Daigo shares story of arcade beginnings, meaning of friendship

I've read this earlier today, and I couldn't lose the feeling of reading some yaoi-fan-flick x)

inb4 'Daigo has no life lolol'

it really sounded like a story you read in an ordinary school life genre manga

i thought he'd be a mentor to daigo. turned out to be a guy who gave him a 3-hour ride home on a bike. lol.

where i live, schools are not mixed (meaning boys have their own schools and so do girls). so you can be whatever want and there'd be many like you. no one plays sports because they want a girl, nor do they fight over one. just don't be gay.

I swear, later on Daigo won't call it quits, but instead we'll all see him walk slowly towards the horizon/sunset with some zen music playing along.

Reading this broke my heart :( Poor Daigo D:

How ppl hate on Daigo is beyond me.

Who didnt feel good as soon as they stepped in arcades? I know I was hooked up to that Mortal Kombat franchise and eventually became the best prodigal son in the city.

#3
lol

The arcade was practically my baby sitter for my entire youth. Mom or Grandpa would drop me off with a roll of quarters and I was good to go all day. You learned to win enough so you still had $3 for the pizza slice combo at the food court.

Waiting for live action movie of this book...

That was a nice story. The "15 years later" thing made me actually search Daigo's age. I thought the guy was around my age but he's older than he looks.

"The trip home took over 3 hours. All during that time, Daigo was lost in thought wondering why the man was doing this for him. It was a summer night, so by the time they reached Daigo's home, the man was drenched in sweat. Dropping Daigo off, the man simply said, "See you." and pedaled away.

Writes Daigo, "I stood there staring at him getting smaller and smaller in the distance, and for the first time I realized, 'Oh, this is what friendship is.'"

Fifteen years later, Daigo is still friends with the man. Daigo writes in his book, "My life is the video arcade. I can say this proudly, largely in part due to the friendships I found there."

Damn. It's easy to forget that those who are revered so much are just as human as the rest of us.

One of the cool things about arcades is that it brings the "loners" together. So they aren't really seen as socially awkward then. Guess that's good. It sucks because arcades give people a place to go to meet others like them yet the arcade scene is dying. You'd never hear of a the football scene dying because of how much support they gain. Really we should be trying support local arcades.
R.I.P Troc T____T

Umehara, Daigo is the beast, son!

Now you'll understand how hard my youth was. I was exactly like that but there were no arcades to go to! :P

Friendship is magic?

I read this a few years ago in one of daigos interview, left me smiling with how people come together

I wish him luck for a good run at EVO this year.

Daigo is the "Beast" Umehara, son!

I could watch an anime of this lol. Come on Japan do "Daigo, the anime" :p

I like Daigo, but this was a bit cheesy.

reading reminded me of a sad anime title "Grave of Fireflies." Im not really sure why. Hope they sell an English version of this book.

^^ i meant to say "reading this reminded me of"

I would buy the book if it was in english

Great read all the haters can hate but you can't take away what this man has achieved already even if he finished tomorrow. Daigo is inspirational, and his conduct is exemplary (not like some childish american players) and the best fighter all round ever in SSF4 to play street fighter IMO. Especially in SSF4, play a long set in SSF4 and he will beat anyone, able to adapt to any situation, and all the top players know it too. I like the way he conducts himself, he is the role model to any player, not just to play but how to act in a gentlemanly way in a tournument. He can take defeat in the correct manner and when he wins he does not "rub it in" so to speak to the player he has just beat, he is a pure winner all round.

Great to hear about his background. Honestly I felt like I could relate to him because there are so many people you grow up with at school who bash you because you are different. I used to get bashed for liking videogames and anime growing up and hell even my apperance. Wheni met people like me who shared some of the same views it got easier for me to befriend similar people like myself and ignore those who down us. I'm happy to hear that no matter who you are there are other people out there who have or are going through the same situations as yourself. To all the haters Daigo has they should think about this. Did I have a similar experience or lifestyle like Daigo stated? If not how would you feel if people didn't accept you because you were different from other people?

When I was growing up the only people who hung around the arcade all day were kids skipping school or delinquents. But at peak hours after school, weekends etc; arcades or anywhere there were arcade machines were packed. Long before I could go clubbing etc they were really were some where you could go and socialise.

Daigo "The Beast" Umehara, dad

kool story bro'...
really, make a short film if someone has to! xD

DAT SLICE OF LIFE ANIME

who could hate the Beast? No doubt he will always be remembered as the best of all time. Dig it.

No wonder when I head to WNF that I feel like the actual loner there.

@31

That's exactly what I thought word by word.

SLICES OF LIFE, WE HAS THEM

I read this while watching this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIuotF...

;-;

Giving us some insight on his life is pretty cool considering he is quite the icon in the FGC.