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I just came across the steven meme and had to do it 🏃‍♀️

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Probably has been discussed to hell but the Ghibli film Ocean Waves (1993) should have been a gay film.

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Rambling about Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2

I like some of the fights, characters, and overall aesthetic, but it feels weird to go on Anime Twitter and Anime Youtube and see little to no complaints about this show. Alas, here are my two major issues:

1. Bad comedy

Part of this is a personal problem because comedy is subjective, but aside from not finding them funny, the jokes are poorly implemented. Tsukumo, the blonde sorceress, arrives near the end to help Yuji but not before asking him what kind of woman he likes. It is supposed to be wacky and is emphasized by her chibi distorted face, but aside from not landing, the joke ruins the tone. The Shibuya Incident Arc is an intense story with significant civilian and main character deaths and this exchange between Tsukumo and Yuji happens right before the climactic fight. Mappa’s attempt at humor ruins the hype for the fight 🙁. There is a reason why Hunter x Hunter does not include much humor in the Chimera Ant Arc compared to other arcs.

2. It is confusing

Kenjaku has a speech at the end where he explains his motivations, but he is obtuse and makes no sense! Did anyone understand what he was yapping about? 

Regarding the powers, they are also overly complicated and poorly explained. In Hunter X Hunter, once you get through their ten paragraph explanation of nen, it makes sense. In JJK, there are too many elements to their powers to keep track of and their ten paragraph explanations do not help much. The only thing I remember from Gojo’s explanation of his powers is that blue and red make purple… and that’s it. What exactly red and blue are, I couldn’t tell ya. Fights become less interesting due to this lack of understanding. After Mahito did something new with his powers for the tenth time, I wanted to fast forward the scene. Some people still find enjoyment from these WWE style fights and I don’t want to invalidate them, but I believe the fights can be a lot better with a stronger foundation for the powers. 

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okay jjk complaint number 1 i don’t remember the scene terribly well it’s been like two years since I’ve watched it but in the first season when nobara is fighting momo and momo is telling her about the sexism that mai faced in the zenin clan nobara responds with something like “i like myself when i’m pretty and dressed up, and i like myself when i’m strong, i don’t care about male or female, i’m nobara kugisaki” and it’s shown as this super empowering moment and

okay??? it’s almost as if that’s not what the conversation was about. and mind you that’s not hate towards nobara (and it’s a whole different discussion that nobara is not really a well written female character), it’s more about the writing. having a female character say “oh I don’t care about the sexism another woman has faced because that’s just an excuse to be weak+L+I love myself so everyone should” is a really weird thing to see.

it kind of goes in the same vein as these people who see literally any character being feminine and are like “FINALLY a female character isn’t punished for being feminine and is allowed to like girly things and isn’t masculine” like. we get it. you love legally blonde. you think rachel zegler is the devil because she called an outdated movie outdated. every time someone calls out a piece of media for having a female character only serve as a love interest and nothing else your response is “women can fall in love and get married and have kids and still be strong 😤” maybe you hate feminism. maybe you’re a feminist but you should still be ALLOWED to want to have kids. yadda yadda. it’s a dumb take and I’m so tired of hearing it as an excuse to let people get away with sexism.

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Cinema Paradiso (1988) (director's cut) is great

If you like the concept of movies and don't mind Italian people, definitely watch this 3 hour director's cut. I recommend. Go watch it and cry 🔫

<Spoilers Ahead>

If you love something, you must let it go. Such is the core theme and character arc of Alfredo, a lonely man who finally makes a close friend out of Toto, but ultimately pushes him away for him to pursue his dreams. Perhaps Alfredo had bigger dreams than working as a projectionist in a town without friends so it makes sense that he would want his one friend to at least pursue and achieve his.

The director's cut adds an interesting element to the movie though. Alfredo sabatoges Toto's relationship because he knows Toto would not achieve his dreams if he stayed with Elena. Perhaps Alfredo was wronged by a blue-eyed witch in the past (he had an odd fixation on blue eyes) where he was left unable to achieve his dreams. Either way, because of Alfredo's actions, Toto ended up on the big screen and achieved his creative goals, but it left me wondering, was it worth it?

From the beginning, you get the sense that Toto is unhappy. On the surface, he lives a nice life. He is a popular movie star. Strangers ask him for his autograph all the time. He has a nice car and a lavish apartment and a baddie in bed with him. However, he does not smile much in the intro and gets into an argument in the first few minutes we meet him. We also find out that he has not visited his mother or his home town in over 30 years. We also do not know if he has any friends. Is this the mark of a happy man? At the end of the director's cut, we find out that Toto has been sleeping around with a lot of women but is unsatisfied each time because none of them evoke the feelings he felt when he was with Elena. He still yearns!

The theme of dreams over relationships also happens in the movie La La Land (2016) but there is a big difference (also watch that movie if you haven't 🔫). Sebastian, the main guy, achieves his dream of owning his own jazz club at the expense of his relationship with Mia, but there is closure. He processes his emotions in a beautiful performance with Mia in the audience and at the end, smiles at her! He is able to get over their breakup and lives happily with his dream achieved! Toto and Elena's relationship do not have that kind of closure. Elena ends up married to another guy (his defining red spot is a nice touch) and Toto meets up with her. He gets closure with her from a hot and heavy makeout session in his car. It is implied they do not get together afterwards since she has to get back to her husband and son and he has to get back to his job.

In La La Land, if Mia had a quick and passionate affair with Sebastian, it would have been great to see, but the ending would not have been as satisfying. The passionate affair-causing love in Cinema Paradiso is great to see but it breaks from the theme a bit and makes me question earlier decisions made in the film. What if Toto stayed and traveled with Elena? Would he be happier? Is a broken dream worse than losing all your old friends and family and being unable to find love even after 30 years? Would it have been a broken dream at all? There is no guarantee his filmmaking career would have been impossible with Elena at his side. Perhaps this ambiguity is intentional from the filmmakers. Like many parents for their children, Alfredo makes a life-changing decision for Toto out of love, but sometimes these decisions do not pan out and may lead to a worse outcomes. To give credit to Alfredo, the outcome is not that bad. Toto becomes an accomplished film maker, but Alfredo never learns of the negative side of Toto's life and it probably was not his decision to make anyways. To push away the best thing in your life out of your love for them is powerful, but the what-ifs that come from the director's cut does take away from that. The steamy affair is worth it in my opinion but I can see why people prefer the original theatrical release.

Good movie but this has been in my mind for a while.

Quick aside: I know it is a sign of the times and maybe it is a cultural difference too but I find it funny how the movie portrays Toto's creepiness as romantic. He films Elena without her consent and stays outside her HOME in the rain until she falls for him 😭

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Switch needs achievements

Playing through Tears of the Kingdom and I like it a lot but there is so much useless stuff around the map.

Why would I collect all the koroks for a golden turd? Why would I get enough pony points to get some carrots? Why would I go to every cave and every well? Why would I complete the pokedex? Nintendo should get achievements so you can show off how much you can hyperfixate. It would make some of the quests more worth it.

In the end, the lack of will to complete these objectives is a game design fault but an achievement system would be cool.

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Kiki's Delivery Service's (1989) biggest problem

Saw Kiki's Delivery Service recently and I really like it! It has a ton of charm to it and I always appreciate witch aesthetic. However, there was one thing that continuously bothered me and it was this guy 😭.

Miyazaki loves romantic tension between children but this was the first time in my Studio Ghibli binge where I disliked a pairing.

Fuck this kid 😭. I was surprised by how invasive they made this character. He *follows* Kiki even though she makes it clear he made her uncomfortable and he even finds out where she lives and waits for her there! It wouldn't have bothered me if the writers hadn't played it off as just boys being boys. A product of the times I guess.

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My one takeaway from Sex Education (the show)

Spoilers.

Ruby and Otis should have been end game. It's crazy that they were made as an interim to extend the overdone slow-burn that was Meave x Otis. Mostly everyone stopped caring about them even after they finally got together in season three and they don't even end up together by the end so it was a waste of time anyways! The emotional and physical chemistry between Ruby and Otis is too good for this show.

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Music Twitter is annoying

Twitter users being annoying is nothing new, but I am noticing a new trend (maybe not so new) where people clown on others who explore new genres and artists below the mainstream for the first time. The most recent example is Lil Yachty, who was recently seen with Tame Impala, Clairo and Mac Demarco.

Admittedly, he has made some cringe comments about how "hip-hop is stagnant", but look at it from his perspective. He has been surrounded by normies, and what do normies listen to? Travis Scott, Drake, and Bad Bunny! People have become out of touch with what "mainstream" really is and a lot of that is due to the internet. On internet forums, Tame Impala is everywhere and well known for a long time, but in real life, a TON of rap fans do not know who he is, or that it is just one guy.

Let Lil Yachty explore music. If you think his taste is basic, don't get mad. Encourage him to explore more!

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Whisper of the Heart (1985) (dir. Yoshifumi Kondo)

Certified classic. One of my favorite Ghibli films. Please watch if you have not.

The art is amazing. The city background and interiors are super detailed. The apartment looks lived in. It is beautiful ❤️

The music is great too. Take Me Home, Country Roads is a 🔥 song. The jam is one of my favorite scenes.

This movie also features supportive guardians, which I feel is rare in a lot of modern media and is refreshing to see! The trope of children fighting with heir parents over following their dreams is so overdone and boring.

The BEST part of the movie though is the romance (a lot of people found the "follow your dream" part to be the best part, which is understandable, but the romance just hits different for me). The tension is great in the beginning and it is super cute. There is a LOT of yearning in this movie which is very relatable. Maybe Miyazaki and/or the director fumbled a baddie in the past and is expressing it in this movie.

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Me if you even care

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Ruby is the highlight of season 3 for me! Her chemistry with Otis is brilliant. Lots of respect for Asa and Mimi for delivering such great performances!

IG: mintysarts

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Aqours screenshots redraw in 90s style! (part 1)

Hmm… so this has kind of blown up on instagram and I already had some people reposting it on twitter since “you don’t have it there”, so here I am, posting some of them here before someone does it without asking first :^) 

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volume 7 comeback !

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Gym challengers lovemail