I'm having trouble finding a familiar fictional universe to come back to. I've always been very eclectic in my taste, and I've ended up trying all the big ones: Dragon Ball, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Naruto, and Pokémon. I loved them as a child and still love some of them to this day, but it doesn't feel quite the same anymore. The newer developments in each franchise have kind of killed them for me.

DB feels weird now, and it's not as charming as it used to be. Yu-Gi-Oh! has been infantilized for the sake of making money, and I find the current TCG format pretty unenjoyable (I tried getting into it recently). The same thing happened with Naruto. Boruto kind of spoiled it for me. Now it just feels like a children's show.

I'm currently trying to get back into Pokémon, but I'm already finding myself disliking some of its newer developments.

Watching the early seasons of these shows still feels warm and cozy, but I can't shake the feeling that I'm not fully buying into those fictional universes anymore. I'm only accepting them partially, and that bugs me. It keeps making me pull away from them.

I want a familiar universe that I can constantly come back to, whether through movies, games, books, comics, or whatever else. Sometimes it feels like I'm new to everything: I have to get acquainted with new characters, new stories, new mechanics, and all that stuff. You finish one thing, and then you have to start all over again. Newbie again.

I've been trying to find a new universe to get attached to, and in a way I've found a few. Mass Effect, for example, was awesome.

What about you? Has this ever happened to you? Is there a fictional universe you've been able to stick with throughout your life, despite all the changes it has gone through? And if you have any recommendations for a universe that might give me that feeling again, I'm all ears.

Which franchise has stayed with you throughout your life?