New Side Quest: Sidequesthings Makes Shorts Now

I’ve opened a new side quest. Sidequesthings now makes short videos: 30 to 45 seconds, vertical, faceless, about anything that has my interest. Anime, games and idols lead the way, but Japanese, philosophy and the odd lesson I’ve picked up all have a place, the same way this blog hops between categories.

Why I Started

This blog has always been where my interests land. Short videos are a different kind of room, and I wanted to see what my side quests look like when they move. Part of it is plain fun: I get to dig into a topic, find the one detail that made me say “wait, really?”, and build a short around it. The other part is a push. Making things for myself is comfortable; putting them out where people scroll is the step I kept putting off.

So I set it up the way I set up everything I want to keep enjoying: one command, a few approvals from me, and a finished video at the end.

The 30 Videos Quest

The first goal is 30 shorts. There’s no deadline and no daily upload. It’s a count, not a streak: when I’m in the zone I make a few in one sitting, and they go out from a queue. If I cycle off for a while, the count just waits for me. Nothing about this should turn into a chore.

The Five Series

Every short belongs to one of five series, and each one works on any topic:

Lore Drop: the story behind something.
Hidden Item: a surprising fact you probably walked past.
Nihongo Scan: what the Japanese really says, kanji and all.
Hot Take: my own opinion or pick.
Skill Unlocked: a principle or lesson, told as a skill you unlock.

The Quest Feel

You’re the main character in every video. Each one opens with a NEW QUEST tag beside the series name, and an RPG-style EXP gauge runs along the top, filling a little at every beat until it hits full on the answer. That’s the Payoff Pop: the corner mark swells up, the screen says QUEST COMPLETE, and you get a reward line and the quest number out of 30.

That corner mark is the same mark you see on this site, and it brings its faces along. It looks surprised at the hook, confused when things get tangled, amazed at the twist, excited at the answer, and it winks once the quest is done. The sounds are mine too: an original RPG sound library I made in code, in the spirit of Suikoden 2, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.

Quest 01

The first quest is a Hidden Item: Why idol groups put one girl in the center. It’s live on all five accounts.

Coming Up

These are made and on their way out:

Why Luca Blight is the scariest villain in Suikoden 2
The Stoic rule of control came from a man who was enslaved
What “isekai” really means in Japanese
Hinatazaka46 wasn’t always called Hinatazaka46
Dragon Quest’s slime was designed to smother you
The ikigai chart isn’t Japanese. It was made in Spain.

How I Keep It Honest

Every script is my own, written fresh for each video. Every fact needs two independent sources, or one official one, like the publisher, the studio or the agency. A fan theory gets called a theory out loud, and each caption ends with a short “Facts from” line so you can check me.

The narration is my own voice, cloned with AI. I’d rather tell you that up front than have you wonder, so every channel bio says it, and I turn on the AI label wherever a platform asks for one.

Follow the Quest

The shorts live on five accounts, all under the same name:

Which series should I make more of first: Lore Drop, Hidden Item, Nihongo Scan, Hot Take or Skill Unlocked? Tell me under any of the shorts.