing when a character simply chooses to be terrible and the story doesn’t make excuses for them.

A character’s expression. The way a panel is framed. A single sound effect. Even an empty space between panels.

Sometimes the quietest manga moments are the ones that hit the hardest.

You can forget an episode’s plot, but hear that opening years later and suddenly you’re transported right back to watching it.

Anime openings aren’t just introductions. Sometimes they’re part of the experience.

And that’s something I’ve come to appreciate about platforms like YouTube, Tubi, and Pluto TV. If you’re an anime fan, or someone who’s interested in checking out anime without spending more money on subscriptions, these platforms are worth exploring.

YouTube, Tubi, and Pluto TV all have free content, and that includes anime!

Now, obviously, the selection varies between platforms. Not every anime is going to be available, and you shouldn’t expect to find every new release or your favorite series just sitting there waiting for you. But that’s not really the point.

The point is that there are legitimate, free ways to discover anime, revisit older shows, and potentially find something you might never have considered watching otherwise.

YouTube is particularly interesting because you can find anime-related content, and depending on the official channels and licensed offerings available in your region, you might even find full episodes or movies. You just have to distinguish legitimate uploads from unauthorized ones.

Then there’s Tubi, which has a selection of free, ad-supported movies and television shows, including anime titles. And Pluto TV offers free, ad-supported streaming, with its available channels and on-demand selection varying over time.

And honestly? I think there’s something fun about browsing these services and seeing what you can find.

Sometimes you go looking for one particular thing and end up discovering something else entirely. Maybe it’s an older anime you’ve never watched. Maybe it’s a movie you’ve never heard of. Maybe it’s something that looks so unusual that you just have to see what it’s all about.

That’s part of the fun of exploring media!

I’m not saying these services are perfect replacements for paid streaming platforms. Their catalogs change, availability varies by location, and finding a particular series can be hit or miss. But if you’re looking to watch something without adding another subscription to your monthly expenses, they’re absolutely worth checking out.

So, if you’re an anime fan, don’t overlook the free options. You might be surprised by what you find.

Have you discovered any good anime on YouTube, Tubi, or Pluto TV? Let me know in the comments! I’m always interested in hearing about the shows and movies people stumble across.

Sometimes, the best discoveries are the ones you weren’t even looking for.

And, well, fuck it.

I’m Hispanic. More specifically, I’m Salvadoran.

I’ve spent years writing about books, music, science, and whatever else is on my mind, and I almost never talk about this part of myself. It’s funny, because I’m no stranger to coming to things late.

Coming to It Late

I grew up on superhero movies and TV shows. Comics, manga, and anime weren’t part of it at first. I got into anime in high school, and I didn’t really get into comics and manga until adulthood, after college.

Late doesn’t mean less real. I love those stories now just as much as if I’d found them at eight years old. Heritage can work the same way. You can carry something your whole life, not center it, and only later start to pay real attention to it. That’s where I am with being Salvadoran.

Being Mixed, Living a Double Life

My heritage is mixed. I’m Salvadoran, but I also have Polish, Austrian, German, and French ancestry. For this post I want to focus on the Salvadoran side, the part I’ve rarely centered in my writing or my identity.

Superhero stories are full of characters who live between two identities, seen one way in one room and another way in the next. My version is much less dramatic, but it rhymes. Depending on who’s looking, I can benefit from some degree of white-passing privilege. I’ve become more conscious of that over the years. Privilege doesn’t mean you’ve never experienced discrimination. Sometimes you exist in a weird middle ground, benefiting from one part of how you’re perceived while being vulnerable to another.

I can be perceived as white by some people.

I can be perceived differently by others because of my heritage.

Both things can be true.

I want to be clear that I haven’t experienced a tremendous amount of racism for being Hispanic. That’s my experience. It doesn’t mean racism doesn’t exist, or that other Hispanic people haven’t dealt with far worse.

When It Becomes Real

The first time I clearly experienced something aimed at my heritage was around 2020 or 2021. A friend I’d had a falling out with contacted me after I’d made it clear I didn’t want to hear from him, and he called me names related to my Hispanic background.

Then, earlier in 2026, I was on a train with my mom when a man began saying things to both of us, some of it aimed at my heritage. It was awful. I don’t think prejudice stops being prejudice depending on who it comes from.

I don’t want this to become a story about either of those people. It’s about what those moments did to my sense of myself.

It’s one thing to know intellectually that racism and ethnic prejudice exist. Stories can show it to you, teach you about it, even make you feel it secondhand. It’s another thing entirely to have it pointed at you.

There Is No Single Experience

Because I’ve been lucky, I don’t want to pretend my experience represents anyone else’s. There isn’t one universal Hispanic experience, one Salvadoran experience, or one experience of being mixed. People can share a piece of an identity and have completely different lives, shaped by what you look like, what your name sounds like, where you grew up, and what assumptions people make when they meet you.

Jaime David

Which brings me to my name.

Jaime David is my pen name, and in hindsight it’s oddly fitting. “Jaime” can be ambiguous depending on pronunciation. I say it “Jay-me,” like the people who know me do. “David” probably conjures a pretty specific image for a lot of people.

I didn’t choose it to make a statement about identity. It came from my middle name and my confirmation name. That’s all I’ll say about that.

Pen names are common in the worlds of comics and manga, and creators take them for all kinds of reasons. Mine wasn’t a disguise, but looking back, it turned out to be a name that can be read more than one way. That’s me. I’m mixed, I’m complicated, and I don’t always fit the box someone expects.

Learning, Not Competing

The biggest change over the past several years is that I’ve become more socially aware. I’ve learned more about racism, prejudice, and privilege, and how different people’s experiences can be even when they share a broad identity.

I’ve also learned I don’t have to pretend I know everything. I can listen. I can recognize where I have privilege and where I don’t. I can accept that someone else’s experience may be completely different from mine, without turning it into a contest over who has suffered more.

If I have some degree of passing privilege, I think I have a responsibility to be conscious of it. Maybe it also gives me the chance to talk about things that others don’t have the same freedom or safety to talk about. That doesn’t make me a spokesperson. I’m one Salvadoran-American person with a complicated mix of ancestry, experiences, privileges, and contradictions.

Why I’m Writing This Here

I talk about anime, comics, manga, writing, music, books, science, mental health, and society. I talk about whatever the hell is on my mind that day. Somehow I’ve rarely talked about this.

I don’t need to make my whole creative identity about being Hispanic. But heritage can sit quietly in the background until you stop and ask what it means.

For me, being Salvadoran is one part of a bigger identity. I’m also Polish, Austrian, German, and French. I’m mixed and ambiguous, and I’m still learning.

So, yeah. Happy Hispanic Heritage Month.

From one Salvadoran writer who probably should have talked about this sooner.

I guess I’m talking about it now.

And, well, fuck it.

I’m Hispanic.

More specifically, I’m Salvadoran.

And despite running a blog about anime, comics, manga, and all sorts of other weird shit, I don’t actually talk about that part of myself very much.

So today, I am.

Because even though this blog is primarily about fictional worlds, characters, stories, and the media I love, the person writing about all of that still exists outside those fictional worlds.

And I’m a mixed person.

I’m Salvadoran, but I also have Polish, Austrian, German, and French ancestry. There are a lot of different pieces that make up my background.

But my Hispanic heritage is one of those pieces that I don’t think I’ve given enough attention to.

Part of that is because, personally, I haven’t experienced a tremendous amount of racism directed at me because I’m Hispanic.

That’s my experience.

It isn’t everybody’s experience.

And I don’t want to pretend it is.

Being mixed has probably played a role in that. Depending on who is looking at me, I can benefit from a certain amount of white-passing privilege.

And that puts me in a somewhat strange position.

I can experience the world in ways that someone who is more visibly Hispanic might not.

At the same time, I am still Hispanic.

I’ve experienced prejudice because of that part of myself.

The first time I can really remember someone directing that kind of prejudice toward me was around 2020 or 2021. A friend I had fallen out with contacted me, and during that interaction he called me names relating to my Hispanic heritage.

I won’t get into the larger situation because that’s not what this post is about.

Then, earlier this year, in 2026, I experienced something similar on a train while I was with my mom. A Black man who was apparently going through some kind of episode began saying things to us, including things directed at my Hispanic heritage.

It was an awful experience.

And I think those experiences reinforced something I’ve gradually come to understand:

Someone else’s identity doesn’t prevent them from being prejudiced.

People are complicated.

Groups are complicated.

And the world is a hell of a lot more complicated than dividing everyone into neat categories of “good people” and “bad people.”

That’s something I think about a lot when I consume media.

Because one of the reasons I love anime, comics, and manga is that these mediums are full of stories about people who don’t fit neatly into boxes.

Characters can be heroes and assholes.

They can be sympathetic and flawed.

They can make terrible decisions and still have understandable reasons for making them.

They can come from completely different backgrounds and still find some kind of common ground.

Sometimes fiction makes it easier to understand something that is difficult to understand in real life.

And being a mixed person has made me increasingly conscious of how much perspective matters.

There isn’t one universal Hispanic experience.

There isn’t one universal Salvadoran experience.

There isn’t one universal mixed experience.

And there certainly isn’t one universal experience of being a creator.

Some people will look at me and immediately see a Hispanic person.

Some won’t.

Some may see someone who looks white.

Some may hear my name and make assumptions.

Some may see my pen name, Jaime David, and make assumptions about me based on that.

And that’s actually kind of funny when I think about it.

Because “Jaime” can be somewhat ambiguous depending on how you pronounce it. I pronounce mine “Jay-me,” which is generally how people know me.

“David,” meanwhile, is probably a name that conjures up a fairly specific image for a lot of people.

My pen name wasn’t originally chosen as some grand statement about my mixed identity.

I picked it because of my own naming history. I’m not going to explain which name is which, but the two names come from my middle name and confirmation name.

But looking back at it now, the name almost feels appropriate.

Jaime David is ambiguous.

And so am I.

I’m mixed.

I’m not necessarily going to fit whatever assumptions somebody makes when they look at me.

And sometimes you don’t realize just how much that matters until you start learning more about society.

Over the last several years, I’ve become much more socially conscious.

I’ve learned more about racism.

I’ve learned more about prejudice.

I’ve learned more about privilege.

I’ve learned more about representation.

I’ve learned more about how different people can experience the exact same world in completely different ways.

And that’s something I carry with me when I write about the media I love.

Representation isn’t just about putting a character from a particular background on a screen or page and calling it a day.

Identity is complicated.

Culture is complicated.

People are complicated.

And that’s part of what makes stories interesting.

As someone who has some degree of white-passing privilege, I also recognize that there are conversations I can participate in more easily than someone else might be able to.

That’s something I don’t want to take for granted.

If I can use my platform to talk about something, then I can talk about it.

That doesn’t make me a representative for every Hispanic person.

It doesn’t make me an authority on Salvadoran culture.

It doesn’t mean my experiences somehow represent everybody who shares my heritage.

It just means I have a voice.

And I’m going to use it.

That’s ultimately what this blog is about, too.

Anime, comics, and manga have always been places where I’ve explored different perspectives.

I’ve watched characters struggle with identity.

I’ve watched characters deal with discrimination.

I’ve watched characters try to reconcile different parts of themselves.

I’ve watched characters find family in people who aren’t biologically related to them.

I’ve watched characters completely fuck up and then try to become better people.

And maybe that’s one reason these stories resonate with me.

Because I’m still learning, too.

I don’t have everything figured out.

I’m still trying to understand people.

I’m still trying to understand society.

I’m still trying to recognize where I have privilege and where I don’t.

I’m still trying to keep an open mind.

And I’m still trying to become a better person.

Being Hispanic isn’t the entirety of who I am.

Neither is being Salvadoran.

Neither is being Polish, Austrian, German, or French.

Neither is being a writer, musician, blogger, author, podcaster, or creator.

And neither is my love of anime, comics, and manga.

They’re all pieces of me.

That’s what makes identity interesting.

You can have all these different pieces sitting next to one another and somehow they become one person.

Me.

Jaime David.

A mixed Salvadoran creator who writes about anime, comics, manga, music, books, science, society, and whatever other weird shit happens to catch my attention.

So yeah.

It’s Hispanic Heritage Month.

And this is the part where I finally talk about the heritage I don’t talk about enough.

I’m Salvadoran.

I’m Hispanic.

I’m mixed.

I’m ambiguous.

I’m still learning.

And I’m okay with that.

Because maybe the most important thing isn’t having every part of your identity perfectly figured out.

Maybe it’s being willing to keep learning about yourself—and about everybody else.