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Overall, this is engagingly intriguing for a thrill centering the lead character, Vee (Emma Roberts), and her involvement with Ian (Dave Franco) where the plot thickens. As a film targeting the teen audience, it can be relatable regarding issues of peer pressure (the toxic influence of social media) and insecurities. The Nerve game comes with a sinister twist, especially when huge monetary gain ropes them deep into it.

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This is a sweet holiday movie to watch on wintery days to cozy up on the couch, when one is feeling under the weather at home, or while in recovery for a sustained injury. The comedic quality about this film makes for an entertaining watch. It’s effectively heartwarming to thaw the icy chills.

*Alternative link for free public viewing (with ads):

https://youtu.be/AYOVMctAtgE

https://link.tubi.tv/iLfKVgEBizb

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This is a great development that stems from a parent’s love for their child with epilepsy.

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“A Very Nutty Christmas” is a cute, heartwarming holiday flick where the spirit of Christmas is channeled through the Nutcracker. There’s great chemistry between the two leads in their relationship development that carries the plot well to the end. The memories made with loved ones is the gift best treasured.🎄 🎁

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“Fruits Basket” is a nice slice-of-life, melodramatic series that’s a good source of comfort when one’s down in the dumps or going through a hard time. The 2019 anime reboot, that stays true to the original manga series, is like a review of what I find endearing about the manga when I’d read it to the end a ways back. It’s heartwarming how Tohru Honda found belonging and acceptance among the Sohmas and reached their hearts. Yuki, Kyo and Rin (Isuzu) are some interesting characters that can be personally relatable in their own struggles.

https://www.funimation.com/shows/fruits-basket/

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YGO ARC-V is an adventurous journey of dimension hopping where the protagonist, Yuya Sakaki, had undergone some soul searching to develop his dueltaining other than to find his friend, Zuzu Boyle, who'd gotten sent adrift, to bring her back home. The depth of Yuya's character is intriguing along with the connection between him and his counterparts in the other dimensions, which is also tied to Zuzu and her dimensional counterparts. Yuya's association with his archrival, Declan Akaba, initiates the progression towards developing his dueltaining skills. Their Action Duels have an entertaining aspect to them for keeping viewers on the edge of their seats. “Can You Feel The Power” is a great catchy, upbeat opening theme to emphasize on the entertainment presented in their duels. Michael Liscio Jr impresses with his varied voice characterizations of Yuya, his energy and emotional tone at times, and the other Yu-boys. Emily Jenness is good with her vocal delivery on making Zuzu and her counterparts distinctive from each other. Daniel J Edwards is effective in portraying the entertaining quality of Dennis McField, especially with his singsong voice while demonstrating his showmanship, and voicing a dark tone when he's serious. The pacing for its first two seasons is good with the second season paying homage to the 5D's series well. However, there's a noticeable drop in the quality somewhere in its final season where it became rushed with the Zexal and GX series' homages being short-ended.

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There’s something to be said about “character witnesses” of Depp that aren’t telling of what he’s like behind closed doors. It’s a dark side to one’s nature that’s hidden from plain sight.

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As the YGO series that I first watched in Japanese with English subtitles, VRAINS has been a rollercoaster thrill ride from beginning to end. “With the Wind” is a catchy-sounding opening theme that revs the hype of getting into watching it. Even its first ending theme, “Believe in Magic,” rocks on an upbeat jam. Other opening and ending themes used sequentially fit with the shifting mood and pacing with the changing focuses. Its heavy-laden tension is prevalent throughout this series in making it monotonously serious. The antihero protagonist, Yusaku Fujiki (aka Playmaker), sets the serious, edgy, dark tone for the series while in pursuit of the Knights of Hanoi to seek answers regarding his traumatic past, which is responsible for his PTSD as a Lost Incident child victim. Ai, the Dark Ignis, is complementary to Yusaku’s stoic, serious demeanor while in his company like that of a manzai comedy pair. The way that they play off each other can be entertaining to watch at times. His rival, Ryoken Kogami (Revolver), is an intriguing character playing the antagonist role and his connection to the protagonist. Unpredictability of the characters’ actions gives this series a hook to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. Its first season is good with the pacing to get into the thrill of things with the Knights of Hanoi were involved. Not featuring a duel every single episode is a good thing to give time to focus on the story and avoid duel fatigue. The inconsistency with the presentation of Aoi’s and Go’s characters in the second season, that contrasts with their growth in the first season, came off as distasteful. Lacking depth in some aspects makes this an overall underwhelming series. The open ending left me yearning for there to be more when there are untouched plot holes and things unaddressed. Although it doesn’t delve into how PTSD affected his everyday living, it at least presents the message of hope in facing one’s past to cope with their trauma and rise above it.

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This is a good insightful piece pertaining to rape culture as it relates to Wood’s sexual assault/domestic violence trauma. It’s important to be educated about circumstantial situations that potentially lead to rape and toxic masculinity to that effect.

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These are some good inspirational Pride stories of the personal experiences in identifying themselves with the LGBTQIA+ community. What society imposes onto them is restrictive and oppressive of their personal freedom.

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This is the problem with celebrity stans when they create a hostile, toxic environment for abuse survivors. Even though they don’t believe the person, it’s unacceptable to be personally attacking/harassing him/her and their supporters or believers. Idolatry/Celebrity worship is at the core of such toxic behavior from stans/fanatics by putting their idol on a pedestal and believing them to be perfectly infallible.

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Here’s an alternative link where this documentary can be watched for free: https://tubitv.com/movies/481720/selena-gomez-dreaming

Selena Gomez: Dreaming

It’s intriguing to get an insight on Selena’s celebrity life with regards to her personal matters and struggles…following her transition from a child star to an adult actor/artist in the limelight. As a fan of her, I personally find this to be a nicely reflective documentary of her development for understanding. She has become one truly inspirational artist with her maturity.

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This is an interesting hour-long segment on the topic mental health, a discussion led by a licensed therapist, pertaining to the participants’ backgrounds and past experiences. These are some important takeaways: mental health is closely associated with physical health, opening up/talking about one’s struggle to someone who’ll listen, and the stigmatism involving the socialization of males being a negative factor.

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It’s great the strides that women made to get into the gaming industry where some approach it in non-traditional ways. This is inspiringly uplifting for females that aspire to succeed in whatever endeavors they pursue.

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This is a great way of raising awareness and effectively using their platform to reach out in supporting and empowering the female minority in stepping forward to make great strides in society.

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I leave this as an “agree to disagree” when there isn’t a way to work out an understanding, and my review wasn’t well-received. This is a rather unpleasant encounter that I had with an author (T) on the AO3 site, with whom I don’t completely agree on what the claim to be a “major contributor to making people feeling discouraged to continue writing.” It can also be argued that their responding putdown makes reviewers feel discouraged from commenting and reading the creator’s works. That indicates that they’re also not open to constructive criticism. Since they don’t perceive similarly like I do (or even try to make sense of it from another angle), that’s why what I was trying to express didn’t make sense to them. I can’t speak for those whom they think/claim to be discouraged by having grammatical mistakes pointed out to them. It’s a stretch to say that I do this on every fanfic I read when that isn’t absolutely the case based on my review history. Apparently, it’s just T personally that has this issue with me when no personal attack or offense was intended. At least they get that I was trying to be helpful, which is true. Still, I’m not letting them stop me from giving feedback, suggestions or pointing out any grammatical errors if the author requested/noted about wanting help with improving their writing. Mistakes are learning experiences, and there’s no shame. One thing I have to say to T is this: “You don’t speak for every writer! It’s on them to decide/think for themselves on what makes them feel discouraged about writing.”

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It's refreshing to see the protagonist, Yuma Tsukumo, start off unskilled and grow as a person and a duelist through developed friendships and bonds with others. Eli Jay did well on his delivery in projecting the enthusiasm and energy into Yuma's voice characterization with "feeling the flow"  and "hi-five the sky." His sunny disposition that attracts others to him and positively impacts others makes him an endearing presence. Yuma's bond with Astral ties the series together when they face obstacles while going on the mission to obtain Number Cards. Shark (Reginald Kastle) and Kite Tenjo are interesting characters with their own story arcs that cover their backgrounds. The warring conflict between Astral World and Barian World takes the plot by storm for an intriguing spin. This is overall a heartfelt watch where the message of hope strongly resonates in persevering through trying times.