#(or fall to the shonen protagonist friendship energy)

[parseolegacy]

Day two of @jdiknight's SWTOR-tober prompt list! The day two prompt is Lightside: I had one very obvious pick for this one. While both Akk'rai (My Consular) and Zilei (My Knight) are 100% light side in-game, in my out-of-game lore Zilei has a much more intimate and uninterrupted relationship with the light side of the force. As per the last post I've added an extension to the challenge where I also write more about how the prompt and subsequent drawing relate to my characters! Full Jedi Knight storyline spoilers (and some general Swtor spoilers, I think) and the story/lore explanation half of this post under the cut.

I thought it a little ridiculous for such an inexperienced Jedi to defeat the Emperor in the Knight storyline- but I generally stick close to game canon when it comes to the lore I write for my characters, so it was staying. Since I wasn't going to alter the event itself I veered towards giving a supplemental explanation as to how this was possible. Having a character be born exceptionally strong in the Force was the first obvious halfway solution that popped into my head, but I didn't find that particularly compelling. I didn't want him to necessarily wield that kind of power. Ultimately, though, I did settle on something related: Deepening his connection to the light side of the force to the point of becoming a conduit for its 'will'; said aspect bleeding into who he is in certain crucial moments where the balance between darkness and light threatens to tip- times when his mind is sufficiently in tune with the light side to the point where, in a way, he becomes a vessel for it. 'The will of the Force' as a whole, as I understand it, is a pretty dubious concept within the Star Wars canon (EU included) but with the existence of beings like The Ones/The Mortis gods, full alignment with the light side and the dark side seems possible. The source and essence of this connection was largely inspired by my love of stories & narratives where the world/nature itself fights back against its destruction, á la Princess Mononoke's forest spirit and other similar stories. This is officially commences when Vitiate/Tenebrae 'consumes' his first planet. The wave of dark side energy, the disturbance, sets in motion a pendulum swing within the Force that will eventually pivot back. And this returning energy, by mere happenstance or by fate, finds a home in Zilei, a young knight heartily dancing through a crescendo of Galactic events. (His general, nigh unshakeable positive attitude is, frankly, nothing short of a miracle considering the Galaxy in shambles. Maybe it was destiny after all.)

He changes slightly, when fully aligned with the light side. Zilei is actually very playful, merry and even slightly mischievous- taking great delight in harmless pranks, general high jinks or outright goofy, unconventional ways to handle situations. At the zenith of alignment (or the closest to a meditative internal peace,) he's notably more serene, almost otherworldly, as he dons a perpetual soft smile on his face and his eyes fade into light. This, of course, exists on a spectrum- not to mention the fact that he's generally quite tranquil, as a stereotypical practicing Jedi might be. Notably he begins showing signs of this peak for the first time the closer they get to confronting the Emperor on Dromund Kaas- something noticed by the observant long-term members of his crew- especially after he abruptly reverts to 'normal' past the Emperor's (current) defeat. I like to think that during the ending ceremony, both Satele and Scourge could sense the light flowing out of him, temporarily retreating back into the Force as its current task was completed.

I believe my turquoise gel pen ended up running out of ink soon after I started lining (will have to test this tomorrow) so I switched to a blue ballpoint pen instead. Pretty sure I like it more with the darker lines than I would have with the gel pen anyway so, hooray!

Previous days: Day 1 + Introduction post

[andythelemon]

Life update 2024

Hey everyone! It’s been a while since I last wrote anything of substance here. How time flies! Happy new year, happy year of the dragon! I hope this one is kind and auspicious for you all.

I'll admit to falling off the art train terribly for most of 2023. I barely drew; a lot of things I posted were older pieces for projects I couldn't share at the time. I think I speak for most of us when I say it's not been a great time for art collectively; growing frustrations with social media and despair at the state of current global affairs leaves little room for creative inspiration. I know many artist friends of mine are in the same boat. There's little one can do except plod on and hope for better times ahead, I guess? I'll do my best regardless!

Having said that, I did have a major touch-grass-normie arc offline, and as wild as it was, I'm glad I invested time and energy into that area of my life. After the lockdown years of terminal-onlineness, it felt great to do things that were not related to fandom at all, to have new experiences, to make new friends, reconnect with old ones, see new things. It was funny and terrifying all at once. I truly felt like a shonen and shojo protagonist (we will not go into details of the love triangle situation, IYKYK!). There were ups and downs, sadness and laughter, but that's part of life. I'm grateful for all that's happened and am a better, wiser, more mature person because of it. This past year taught me it's not about categorizing life's happenings into a basic good/bad dichotomy, but more learning from each experience and acknowledging we are wiser and grateful for having weathered what's thrown our way. Character development!

The universe has a way of working things out... so at the end of 2023, I had the opportunity to travel for 3 months. After hopping around the East Coast, Milan, various bits of Japan and a beach break in sunny Egypt, I've returned home with a renewed vigor for living my best life again. It was a joy to hang out with various artist friends in person and meet some of you at ANYC. I'll cherish every second of my travels and hope we can meet again soon!

I did fall off the nerd bandwagon for a while, so I gotta get back into the various anime on air! I've been watching Magi in my own time... such a guilty pleasure, but so many things await, including catching up on JJK S2, BSD, and everything else. Just goes to show my deep love for adventure, friendship-fuelled stories keeps me going. No promises on what this year holds art wise, but I'll continue trying hard and sharing what I can, as well as the usual self-indulgent group projects.

Thanks as always for the kind support and for sticking around. This blog is 12 this year... crazy, huh? See you on the other side!

[generallypo]

in all sincerity, kim dokja makes me happy and he deserves to be so too :^(

incoherent yelling and sobbing under the cut. these fEELINGS will not be contained aaauuunnghhh. 

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anyway i binge-read all 500+ chapters of ORV this week and i honest to god feel bad for this -- completely! fictional! aghhhh -- guy. in case you haven’t figured it out, the following is some spoilerly shit

i went in expecting a fun, brainless power trip fantasy for dudes with an isekai addiction. instead, it turns out ORV is actually a gigantic, self-deprecating prank on the entire genre itself. kdj plays more into the sad -- if high-functioning-- clown trope than the sexy, edgy, chuuni bastard type i was prepared to laugh at. there were -- gasp! -- female characters with personalities! parents (aka ADULTS who act like ADULTS) who actually survive and feature prominently! adorable children! a real sexy, edgy bastard! a power trio with amazing fashion! sexual tension and bickering! friendship! life and death bonding! 

*breathes in deeply* fouND FAMILYYYYYYY.

like, yeah, the plot around the first few arcs seems a little aimless, but the buildup is worth. the world-building is pretty decent. there’s discernible effort put into the fight scenes, and i can appreciate that. but -- but! what i stayed for were the characters -- namely, the fantastic OT3 of KDJ, HSY, and YJH -- who come together despite their initial rivalries and end up saving each other’s asses, like, every other day. granted, the other characters don’t get as much focus, and they do fall into certain character tropes.. 

but a trope done well is nothing i would gripe about. every significant character in ORV has a coherent, and more importantly, respectful take on their respective trope. maybe it’s because sing-shong is actually a married couple, but all the interactions between even minor characters are a convincing blend of awkward rambling, suggestive humor, sharp remarks, and casual banter. in other words, this cast of mostly working adults (plus a teen and two kids) talks like working adults. the relationships built throughout the story are, frankly, some of most realistic of its genre. sing-shong has managed to craft a dynamic that undoubtedly brims with fluffy fondness all around, but also drips with sarcastic tension, with unspoken urgency, with a wariness that softens into sincerity over the course of many, many chapters. it’s the kind of progression that makes even stock characters read like more than just the 2-bit villain or comrade or love interest. here, we have relationships both straightforward and not, strained or otherwise, romantically-oriented as well as decidedly the opposite -- and then numerous others scattered along the spectrum with the freedom to shift either way. 

it’s also an interesting point of note that our MC kdj actually does not end up with a stated romantic partner, much less a conventional heteroromantic harem. he gets teased about that fact from time to time, but it’s with less of the sleazy shonen locker room humor one would expect and more of the good-natured ribbing you’d find among friends or that one especially nosy auntie at the yearly family reunion. kdj is a grown ass man. in the background, i applaud his maturity, and he handles all the prodding like a champ. 

so instead of finding and fulfilling his horny, he builds himself a wealth of loving family. yeah, there are beautiful men and women around him. yeah, they unequivocally adore him. but they’re also adults, and they have priorities, too -- which are not so much finding a way to bang kdj’s brains out and more so simply keeping the damn guy alive. this is truly not ‘oblivious mc with his thirsty, sex kitten harem’. it just so happens that a guy proves himself to be unflinchingly gentle and capable in an apocalyptic setting despite his broken self-esteem, and lots of people find that attractive, romantically and platonically. 

it.. kinda makes sense? he’s a hard worker, thoughtful, and good with kids. kdj is the kind of guy you know would make a reliable partner, and anybody with eyes can plainly see and appreciate that. 

and it’s not that our MC’s a total brick wall. in fact, it’s likely the opposite, and he’s just too darned repressed to admit it. from what has been implied, kdj does indeed recognize and accept love, or at least a primitive concept of it. i like to imagine that the kind of love that he ends up seeking out simply manifests itself more easily as acceptance and safety, as warmth and a home of people to return to every day. even better, the people who surround him know this, and they give him exactly that. it’s refreshing, and honestly, really sweet.

(as a side note, i really, really do appreciate the cosmic bi energy radiating off of kdj, who canonically earns the title of being loved by all and is all but in name married to yjh and hsy. he also respects women and small children and honestly anyone who isn’t total scum to him or his family. i respect that.)

but the happy stuff aside, you know it it just ain’t ORV without the generous screaming dollop of angst. admittedly, there’s self-sacrifice, injury, lonesome wandering, more sacrifice, some epic fighting, reunion and confrontation. all of it is a lot to digest, sure, but never does it feel entirely hopeless, or truly, truly heart-clenching. ORV, up until the final act, is a mostly light read. you relax in your chair, thinking that nothing beyond this point can disturb you. 

yeah fucking right.

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and then the beginning of the end arrives. when the squad finally break through to their ‘ending’, the scene that kind of breaks me is the reveal of the Most Ancient Dream. it ties so much thematically into the little tidbits that we get of kdj’s past, and it though it feels like almost a joke that the source of the goddamn apocalypse is a kid with bruises smeared across his skinny ass body -- it’s such a pathetic picture that it’s kinda poetic, actually. you’re left mystified but somewhat convinced, like a math problem explained halfway through. this.. child.. is a villain somehow, isn’t he?

and then 999th turn uriel speaks up, and she. just. hugs him. 

[[You are this universe’s most powerless existence, aren’t you.]] 

that. that gets me. kdj’s reaction immediately upon this revelation? absolute murder. seeing him essentially self-destruct upon realizing that all these people he’s surrounded himself with -- some who continuously proclaim their loyalty and affection for him throughout their journey, some who suffered eons of war and loss and trauma because of his existence -- not only forgive his younger self but smother him with unconditional acceptance and love is stifling, is too vulnerable and exposed and he simply can’t cope -- it’s so telling of his true mentality, of his crippling insecurity and crumpled sense of self-worth. kim dokja is a liar, through and through, so much that he fails, or perhaps refuses, to comprehend the veracity of others’ kindness and love towards himself. 

by some miracle, the events at the end of the world somehow resolve.. or so it seems. there is a departing train, a liberated team of ex-gods, and a child rousing from his slumber. in the aftermath, i am left shaking. somehow, despite the ending having been (happily?) reached, there’s still another chapter ahead. what is this witchcraft?

------

and then ah, yes -- the epilogue arc. i teetered on the edge of being critical for a little bit there -- is that display of deus ex machina, of sad, self-sacrificing nobility a bit too egregious to be acceptable? is this some wild last let-me-yank-this-outta-my-ass plot twist to drag out the chapter count? i sincerely thought that the arc before it would have been the finale. i was wrong. thank god.

anyways, as an answer to the above: no, and no. i stake my firm claim on the belief that the epilogue arc was meticulously planned out well in advance of its release, confusing and time-warpy as it is. i liked it. tremendously. even if it entirely invalidates all of kdj’s supposed development (”haha lol yeah sure i won’t sacrifice myself or anything anymore guys don’t worry about me” -- KDJ, at some point because he’s a lying rat bastard). actually, our beloved MC disappears for a large chunk of this arc, and i think it’s great. in his absence, the other characters not only go absolutely fucking nuts, but they have to figure out this new problem on their own, even if the lure of peaceful complacency in the newly saved Korea might convince them otherwise. 

and then the whole time paradox thing comes around. yjh goes to space, hsy saves the only life she can, and kdj grows up. the crew waits, holding onto their hope even if it bleeds them dry. sing-shong does a damn good job of illustrating their fraying calm, their lurking madness, the unseen but pervasive depression that seeps in from kdj’s absence. the kids lose their father, lhs and jhw lose their reliable leader figure, ysa loses a best friend and confidant, lsk -- as distant as she pretends to be from her son -- loses her only child. and then there’s hsy and yjh , who are essentially bereft of the other half of their existences. their pain is palpable, is grounded in the hopeless, gnawing frustration of an utterly meaningless victory. emotionally, ORV hits all the right -- if agonizing -- beats.

however, a story can’t sustain itself just through its pathos. i’m happy to say that ORV doesn’t drop the ball after the first milestone, and after all the hurt, the characters do leap straight back into action. even better, the plot holes actually do get patches, and the poetic cycle of writer, protagonist, and reader comes full circle by making use of all those supposedly throwaway characters from the myriad world lines. 

at the end of the road, there is a distinct sense of unity, of a delicate but undeniable cohesion to the world lines and their origins. sing-shong lets us guess a little here at the finish, but there’s just enough information to feel hopeful. maybe there never had been a definite start -- or finish -- to the story of kdj company, and... that’s okay. everybody ends up where they were meant to be, where they fought and struggled to reach. it’s.. almost like a happily ever after, if we’re allowed to dream of that.

------

now, i realize, this was all an orchestrated maneuver.

i’ll take it.

to me, all of this work sounds like someone put some serious thought into this behemoth of a plot. it cements the entire original premise of the story. it suggests -- but never explicitly confirms! -- the possibility that breaking free of the cycle is possible through the exact same system that sustains it. it’s terribly interesting -- and inspirational! with all the dramatic revelations and life-threatening scenarios  and the cast’s resigned acceptance of them that essentially make up ORV’s entire mood, there’s still that last hint of rebellious and righteous anger that lights up the whole damn nebula. it’s like the kdj company blasting away at the heavens just to yell into the nether: we’re not looking for the happy end, but the free one. stay alive.

it’s subtle, and yet it’s such an emotional gut punch. i came away with the most ruinous, frustrating, bittersweet sense of longing in ages. i pined. for these fictional darlings. god, i am weak.

so. yeah. ORV is pretty good. flawed, but ambitious and impressively thought out.  i’m stoked that the webtoon is making pretty good progress, even if it’ll take an eternity and a half to meet that monstrous chapter count. i’m still gonna follow it. hell yeah. 

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(by the way the idea that secretive plotter and co are literally gonna take care of and raise baby kdj and spoil him and be the best friggin family a kid could ever want does things to me. protect him. he’s suffered too much. let at least one worldline’s version of him know happiness. and actually, aLL OF THEM DESERVE DOMESTIC BLISS TOGETHER IN A BIG OL MANSION WITH SUN AND FRESH AIR AND TENDER FAMILY MOMENTS UGH)

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and there you have it, folks. you made it to the end. in the far, far distance, i’m cheering you on and crying my eyes out in gratitude. thanks for tuning in!

[ladyloveandjustice]

Winter 2019 Anime Overview

I enjoyed every single one of the five anime I watched this season: Dororo, My Roommate is a Cat, Mob Psycho 100 II, The Promised Neverland and Kaguya-sama: Love is War.

So here are my reviews! I’ve cut back on the anime overview a lot, so these are shorter reviews than usual (though not quite as short at I’d like. someday I’ll be able to restrain myself)

Since I liked all of the shows, these aren’t in a strict worst-to-best order or anything, but the ones I found most impressive ARE nearer to the bottom. So let’s dig into last season’s anime.

My Roommate is a Cat

Premise: An antisocial writer in his early 20s adopts a cat and they both get their worlds expanded as they bond.

My take: Much like the kitty it centers on, this show is super cute, sweet and fluffy. If you’re a cat-lover and want to bask in some kitty adorableness, I encourage you to check it out. At first, I was afraid the main character Subaru’s grumpy misanthropy might be too much- I could certainly empathize with being socially isolated and avoiding people, but the way he was just rude toward others was grating. Fortunately, his character development is swift, so he quickly went from misanthrope to anxious-introverted-mess-who-awkwardly-muddles-through-social-interaction-for-the-sake-of-his-kitty, which I found EXTREMELY relatable. Subaru is coping with the loss of his parents and the fact he took them for granted while they were alive as well, so there are quite a few heart-string tugging moments.

The show’s central gimmick is that events will be told from Subaru’s point of view and then we’ll get his kitty Haru’s side of things. Yep, the cat narrates part of the show, which is how I knew I was in it for good. And Haru’s a very good cat! She’s adorable without being cloying, and at least realistic in how most of her thoughts revolve around food. Seeing her warm up to her hopeless human is just as sweet as seeing Subaru warm up to her. As a former stray cat, she has a rough backstory, so if even a restrained depiction of kitty death is too much for you, look out for that part. This show isn’t afraid to bring the feels, but it keeps things positive overall. Subaru’s friends are supportive and help a new pet owner out, and we even get a cute doggie in the mix. Overall, if you want a relaxing, nice watch with a simple, sweet story, you could do a lot worse than My Roommate is a Cat.

Dororo (Episodes 1-12)

Premise: Thanks to his father making a deal with demons, Hyakkimaru has to wander Japan and fight monsters to get his body parts back. He meets up with a young thief named Dororo.

My take: Dororo is a very loose adaptation of the 1960′s manga by Osamu Tezuka, who’s known as the godfather of manga. I was familiar with Dororo thanks to watching the live action movie for an article when I worked at epicstream (it must not have left an impression bc I remember very little) so I was curious to check this out. I ended up reading the manga too, and overall, I find it pretty impressive as an adaptation. It does a lot to make a really dated and incomplete-feeling manga more palatable and cohesive for a modern audience. Maybe I’ll do a full post expanding on those thoughts sometime, because the changes really are worth examining.

Dororo is definitely not for everyone- it’s a grim, dark show with lots of death and destruction.The story is especially not kind to women, who tend to die or be demons. The exceptions to this (such as a lady demon actually being presented as sympathetic) are mainly anime-original. Actually, while the anime eschews the original manga’s cartoon-y, jokey tone to be more serious, it actually has a much lower body count and more hopeful tone than the original, a contrast I find pretty interesting. But “more hopeful” is still not very hopeful. The story has pretty strong anti-war undertones and criticism of how authority exploits people, and there’s a lot of “these are the horrors of war” scenes and even a scene where Dororo witnesses a woman engaging in unhappy, reluctant sex work.

The premise of the story, a guy made up of mostly prosthetics on a quest to get his body parts and senses back, is also a dicey one in how it treats disability. The anime does at least make updates to the manga that lend the story a little more complexity on that front. In the manga Hyakkimaru can basically hear and speak through telepathy already and he’s portrayed as simply joyous whenever he gets a body part or sense back, despite not having a practical need for them.

The anime wisely jettisons the telepathy thing, meaning that Dororo and Hyakkimaru have some difficulty communicating, something that adds an interesting layer to the story. It means we find out about Hyakkimaru’s personality in bits and pieces alongside Dororo, going on a journey of discovery with him. And Hyakkimaru getting senses back is treated in a more realistic mixed-bag way- when he gets his hearing back, for instance, he has difficulty adjusting to it and experience serious sensory overload. It’s not really clear how he feels about a lot of things, much less the changes he’s going through.

Dororo himself is the heart of the show, really, and I find him to be really endearing and engaging as a character. His boundless energy and chattiness balance out the aloof Hyakkimaru, but he never gets overbearing or obnoxious. He’s been through a lot himself, and has a good heart. One thing worth keeping an eye out going forward is how Dororo’s gender will be handled. Dororo is afab, but in the original manga very vehemently lets everyone know he’s a boy. The anime also lets you know Dororo’s afab halfway through, but hasn’t really done much otherwise in exploring Dororo’s gender identity. I do think it’s unlikely we’ll get a handling of it as bad as the manga’s final chapters (Manga Hyakkimaru had a lot of strong, intrusive opinions about what Dororo “really” is that I think his anime version is unlikely to have based on his restrained characterization so far), but who knows.

Overall, Dororo is a nicely animated and well put-together dark action series so far. I’m not sure I would have ended up watching it if I wasn’t so interested in examining it as an adaptation, but the ride’s been pretty okay and worthwhile.

Kaguya-sama: Love is War

Premise: Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya are the top students at their prestigious school, and heads of the student council. They also have a crush on each other, but both are too full of pride (and nerves) to make the first move, so they come up with schemes to trick the other into confessing. Hijinks ensue.

My take: Kaguya-sama is a wildly funny rom-com about two idiot smart kids who don’t know how to say how they feel. It’s mostly a really good time. There’s a lot of laugh-out-loud moments. The characters are a lot of fun, especially Kaguya’s friend Chica, who is pure chaos in human form and has some of the best lines in the show. The animation and direction of the show are also impressive and lavish, elevating already good gags into greatness. The finale also does that thing where it’s all suddenly surprisingly emotional and hits you really hard with all the feels, showing a little depth and true friendship among all the characters involved.

However,there are a few “yikes” moments, and the most uncomfortable one and likely the biggest deal breaker was the “Kaguya gets sick” arc, which happens roughly the last half of episode 9 and the start of 10. In it, we’re treated to tropes that are both really tired and really uncomfortable, like Kaguya being sick and her friend, for some reason???, tacitly encouraging Miyuki to take advantage of her in her weakened state. Miyuki does not, but Kaguya pulls him into bed and he falls asleep due to sleep deprivation (which is admittedly relatable) and when they wake up she believes for a time he did assault her and throws shit at him, at which point he whines about being villainized even though he “held back”.

During the next episode, Kaguya is ~secretly kind of upset he didn’t assault her because doesn’t he find her appealing~, a trope that really needs to die bc the myth girls “really want to be assaulted” is dangerous. There were a couple okay moments in the whole thing, like Miyuki deciding he should have shut the whole thing down more firmly and apologizing for an infraction, and since Miyuki didn’t cross a significant line it doesn’t ruin their relationship or make them impossible to root for or anything, but the whole thing is tired and gross and unnecessary and not all that funny. I was able to handle it because I got warned ahead of time, but it was a chore of an arc, so here’s my warning.

The Promised Neverland

Premise: Emma and her friends Ray and Norman are orphans being raised in the happy, idyllic Grace Field House. They’re never been outside it though, and there’s a wall they’re never supposed to approach. When Emma discovers the truth behind the orphanage, a tense thriller begins.

My take: I was looking forward to this one based on word of mouth, and mostly it doesn’t disappoint! The writing hooked me enough that I’ve picked up the manga to continue the story. This a rich story. It’s an intense game of cat and mouse between genius kids and unscrupulous adults where the stakes are super high. Emma and her friends pull out all the stops to outwit and escape the ones holding them captive, and the twists and turns of the narrative are delivered well. There’s also some social commentary buried under its horror to add some bite. This essay goes into how it comments on forced societal gender roles, for instance.

 A thrilling plot can only shine thanks to its characters, and Emma is great protagonist. Her determination to save her family and unpredictable nature make her fun to follow. She’s a rare and refreshing example of a female shonen protag, and she sells that power of friendship stuff pretty well when she has the brains and skills to back it up. The three main kids balance each other well, with Ray’s cynicism and pragmatism contrasting Emma’s stubborn idealism, and Norman stands in the middle as someone who’s inclined to think like Ray but WANTS to be more like Emma. Despite the many conflicts and differences between them, these kids are ride and die, and the show does a good job selling their familial-friendship. A lot of the moments between them are truly heartwrenching.

The story has a big glaring flaw, though, and that’s Sister Krone and the racism regarding her. It’s not my lane, so please read Jackson P. Brown’s essay here for more info. The anime not only replicates the problem with her design but makes things arguably worse than the manga by making her personality a caricature as well. The anime portrays Krone as far more unhinged and exaggerated than her vindictive but more controlled and canny manga counterpart, even adding this weird thing where she rants at and beats up a doll. This review on episode 8 talks about the author feels the anime failed with sister Krone and his feelings on Krone as a black character well, it’s definitely worth a read.

While I have those issues with the anime’s choices, I was impressed with how the last few episodes were directed. They hit it out of the park, leaving me breathless, emotional and wanting more. Thanks to that, I’m now reading an enthralling adventure manga! This anime was definitely flawed but I can’t deny I’m interested in seeing how the second season will shake out.

Mob Psycho 100 II

Premise: Season 2 continues to tale of Mob, a ridiculously powerful psychic middle schooler.  He’s in the employ of Reigen, a con-artist who has fooled many (Mob included) into thinking he has legitimate psychic abilities.

My take: Holy wow. Mob Psycho’s first season had some incredible animation, atmosphere and direction, but season two fires on all cylinders. I’m glad I caught up in time to experience the show with everyone else these last few weeks, because it was always a treat- a visual feast full of heartpumping action and lots of sincere emotion.

Mob Psycho is an animation extravaganza, with some sequences that wouldn’t feel out of place in a high budget movie, dripping with atmosphere, artistry and aplomb. But the story and characters are really solid too and it has some nice themes and messages at its core. Mob is one of the goodest good boys in all of anime and he grows a lot throughout this season. At the core of the show is the idea that no one is worthless and also no one is more “special” than anyone else, that having power doesn’t give you the right to put yourself above others, that no person is inherently superior or inferior to any other, that even if you’re born with some super talent, you still need to try to improve yourself, value other people and the things they can do that you can’t and work hard to live a balanced life. Being powerful or born with a talent doesn’t mean you have the answers or know better-so it’s all about striving to make good, compassionate choices and taking control of your own life.

There’s a lot of stories that pay lip service to themes like these without really doing much to back it up, but this show sells it with an earnestness that few manage. Mob is a quiet and gentle boy, and you genuinely believe it when he says he doesn’t like fighting or using his powers on other people, and when he breaks down in tears because for all his power he can’t figure out how to set someone on the right path this time, your heart aches. The fact that Mob actually has difficulty coming up with the right answers and will sometimes gets overwhelmed by emotion and loses control, but keeps striving for honest communication, makes his approach come off as a lot more believable than the typical shonen-hero-converting-bad-guys-with-a-confident-friendship-speech bit.

The character relationships in the show are also good stuff, particularly the relationship between Mob and Reigen, which develops a lot this season with Reigen having to grapple with how yeah, he’s been kinda terrible and dishonest, especially with this kid he cares about and there’s a point where people have enough of it. There’s a lot of nice growth there.

All together, Mob Psycho is just Good with capital G. I do wish there were more girls in it, and there is a dark skinned character who’s caricature-ish in his design (he barely shows up in this season iirc), but otherwise it’s a quality rec and breathtaking example of the truly transcendent heights anime can reach. 

[urameshiy-blog]

This post is brought to you by characters with questionable motivations that will never be mentioned again.

Episode 7: Gouki and Kurama and 8: The Three Eyes of Hiei

In these two episodes, Yusuke gets his ass kicked. Hard.

This, along with the Power of Friendship and Love, will be a treasured theme of Togashi’s throughout the series. It’s honestly more of a surprise when Yusuke doesn’t get his ass kicked. Of course, this is a classic shonen anime trope: character gets beat down, picks himself up to get beat down again, and stumbles his way to victory. Watch Naruto: same thing. Bleach. One Piece. My Hero Academia (the... only contemporary shonen anime out of this list). Yet, Yusuke always does it with this odd combination of anger, determination, joy, and most importantly, a snappy one-liner, that I can’t help but love him best.

We pick up where we left off, with Gouki pounding Yusuke. Unfortunately for Yusuke, he used up his one shot of spirit energy earlier that day, and is stuck with only his fists. However, Gouki is much too strong, and knocks Yusuke out completely. It looks like this is the end of Yusuke’s brief second life. But with some quick thinking and deception, Botan saves Yusuke and brings him back home. She presents him with a second item: the concentration ring. Armed properly, and with Botan at his side, Yusuke faces off with Gouki again and promptly defeats him, with a few additional bruises added.

But Yusuke and Botan have no time to celebrate: waiting for them is the next demon, Kurama. Previously, a spirit fox, Kurama merged with the spirit of an unborn infant when he was injured, and has since been in hiding. Though he had planned on returning to the Demon World after recovering, his love for his mother grew, and he decided to stay instead. But when his mother fell ill, Kurama turned to other means to save her: the Forlorn Hope, which will take his life when it grants his request.

Yusuke, however, is a huge softie, and decides that Kurama doesn’t get to die that day. In the middle of Kurama’s request, Yusuke interrupts, and asks the Forlorn Hope to take Yusuke’s life instead (because the boy has zero consideration for his own life still). Luckily, the Forlorn Hope considered that noble, and decides both boys get to live! So Kurama’s mother is saved, Yusuke doesn’t die again, and he’s achieved the Forlorn Hope.

All’s well, end’s well?

and here’s Yusuke contemplating how "sad" Kurama's eyes are, like the protagonist of a YA novel

Wrong. Episode 8 comes crashing in, and Hiei promptly kidnaps Keiko to use as leverage against Yusuke. Yusuke tracks him down to a warehouse, where we find out that Hiei has cut her with the Demon Sword. If Yusuke doesn’t get the antidote from Hiei, Keiko will be turned into a mindless, demonic slave forever. Using her own healing energies, Botan focuses on keeping Keiko stabilized, while Yusuke goes after the antidote. Yusuke and Hiei proceed to fight, and Hiei gains the upper hand. Just as Hiei is about to deliver the finishing blow, Kurama intervenes, and takes the blow meant for Yusuke. Yusuke takes this moment to gather his wits, and faces Hiei again, angry and more determined. With a last ditch effort, Yusuke fires his Spirit Gun at the Forlorn Hope, which reflects the shot and strikes Hiei directly in the back.

Hiei finally defeated, the team heals Keiko, and laugh over Yusuke’s dumb luck, and Kurama’s masochistic tendencies. Just another day in the life of a Spirit Detective!

I decided to attack these two episodes at once, since it neatly wraps up the story arc begun in episode 6. I really appreciate how stream lined it is, and that the fight scenes don't take longer than a single episode. There's actually quite a bit more talking than fighting throughout all three episodes, which I almost find refreshing, since it really lets us spend time with the characters. Action wise, the fight scenes are still pretty slow, and I found myself a little bored during the Hiei/Yusuke fight scene.

Yusuke is on point in these two episodes: he’s determined to get back the artifacts, and he’s once again willing to put his life on the line to save these children’s souls. It’s surprising how consistent character wise Yusuke is in this aspect; as much as he was willing to throw himself in front of a car for a child in episode 1, he’s now willing to get beaten to death for them. And he does it all with a ready punchline. It almost makes me wonder how Spirit World screwed up so much in their reading of Yusuke. It’s not like he started caring for children after he died; this has always been a consistent character trait. Then again, I guess we can’t expect institutions to be correct all the time, amirite? (just go look at the news for reference)

Botan is also a DELIGHT, providing heavy support during the Gouki fight. She's unfortunately relegated to healer status in episode eight, but I'm glad she's still involved. Keiko, sadly, defaults to damsel in distress and the jealous girlfriend, and she will remain in this role for the rest of the series.  

In episode 5, I said we would later discuss the evolution of how Togashi depicts demons. With our introduction of our two favorite demon boys, this is the perfect time to do so.

Gouki is a pretty standard stock villain. He’s big, dumb, and wants to eat human souls. Compared to Hiei, he’s actually a better developed than villain, with an understandable motivation, and a character design that outright says “evil.” And when he transforms, he’s undeniably the most demonic out of the three. By combining both his motivation and character design, we know for certain that we’re not to trust him (oddly, we will not see demons actively try to eat humans for another nearly 100 episodes, and it’ll be the subject of some intense discussion).

Kurama, on the other hand, never looks anything other than human during his appearance. With wide green eyes and a human mother to boot, we are subconsciously prepped to sympathize with him.

As for Hiei, he falls somewhere in a gray area between Kurama and Gouki. He’s certainly no ogre creature like Gouki, but he’s most definitely an antagonist. His pupils are smaller than Kurama’s, and his third eye marks him as other. Not to mention, at the height of the battle between him and Yusuke, he transforms into a green goblin like creature, covered in eyes. This form comfortably places him in the “evil” category for viewers and enhances his predatory appearance. In some ways, all three of these demons’ character designs are reinforcing our ideas of what “good” and “evil” looks like. I won’t say that Togashi completely smashes these expectations later on, but we’ll continue to discuss the difference between what “relatable” and “evil” demons look like as the series goes on.

Before going further into their characterization, I do want to note that even during Hiei’s introduction, Togashi was not 100 percent certain how major a character Hiei would be. However, his character and design ended up being so popular, that Hiei ended up as one of our core four characters. As such, there are some funky inconsistencies with Hiei’s motivations and why he would even want to steal the demon sword. However! It’s there, so I’m going to treat his characterization here as canonical (for the time being), rather than a completely separate characterization.

As much as Kuwabara and Yusuke contrast each other (Kuwabara is the emotional and motivated one, Yusuke’s the repressed one), Hiei and Kurama are each others’ contrasts. Even their character design (at least in the anime) is directly in contrast with each other, with Kurama being bright red, feminine, tall, and seemingly trustworthy. Hiei, on the other hand, is clad head to toe in black, with spiky hair, beady demonic red eyes, and 4 feet and 11 inches of pure anger and edgelord punk style.

Their motivations are in direct opposition as well; Kurama’s a reformed demon, and acts a thief one last time to save a human life. Hiei, however, is incredibly cutthroat, and out to… build a demonic army from humans and take over Human World (maybe)? His motives are very unclear, but he’s a starter villain, so we don’t really need to know much. We do know he sees humans as inferior, and this is consistent, even later in the series.  

As the series goes on, we will see that the two slide into complementary roles, with Hiei as our Brute Force and Kurama as our Smart Guy. What will be more interesting is when Togashi begins to subvert their tropes, creating more complex and interesting characters as we go. Both characters will undergo immense change later on in the series, and I'm excited to come back to discuss that. However, we'll be saying goodbye to them for now, and instead venturing off into a completely other direction! (Genkai, we're coming for you).

Final Thoughts:

Kurama is the biggest drama queen in the history of the world, matched only by Yusuke Urameshi himself: “Did you know in some species the child eats its mother?” he says, as he proceeds to wax poetic about feeling like one of those “mother devourers.” Just. Chill, Kurama. CHILL.

Favorite line of the two episodes goes to Kurama again, with a 10/10 roast to Yusuke: “All the while we’ve been thinking you’re a brilliant strategist. You’re just a lucky fool… A strategist is a person who uses his brain.”

Yusuke making fun of Hiei monologuing is fantastic.

I never thought I would say this, but I miss Kuwabara? So much?

TL;DR?: These two episodes throws us straight into demon world, and provide some fun action scenes! Kurama and Hiei are startlingly different from their later characterization, but deliver some great moments and insults. However, upon rewatch, I find myself impatient to get to later episodes where the team is working together!

[ladyloveandjustice]

March Comes in Like a Lion vs Teppu and telling the rival’s story

I started thinking about the similarities in March Comes Like a Lion and Teppu, of all things. They both do a cool thing where the main characters fit the “rival” archetype in sports anime much more than they fit the protagonist archetype They both tell a story from the Classic Anime Rival’s point of view, and because of that, the story feels unusual and a lot of the classic sports anime tropes are messed with.

March pretty much acknowledges this in the scene where Nikaido frames himself as a shonen protag who needs to defeat his rival Rei and..well, when you think about it, that is essentially correct. Rei is aloof, cynical, super talented and winning constantly but his heart isn't in it. He's definitely Classic Anime Rival material.

Meanwhile Nikaido is the scrappy underdog fueled by undying passion and the power of friendship who will keep playing until he collapses and inspires everyone around him. He WOULD typically be the main character.

It’s the same for Natsuo in Teppu, only to a different degree. Rei is the more low-key, pleasant kind of rival who’s more closed off than mean. He says he’s not your friend, but clearly is even from the beginning. Natsuo’s effortless talent causes her to be “bored”, so she’s straight up cruel, violent, etc at times. She is the HARDCORE rival. The one who’s straight up nasty and terrifying. And Yuzuko is the classic protag who got where she was with hard work! passion! determination! And is just unflappably cheerful.

And so when we fully experience the rival’s point of view, what does that classic protag look like? Both manga kind of show this. Teppu’s answer is that from Natsuo’s point of view and actually from the pov of most people, Yuzuko is unnerving and just a little creepy. Her determination kind of looks like an obsession from the outside, and her unwavering optimism is bizarre and overbearing.

March is a lot kinder to Nikaido, of course, but since we are inside Rei’s head all the time, we know Nikaido does genuinely exhaust him at times. We also know that Nikaido’s passion makes Rei feel really bad about himself because he can’t have that level of energy and passion. It’s not just aloofness on Rei’s part, he’s genuinely depressed and Nikaido sometimes drains him or triggers self loathing. But of course, ultimately, Nikaido is a very positive force in his life, who keeps him inspired and makes him enjoy playing shogi even when he’s feeling his worst and Rei cares for him very much. Definitely a more sympathetic take on the rival-protag relationship from that pov (though Teppu isn’t completely unsympathetic, Yuzuko is pretty cool).

Rei being more of a “rival” character allows March to play with tropes and be a bit unpredictable. Rei doesn’t really have to do a training montage or anything because he���s been playing at this and being amazing his whole life. When he starts losing, “hard work” turns out to be the wrong answer to this. In fact, it’s a catastrophic answer, Rei already spends so much time on shogi practicing and obsessing over it even MORE accomplishes nothing besides screwing up his health. And whenever he tries to set some dramatic personal goal for his victory- facing Gotoh, making money for Hina- it backfires.

Rather, the answer for Rei is to go on an emotional journey and actually pull back from shogi a bit. When Rei gets other things going on in his life besids shogi, he’s better for it. Rei casually starts winning again and rises in rank OFFSCREEN, because he and the story are more focused on his relationships for now. Shogi becoming SECONDARY in his life is what actually makes him do better. And that’s pretty interesting.

In Teppu, Natsuo’s catharsis comes when she finally loses to Yuzuko. Her emotional journey, her issues with her brother, are what matters and the loss is the conclusion of that. She falls like a rival always does, but it’s good.

Anyway, there’s my thoughts on the similarities between March Comes in like a Lion and a sorta obscure MMA manga, what a sentence to type.

*Also, don’t get me wrong, I would absolutely watch that anime Nikaido stars in  that exists out there in some other universe.  it would follow very predictable tropes but that would be fine bc it executes them really well with such charming sincerity and all the characters are good!! It would be one of the most popular in its genre, or at least deserve to be.