#2) love love love seeing Ash in the studio with female collaborators this time

[kindahoping4forever]

Ash via Emma Rosen and John Feldmann on IG Story

[blackmoonlightexpress]

Shui Long Yin 《水龙吟》 - What we know so far about this massive project

By now many of you have heard about Shui Long Yin 《水龙吟》, Luo Yunxi's upcoming and third project with the studio behind Till the End of the Moon. Here's my read on the announcement earlier.

1. Good news - It's going to be largely the same creative team behind TTEOTM. 

You have Wang Yirong as Lead Producer & Artistic Director, Huang Wei as Costume Designer, Wang Haiqi as Action Director, Tsang Mingfai as Makeup Director, Huatian for World Concept (also known for Ashes of Love and the Untamed). Basically, we'll see the return of the brilliant minds behind the Dunhuang-inspired costumes and hour-long epic fight sequences.

It's a good sign they're holding most of the team together. A lot of great directors, like Christopher Nolan, Tim Burton, David Cronenberg, work with the same creative talent over and over again. There's certainly an argument that you produce better work when you collaborate with people you trust and know well.

2. Up and coming Director Chen Zhoufei will make up some of the deficiencies of TTEOTM in the cinematography and lighting departments.

Chen Zhoufei started out as a cinematographer in films with the likes of Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou. More recently he directed The Forbidden Flower (2023) and Double Tap (2021), which, if nothing else, is beautifully and stylistically shot.

It's interesting they've moved away from the old school Hong Kong directors they used in Immortality and TTEOTM. Directors from the TVB system are known to be more experienced, scrappy, and reliable when it comes to working within budget (which is why they're favored for big xianxia productions), but they've also been criticized for falling behind on technical execution and artistry.

It is as the industry article I shared predicted - Otters Studio is a relatively inexperienced player, but they can quickly close their gaps by bringing new blood to the team.

3. They're bringing a new Art Director, Zheng Chen from Lost You Forever.

This isn't all that surprising given that Luan Hexin, TTEOTM's Art Director, is with Huanyu, Bai Lu's management company. (In fact there was a bit of real life drama when Yu Zheng, Bai Lu's boss, publicly called out TTEOTM's producer for not refuting false rumors that Bai Lu was only cast because the production wanted Luan Hexin, arguably Huanyu's biggest asset, as part of her "dowry".) Now it's sad to see award-winning Luan go, but he is best for authentic period sets and IMO not the most suited for xianxias.

Instead, they've tapped Zheng Chen, who most recently worked on Lost You Forever, which I have yet to watch. With that said, some of the sets look great to me, with bold use of colors, and I can already see this pairing well with Chen Zhoufei's aesthetics.

4. This time they're not working with screenwriter He Fang, instead going with Lin Conghe (unofficial)

He Fang is the lead screenwriter behind TTEOTM and Immortality (everyone who's read Immortality's screenplay will know it's all but a guaranteed hit) and in my opinion one of Otter's greatest assets. She's brilliant at staying loyal to the spiritual core of source novels, while weaving convoluted plot points through a more robust background story and logic.

It's a slight disappointment that she won't be back, but it's also not entirely surprising. TTEOTM and Immortality are both big, female-oriented fantasy romance IPs. Meanwhile Shui Long Yin's IP is quite dated, lesser known, and incomplete, so I'd expect that the drama will only be loosely based on the original. While we don't know much about Lin Conghe, he did recently work on the Blood of Youth sequel, where he was the lead screenwriter alongside author Zhou Munan, so he might actually be a better choice for this genre (xuanhuan wuxia).

5. The way HunanTV & Mango announced the drama is unusually high profile, indicating that this is one of the platform's biggest projects.

It's rare to have one of China's biggest hosts announce a new drama that hasn't even started shooting or released any details yet live on prime time TV. (Usually a drama's official announcement comes out on the day of its booting ceremony, if not during its production or at its wrap ceremony.) It's even rarer for a costume drama to announce a TV platform at this stage. These days it's quite difficult for costume fantasies to get a coveted TV airing slot given genre restrictions and additional censorship requirements. Typically you do not find out officially whether it will air on TV until literally right before it airs.

Before the official announcement, rumors have already been circulating that there's a bidding war behind the scenes for this project, with Mango and its parent HunanTV outbidding Youku in the end. Mango/HunanTV is already the market leader in variety shows, but is behind the other three platforms in scripted content. Apparently, they've recently received an injection of funding to shore up their drama department and now investing in tentpole projects that can help them gain share. Clearly they saw what TTEOTM did for Youku.

6. There's another interesting player in the mix: China Mobile and its subsidiary Migu. 

It appears that China Mobile (one of the most valuable companies in China and a state-owned enterprise) has invested in the drama, which will be made available on its online video platforms. Apparently, the last time China Mobile invested in a drama, they sent text messages to every user to publicize it when it aired. Now not sure if this will happen (it's not patriotic drama after all), but they've already been promoting the drama through their gazillion affiliate social media accounts. Either way, it should be a good thing for the drama's distribution to have such an influential backer given Mango's lower daily active user.

7. They're making it super clear that Luo Yunxi is going to be the dominant male lead in this drama

In the first Weibo post, they only announced the title, Luo Yunxi, and the airing platforms. In the second Weibo post, where they announced the rest of the creative team, they still did not announce the other actors! Of course, this is likely because Luo Yunxi's company (which is really just him) bought the source novel's IP and is credited as a co-producer. (They don’t have any production capabilities at all, so Otter will likely be quarterbacking this.)

This suggests, like many who have read the novel already know, that Luo Yunxi will have by far the biggest part. The other roles, including the female lead role, will likely be smaller and revolve around the main character.

8. Shui Long Yin is already generating a lot of hype.

To date its Weibo announcement racked up >1M likes (more than double that of TTEOTM). There's already a very active Douban group debating all the rumors, most importantly whether Luo Yunxi will use a wig or his real hair (a highly divisive topic). The new drama has even been reported by China Daily, China's state media facing the international community, which is again exceedingly rare. China Daily doesn't usually report on entertainment news, and most hit shows don't get mentioned even after airing.

There's always a big risk with productions with this much anticipation so early in the process, from fan wars and disruptive stalking on set to accusations propagated by competitors that can invite more state scrutiny. Fingers crossed that the team knows what they're doing and can weather all the storms that will undoubtedly come its way.

9. Finally, I remain cautiously excited.

Production quality will likely be great, with such a strong creative team and financial backers with deep wallets. My main worry is that it'll be beautiful, but boring. For this genre (xuanhuan wuxia or basically wuxia with high fantasy elements), it's really important that the story moves fast and the underdog hero keeps outsmarting or outfighting everyone else in a way that gives viewers a sense of exhilaration. It'd be all too easy for the story to get bogged down by a large cast of unmemorable characters and a meandering plot. Otters Studio is usually great at delivering fast-paced high drama (just based on TTEOTM and the screenplay of Immortality), but they're working with a different screenwriter this time and it's not easy to be a consistent hit maker. Let's hope they stick to their intuition and continue to present stories and characters that excite viewers.

[1ddotdhq]

👱🏻‍♀️Thurs 12 Nov ‘20🎸

Niall and Ashe’s performance on yesterday’s Late Late Show was, of course, gorgeous! No other songs, unfortunately, but the interview did give Niall a chance to run through all of his RAH talking points again, as well as describing the odd circumstances that had brought him and Ashe together. Ashe said they instantly felt like old friends, and then they compared the situation to a reality dating show, cue awkward chuckling all around. Oddly enough, I almost think they had more chemistry through zoom than they do irl, sigh. Guess it's all right we can’t all meet our online friends: sometimes distance truly does make the heart grow fonder! In what could perhaps be called the end of the HBW era, Niall has changed his twitter layout to pictures of himself during the RAH show. The question now becomes: is this just the end of an era, or the beginning of a new one as well? He's been clear that NH3 won't happen until the circumstances of the world change (change back?) so what would that mean? Anne-Marie, who was working with him earlier this month, said that they wrote three “brilliant” songs in the studio that day (she was like “wow, you’re actually talented” when Niall began showing off his instrumental prowess). Niall + blond female collaborator/promo tour BFF has proved to be a winning formula many times over now, perhaps we can mark time in these uncertain months by how many of these collabs we see from Niall! He is also donating a signed guitar to Wishio (an app that connects celebrities with causes) to raise more money for We Need Crew. I wonder if this guitar will sell for more or less than the $28k Harry's did, do you think, and will this one actually sell to a fan? Whatever it goes for will just be the icing on top of the over ￡2 million the RAH show ended up bringing in for the cause.

Speaking of $28k guitars and the people who signed them, we learned a bit more about H’s project with Gucci: it’s a seven episode mini-series that follows the character of Silvia (presumably Not Harry) through her “eccentric morning routine” in her home in Rome before “the arrival of an unexpected visitor”, who seems to work some kind of magic, and her day becomes a surrealist experience in a Gucci-filled reality. The titles of some of these episodes are “The Theatre”, “In the Cafe” and “The Neighbours”, none of which sound very COVID-friendly to me, but at least there is one called “At Home”. The series, which will be streamed online from the 16th to the 22nd (which, holy shit, that’s next week, how are we not still in July?), and is called “Ouverture of Something That Never Ended”, which would be a stunning alternative title to Fine Line, tbh. It is unclear which exact episodes Harry will appear in, or who will be playing the part of Silvia, but I have created a Gucci account to receive regular updates on this thing (the things I do…) so you will all know when I do! Harry has also been nominated for, uh, EVERY category of J-14′s 2020 Teen Icon Awards, Niall is in almost as many, and Liam and Louis and Zayn are each in one. Gotta say, I think J-14 is a bit obsessed. It’s okay, love, we’ve all been there. 

Abby Roberts, the Spooky Makeup Queen, put up a ‘Day in the Life’ video on YouTube with some fun bloopers and behind the scenes from the LP show, which means we got to relive the moment where Liam admitted that Louis dared him to pull Harry’s pants down, and the Tik Tok live, which broke several times, because it’s not a 1D event without the full array of technical difficulties. Liam continued his celebration of the armed forces today with a one on one golfing outing with ex special forces/current TV personality Jason Carl Fox. The picture is of them standing around, and WHOA Liam’s beard is REALLY growing (uh, pun not intended, but please feel free to take it that way). Is this a picture evidence of a flagrant disregard for the UK’s  lockdown? Uh, it appears to be, yes, but I’m happy to see Liam happy, at any rate. And, in true supportive Liam fashion, Liam sent out an email reminding people that Tom Felton will be doing a Veeps “19 years later” watch-along at 12 PT, ft. Willow, Tom’s dog. Liam asks us, “I’ll be watching along, will you?” 

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Suppose a Kid... 1 | Hortensia Saga 1 | Kumo Desu Ga 1 | 2.43 1 | Cells at Work!! 1 - 2 | Cells at Work: Code Black 1 | Back Arrow 1 - 2 | Praeter 1 | Horimiya 1 | Tomozaki 1 - 2 | Wonder Egg Priority 1 | IChu 1 | Kemono Jihen 1 | YuruCamp 2 1 | Dr Stone: Stone Wars 1 | Sk8 1 | Mushoku Tensei 1 | Design-bu 1 | Wave!! 1 | BSD Wan! 1 | Ex-Arm 1

After much watching...I cut it down to 5 anime and 1 short.

Suppose a Kid��� 1

I am not writing out that full title every time! Anyways, here’s the first “real” debut of winter 2021.

For some reason…this series reminds me of Pokemon. Probably how at the start, Ash tries to get along with Pikachu by doing all sorts of things like what Lloyd is doing here. (<- learnt protag’s name through synopses)

The name “Shouma” rang a bell and I was right – Shouma is voiced by Souma…Saito.

The Japanese title has “monogatari” on the end there…so it probably doesn’t fully translate into the English title.

These orange flecks in Lloyd’s eyes are kinda distracting…

Isn’t Kunlun in China, though…?

If this is just going to be Marie yelling…I don’t see why I should stay. (<- turned volume on for everything so far)

*facepalms* Lloyd is so dense…

That fight scene’s not very good…

…oh great. Selen’s fallen in love with Lloyd already…*sigh*

The missing princess is certainly going to be a plot point later.

Wow, that tiger looks impressive! If only they could’ve done that for the fight scene…

…oh great, Selen is a low-key yandere…

Didn’t Lloyd say he sucked at combat…? Anyways, I’m not keeping this. The designs are colourful and the tiger was good, but it’s meant to be a comedy and it’s not funny.

Hortensia Saga 1

Here for Ume! He’s voicing a guy called Defloitte Danois.

I-Is that CGI? So early on into the anime???

*a dude gets bitten into by the werewolf*…welp, at least this series isn’t afraid of its own gore.

I had a sinking feeling our real protag was Alfred…and I was right, according to the OP.

Huh? The song goes silent for a second near the end…what the heck?

The book appears to use English, albeit English so faintly inked in you can’t quite tell what language it is.

Alfred, governing Albert…? Isn’t that a bit redundant?

I swear all the female voices in this anime are squeaky as all get out…

All these high fantasy anime – or heck, any high fantasy series full stop – ever justify why the country is worth fighting for. It’s why I find war stories pointless and senseless.

You can tell from the voice and short stature “Marius” is Mariel…but she uses boku, which is why Alfred can’t really tell the difference. (Also, he wasn’t privy to the fact Mariel cut her hair.)

This almost smacks of a game tutorial. The CGI is still there…it’s not as bad as other examples I’ve seen, but you can tell it’s CGI when you look at it.

Roy’s kind of pretty, in a generic way.

A close-range archer! Ho, you’re kinda impressive yourself, Roy. (The feeling of a game tutorial has disappeared by this point.)

Hortense…of Hortensia…how confusing.

The scruffy guy you keep seeing with the dark hair is Defloitte. Keep an eye out for him for me, would you?

The ED seems to consist mostly of…anguished pop screams. *cringes slightly*

Anyways, this anime isn’t bad. It’s quite average though and its CGI could easily get worse.

Kumo Desu ga 1

…you know I don’t like 1st person cam, yeah?

…this is just Kumoko (as I’ve heard her being called) yelling so far…plus there’s quite a bit of CGI.

I like how the ED has an English overlay and the style they’ve used for it. The music, though…? Nah.

Wait a second? Millepensee? Shin Itagaki? That would explain the CGI!

“…a spider that just happens to have my memories.” – A butterfly dream, huh?

…well, at least this anime is well aware of the genre space it inhabits. Maybe you could say…it’s an isekai light novel, so what? *groans from the audience*

…well, you didn’t really “bring” your “brother’s” (?) corpse in case of an emergency, now, did you?

…welp, to have guts, you must eat guts. I guess that’s how it goes.

What’s a “skanda”?

This anime’s quite monologue-y (as expected of an LN). I can live with it, but I don’t know if it can carry the entire thing through the season.

…humans? Haven’t seen them almost all episode. What are they up to?

These designs sort of look like SAO’s. They’re not a dealbreaker yet, but they could be down the line…

This ED seems to take cues from Cop Craft’s OP (same studio). It also has some…“Aggretsuko rage”, I guess you could call it.

2.43 1

…Another confusing title, I see. I normally don’t do sports anime, but I’m here for Ume.

*sees the colour of the volleyball* - Basically anything volleyball has to collaborate with volleyball maker Mikasa, doesn’t it?

This anime seems to like putting characters’ thoughts on the screen for dramatic impact. The CGI is sort of visible, but not a dealbreaker.

I’d thought I’d heard of this OP artist before, but it turns out I haven’t.

This series has a nice sense of force. You see those moments where the ball squishes, or when Yuni presses against the wall without thinking? Those.

LOL, way to burn Yuni, Chika…

These transitions are a bit hard to detect. I think I like Akudama’s more overt ones more.

LOL, Dr Popper (sic).

The serves are nothing special. Haikyuu does the same thing from the episode I saw of it. (You know I don’t like Haikyuu, yeah? Dropped it after 1 episode because everything I heard the fans talking about caused me to connect the dots.)

The way Yuni blushes…it’s more than someone usually would, even if it is out of embarrassment. It may just be the entertainment I consume, but I could swear that’s going somewhere in more of a BL manner.

I get the feeling Chika has a bit of Virgo or Taurus in him somewhere. The sort of guy who nags at everyone to do stuff his way is probably like that.

Pocari Sweat (unaltered).

I gave myself dimples by puffing up my cheeks and poking them until they became permanent. I guess you can do the same thing with ambidexterity…?

For some reason, I can detect Chika’s jealousy when he discusses blocks and natural talent.

…wow, this anime is pretty serious for a volleyball anime.

The ED scene where the face is replaced with flowers is pretty creepy. Like Jigokuraku or something.

Cells at Work!! 1

What are these blob creatures you see in the OP, anyway…?

I think I remember reading something that the numbers assigned to the cells aren’t arbitrary – they’re hexadecimal colors, e.g. RBCs get shades of red as their numbers.

D’aww, Platelets warm the heart. They really do.

Platelets have a master…? I thought they were all just lil’ kids.

“What the cell’s going on?!” – Oh, I remember seeing a tweet about this. I love that pun! Kudos to whoever was responsible for that.

LOL, no. 4989 dancing in the background.

Hmm…those nets look like CGI.

…uh, I did not need that shot of the Megakaryocyte’s camel toe…that’s distubring.

Wait, Backward Cap is a she?!

Aw, lookit WBC being a dad. That’s cute.

Backward Cap = Ushiromae-chan.

Is that…a construction worker holding a giant pudding?!

Cells at Work Code Black 1

This anime is called “black” due to black companies. It’s Code Black to avoid being racist, I guess. I’m looking forward to it because it’s undoubtedly going to show a dark side to the main series…

…and there it is, the RBC complaining.

I assume OJT = on the job training.

I knew “pespin” (sic) was a typo. It’s pepsin.

Now that I’ve been working at customer service for two years (give or take COVID), I can see where the senpai RBC is smoothing over the relations.

…that also means I know where to suppress my emotions. I’m not a person who opens up to people easily without getting used to them, so people never see me as suitable for customer service anyway, but it’s the only experience I have so *shrugs*.

…oh gosh. I haven’t seen these words since…the time I was still learning biology.

…*sigh* Rookie RBC is worried about boobs.

The fact Senpai lost his iconic hat…is kinda sad, actually.

“Don’t let his resolve be for nothing.”

Hmm…does the male WBC from the main series wear black fingerless gloves?

I thought I’d heard of this artist before…but turns out I just can’t distinguish really autotuned artists from each other…(lel)

…and stuff goes ka-blam. It’s the spiritual successor to HypMic, even if I wasn’t asking for it. (LOL)

Back Arrow 1

…I heard you said “hot guys”? (Yes, I am predictable as all get out.)

What’s with that episode title…?

Stereotypes, eh? I kind of expected as much from the promo, but where’s the title character…?

…was that yuri fanservice? I can’t quite tell because it was the aftermath of an action scene, but I can see the shippers gearing up in my head.

…after a bit of waiting, there he is. Back Arrow himself. He kind looks like Takuto (Star Driver).

“I’m not trying to hide anything!” – Well, that’s…true.

…*sigh* Why do girls always have more feminine-looking mechs? (Plus this one has boobs…*sighhhhhhhhhhhh*)

So it seems mechs in this anime are the form of one’s conviction and they have skills along those lines, eh? An interesting concept.

…you do realise I abandoned an entire anime based on a joke about lucky underwear? However, this anime is so absurd and just keeps running with the joke that I just can’t say no to it. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from volunteering at a charity store, it’s that when it comes to selling stuff, you can’t say no to a lot of stuff…including selling potentially used underwear, so long as it’s not dirty or stinky.

Whoa! Those things break?!

Why does the title card mention the wall...?

Anyways, I…like it, surprisingly enough. Let’s keep going.

Back Arrow 2

…eh? Didn’t expect inflatable clothing, LOL.

I suspect Shu Bi is scheming something.

What’s the long thing…?

“…tomorrow might not come.” – A good reminder to have in these times of COVID.

Peath = Peace. (Heh. What a stupid name…*thinks about the name “Quattro Bajeena” suddenly* Okay, “Peath” pales in comparison to that.)

What is that creature that circles in the sky…?

I know this is meant to be a serious fight, but…that attacking guy’s hat seriously looks like a bamboo stalk and so I keep seeing it and trying not to laugh.

I only just now realised there’s CGI. CGI these days is getting much better than it used to be.

Tomozaki 1

LOL, Yontendo. It’s clearly Smash Bros + Nintendo Switch and the character designer was also around for Iroduku, so that’s why this style looks familiar.

…lemme guess, since this is a romance, it’s likely NONAME is Aoi. Or some other girl.

I would pay for a romance where it’s the girl building the guy up to be presentable, instead of a girl building other girls up to be presentable a la Ageha 100%.

Didn’t the anime show us Tomozaki reflecting to himself, though…?

“…rules working in combination.” - Well, there’s social norms (e.g. knock before entering a room), laws, contracts, societal standards (e.g. in Japanese society, you bow to others as a greeting or apology)…(continues to blabber on for a bit)

I think Aoi said something like “onitadaku”, but I’m not sure what the joke is there. Oni is in there, sure, but what’s the original phrase she’s playing off?

…LOL, it’s a good time to remind people to wear a mask.

LOL, Krout.

Anyways, this seems decent. I like how it’s going the way I want it to.

Tomozaki 2

“…make sure I’m nearby…” – Okay, that’s just being pushy, Aoi.

Minami and Hinami…so confusing…

*Minami chomps on Natsubayashi’s ear* - …okay, that’s not a thing girls do in real life unless they’re lesbians. This is likely trying to take the fanservice route.

They didn’t even show why the “kiss” was broken up…meaning they were doing it to make potential girl-on-girl look hot. Just great.

*Aoi touches Tomozaki’s butt* - Dude, that’s groping…

I didn’t think we’d get the story on Aoi’s “hexactly” so soon.

…well, that episode just made me feel mildly bitter. I’m dropping it here.

Praeter 1

…aw s***. Only a few seconds in and this looks like a terrible game…

It’s like someone barfed paint across Durarara…

The only time the background buildings look any good are when there’s a fight scene…

These Seals (or whatever those designs are called) seem to act like mini shields. Update: They’re called tattoos.

That transition was a bit fast for my liking…

Seems like the series is mildly peppered with Greek terms.

“To Infinity and Beyond” by…some author I can’t really read the name of.

Suddenly, they throw in more characters…?

Where does Eiji keep those bullet cases of his…? In his jacket?

Having a guy die in the 1st episode is cheap. I mean, we don’t quite care for him yet – it’s too early in the anime for that.

Now there’s Norse terms on top of the Greek ones…

Even more characters? You kidding me?

Lemme guess, Eiji gave up his tattoo because Yamato inspired him and now he’s a goner.

Welp, the weight of the world is in your hands, Yamato. Including that dead dude on your back. (<- sarcastic)

Sk8 1

I’ve been hearing good things about this anime! Let’s go! (<- about a week late to the debut)

That politician is probably relevant…probably someone’s dad, if HypMic taught me anything.

LOL, a beef. They call this stuff “beef”? Where’s the chicken? (<- joke from HypMic)

Haemanthus…apparently a flowering plant from S. Africa.

That’s rare, you don’t see Canadians in anime all that much. I was just thinking as I came home from volunteering how you know British people all have fancy names like William and Australians are Johnno, Danno etc., but Canadians? No clue. Update: Apparently you’d call one Arnold or something just as generic…?

Why are all foreigners in anime half-Japanese with the mother being the Japanese side, anyway?...Because people can make their character speak Japanese while looking foreign. Right. Moving right along.

Ahh…I understand your plight all too well, Reki.

…Hmm. It seems Reki’s surname is written kiya, but read “Kyan”. His name literally translates to “history (calendar/age) of bravery (military might)” Update: Turns out his surname is 3 characters (read “kiyan”, although I’ve never seen that final character ever being read as “n”) and his first name is one, so his first name is just “history (calendar/age)”.

Even I suck at balancing on bikes and stuff (…yeah, I still can’t ride a bike even though I’ve done so many other things in my life) and I know you have to support yourself with one foot on the ground before you do things like trick flips. I may not have observed Tony Hawk all that much, but he was on the periphery of my knowledge.

“What’s your hourly wage?” – Ouch, I feel ya, Langa.

Koko ni netete actually means “Lie down here”, but…okay.

These eyecatches are cute.

That’s a cute fox.

Yikes! 60 mph = approx. 97 km/h!!!

Random umeboshi, LOL.

Aghhhhhhhhhhh! Cherry Blossom’s so pretty~! I love him already!

Thank you, based Bones!

Something that can be enjoyed, even without sound: this is why I enjoy both action and comedy anime!

Okinawa? We’re in Okinawa?

Well, that was cool! I didn’t even ask where the location was until the end. Update: Why is this anime sometimes called Sk8 the Infinity anyway…?

Horimiya 1

Horimiya…I’ve been aware of this series for a while. There’s even a Chinese volume of it at a library close to me, although due to contact tracing I haven’t bothered to check it out.

Oh, I bet Hori is the otaku!

Ooh, Marketing Script!

Because I’ve been behind on the premieres, I’ve seen enough to know this boy with the chain is Miyamura.

…argh! Miyamura is cute! Y’all were right!!! (<- likes blushing bois)

I bet there’s going to be an emergency meeting!

“Sorry, it’s egg time!” – Oh, I’m laughing so hard! So that’s the context behind the Wonder Egg Priority meme!

“…see these?!” – Well, it’s not like you have a tattoo or some-*Miyamura shows his tattoos* Never mind…

Oh, I just realised they even animate the minute movements of the eyes Miyamura does…cool.

Notice how Miyamura is blocked from the other guy due to the window.

Miyamura goes “Ishikawa-kun” but “Hori-san”…hmm. No wonder he’s letting Ishikawa get Hori.

The problem I find with romance series is that they’re generally tied to heteronormativity. Hori is coded with red silhouettes and Miyamura with blue…*sigh* Whatever happened to gender ambiguity?

Good heavens, what is up with this ED?! It looks like Pocoyo! (…Does anyone else know that cartoon…?) Aside from that quibble, this anime is great though.

Mushoku Tensei 1

Apparently this is the grandad of all isekai. Why it took so long for an anime of this…who knows?

…and of course this guy’s a loser virgin. Go figure.

*sighhhhhhhhh* He’s just ogling this woman’s boobs…

…oh, sorry. I was so distracted by the man candy, I didn’t care about Rudy.

I-It’s actually quite refreshing to not have an OP protagonist from the get-go for once. (Or maybe I’ve developed such a disdain for isekai since SAO rolled around that everything here suddenly feels fresh.)

You can see the birthplace of isekai without having watched any of the others right here, it looks like.

“…what’s the point of incantations?” – To make it easier for you to cast spells, I gue-spoke too soon.

…wow, they shamelessly showed off Rudy’s privates. I know he’s still young at this stage, but that reminds me of how I dropped Dragon Ball around the time Goku was shown the same way (which is…very early on, by my own admission).

I believe, based on the name of the spinoff I see in the 7 Seas emails, the magic tutor is called Roxy.

You’re thinking about marriage?! At your (reincarnated) age?!

Oh no! The tree again!

LOL, Rudy’s acting like a kid who’s been in COVID lockdown for a while.

I think what most of the isekai that spun off from here missed is that the loser is job age. Losers at life at job age are relatable and high school geniuses are relatable (albeit sometimes insufferable), but losers who become NEETs for no reason whatsoever and then get banged up by Truck-kun are not.

Anyways, this was good, but a risky kind of good, since it seems like this male gaze will continue to be around as Rudy gets older.

Update: Dropped after learning Rudy was a paedophile in his past life.

Update 2: Apparently the anime toned down this paedophilic tendency of Rudy’s, so...now the verdict is that I move on while I let other people tell me if this is true of the anime or not.

Kemono Jihen 1

“Kemono Jihen” means something like “creature incidents”. I wonder why Funimation didn’t change the name…?

Kabane means “summer wing”.

Kanoko Villa, I’d assume, is named after the deer (the name means “deer’s child”).

My experience with Sho Aimoto (creator of this manga) is reading a bit of Hokenshitsu no Shinigami. (That, by the way, reminds me of Nube, but it’s nothing spectacular.) However, Hokenshitsu no Shinigami has a very detailed artstyle…That’s why I’m pretty shocked Kemono Jihen has such a scratchy one…

Ooh, edamame!

Oh, I see…this is like Furuba or a werewolf story, huh? Rather than a Natsume Yuujincho sort of thing.

…I thought Inugami and Dorotabo had seen everything of each other because of bathing together…I guess not, then.

…is Yataro going to die?

It seems the “immortal demons” are oni, so…why subtitle them as “immortal demons” and not just “demons”?

Ohhhhhhhh…this shite’s good. It seems to have a throwback feeling to it, moreso than even Yashahime or a lot of the sequels I’ve seen recently.

Cells at Work!! 2

I was going to move right along to Wonder Egg Priority because I’m really behind on the debuts right now, but I accidentally opened this up while I was cleaning up so I might as well watch another episode or two before setting it aside.

He’s dead, Jim. (<-joking)

…gosh, these walls look like Hover all over again and that’s from 1995…

LOL, these background cells don’t even have any details. They’re basically stick figures with fat bodies…

I think that phrase that appeared, “Take good care of B Cell!”, may be a pun on Give My Regards to Black Jack (written with similar Japanese, “B Cell wo Yoroshiku!” vs. “Black Jack ni Yoroshiku!”).

LOL, “you sure have the guts”…while they’re in the guts.

The certificate says something about it being presented to someone in the face of bravery, I think (<- just looked at it briefly).

“You have a good head on your shoulders,” says the T cell as WBC struggles with the disguise…stuck on his head.

Wonder Egg Priority 1

I’ve been hearing this series is surreal, but no more surreal than Flip Flappers. So…I don’t know if I’ll like it or not.

What’s this K?(?96…?

There’s a sunflower on her raincoat…so that’s why I saw a post called “You’re the sunflower”. Personally, that just reminds me of Post Malone.

Those Seeno Evils…they’re CGI, aren’t they?

As Boueibu once said (but I may be paraphrasing here), “nothing is more scary than free”.

…to be honest with you, I haven’t had a best friend for at least 2 years now. I only really feel close to people who are like me and who I have sustained contact with over many years, so I end up cutting contact with people after we part ways and never trying to fix it.

I always find it slightly absurd when anime girls get a little pudgy and go, “I’m so fat!” (See, for instance, the Dumbbell series.) Or, in this case, Ai’s going, “I’m so ugly!” when there’s nothing wrong with her. She’s only a bit different from everyone else due to her heterochromia - she doesn't have any physical or mental difficulties.

IChu 1

Here for Ume and, of course, dem bois. Bring it!

I seem to remember one of the magazines called an “Ichu” “an idol egg” (i.e. a fledgling idol)…More egg puns for me, then.

I found him! Ume! He’s Akira Mitsurugi! Update: Turns out that’s Toshiyuki Toyonaga…Oops. (Ume is actually Lucas from I*B.)

Huh? For a second, I imagined Akira with a dubbed voice. Of course, I could only be dreaming, because idol anime normally don’t get dubs, but…it was interesting to think about.

LOL, “Onsta”.

This Akio-type character is popular lately. The sort who’s timid but has an outstanding talent they themselves might not see.

…uh, but Kocho means “Principal”…?

An idol bear?!

Torahiko is crazy…(Note the tigers. Tora = tiger.)

Specifically, that’s black coffee with no sugar.

As much as I want to keep watching this, I’ll hit pause on it here. There’s much better offerings this season.

YuruCamp s2 1

…grandpa’s writing is so…neat.

*glares at CGI car…*

This OP just doesn’t compare to Shiny Days, y’know…?

OOPArts.

Talking pine cones! They’re back!

Curry rice! Literally had some of the Japanese-style stuff the other day. It was great.

All this talk about jobs…I personally don’t like jobs because I like to work at my own pace (hence one reason why I’m working on being a translator), but…money…I’m jealous, girls.

I’m trying not to rely on the subs for those texts that appear on the screen so that I can keep my reading skills up…I kept up with them for the most part…but then I got distracted by the croquette sign at one point…

“…buy you some local food?” – That’s omiyage, normally translated “souvenirs”. “Local food” actually does make more sense in that gap, though.

…man, I’m jealous that the girls all got jobs suitable for their personalities and everything. Lil’ ol’ antisocial me sucks at retail, even after 2 years.

Design-bu 1

LOL, that man and his bunny. Update: That’s Unabara-san.

…geez, these utaite are everywhere now. I’ve seen 96neko, USSS, Eve and more being more central to anime song creation…

Thise characters in the OP seal (<-the stamp, not the animal) are saiyou, meaning “recruited”, or in this case, “accepted”.

OEM = original equipment manufacturer.

Hrm…you can tell it’s a giraffe by description, but…that “base everything on the horse” is interesting as you could count several things as horse derivatives. Also, the angels’ names are all standard Japanese names with natural components to them (Ueda = upright rice field, Shimoda = frost rice field etc).

Is this pink-themed guy…a guy? Or a crossdresser? Update: That’s Kanamori-san.

I like how the suits have little wing-like flaps. Also the wings on Shimoda’s back.

…I never thought an anime episode would make me so concerned about giraffes.

That guy in the green I remember from the Wave x Tendebu (Heaven’s Design Team) collab, his name is Kimura.

Oh, so there is a bird like that!

The random wiggling the chibis do in these short segments…it’s a bit disorienting. (<-Just a small quibble of mine.)

Oh! Galapagos effect!

Agonistic: “polemical; combative.” I thought they meant “antagonistic”.

Oh man, that punch line was great! It took me a while to get into the spirit of it, but this anime is great!

Update: Oh, that’s where those nature names come from! They’re actually meant to be gods! (Or…named after gods…?) Also, Ueda vs. Shimoda (the “shimo” could be the kanji for “below”).

Ex-Arm 1

I’ve heard this anime looks bad…even well before its debut. How bad? Let’s find out.

*stifles laughter* From the first pan, I know this anime is doomed on my list. Even Praeter was better than this!

*stifles laughter again* This OP really does look as bad as the stuff I was seeing prior to winter 2021! Like a game I shouldn’t take out of my archives! (It’s not as bad as Hover’s graphics, but still…that’s from 1995. Cut it some slack.)

That’s the 2nd Kimura this season…

Yugg is just…ugly. Never try to render elaborate eyelashes in CGI again, people.

Dimension High School was better than this because at least that had puzzles. This is even jankier than that!

Wait, why is Akira 3D when his dad is 2D? It’s not that obvious, but I notice these things. Update: That’s not his dad…but close enough. (That’s his brother.)

…and here comes Truck-kun! (LOL)

This would be good…if it weren’t rendered in the jankiest CGI known to man…

Alma’s gun strike doesn’t have a lot of force to it.

The fire is rendered so terribly…*stifles laughter*

This part with a disembodied Akira is what I assume I got up at 6 am for…but I can’t hear it, due to background noise. Remind me to confirm this later. (Minami’s mouth is rendered so terribly…augh.)

No force to any of these recent motions, either.

LOL, this censorship.

Wave 1

Ever since this project was announced, I’ve been watching developments unfold on Anime News Network. I knew it would get an anime or something similar I could follow…and now here I am. I mentioned in the Sk8 comments I have basically zero knowledge of surfing, so…this is very unexpected, in one sense.

Was that a drone…?

“Wizard of the Waifu Board”?! Are you kidding me?! (LOL)

There seem to be shots where I can see the CGI here, but…anything’s better than Ex-Arm. Let’s say that.

Actually…yappe is a derivative of yabai, meaning “cool” or “crap” (in an ironic sense). So it would probably be better to translate it as “Surfing’s the greatest!” or “Surfing’s the coolest!” Anyways, what I was thinking before I was going to say this was that the waves are so enticingly animated, it feels like a summer anime. Basically the only other anime I’ve ever said that for is Grand Blue.

If I’m understanding where Isokichi’s name comes from right, “iso” is the character for seashore or a rocky beach (磯).

LOL, the teacher just wrote “Show must go on.”

Hayama, Kanagawa. Kanagawa’s capital is Yokohama, so it’s not quite Tokyo, but somewhat close.

“Murphy”? I have zero clue what that means.

Oh, I see. The title is translated that way due to context. Now that I can accept.

I just burst out into laughter when I realised Nalu hasn’t dropped or put down his ukulele once.

BSD Wan! 1

Here comes my past to haunt me…aside from me being a fan of BSD, I’m here because I influenced this series. How so? Once upon a time in the now-distant year of 2016, I was a scanlator for a brief period. Most of the work I’ve done hasn’t influenced the world at large, but this is the most influential manga I had a hand in working on.

Oh no! They’re starting with the dog AU?! (That comes from pretty far into the manga, IIRC. Further than my work was on it, at least.)

It’s Rashomon, but Rashoken (that last bit means “dog”). Hence Ruffshomon.

Basically, they just insert dog-related words everywhere…don’t make me explain every one!

Ouch, I can only imagine how much pain it was to translate Inu Shikkaku. Literally, it’s “No Longer a Dog”, but how would anyone make it in line with the other puns…?

I wasn’t fully aware of how the dog AU was connected to the main Wan series because I haven’t really looked at it after I quit due to aggregators, but…that was a nice fakeout. Also, I was concerned as to whether this was going to be a full-length ep or a short…seems like it’s a 10 minute short, so I have more chances of taking it.

…oh gosh, that pose! I remember it! I worked on this one! (Now that I know it’s a TV short, I won’t cover future episodes, but I want to at least finish this one because I started it.)

I think they added a bit there. I remember Kunikida’s and Yosano’s were in the manga, but not the other members or Fukuzawa going “the wind is smiling” + Kenji working on the roof at the start.

Oh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh, I remember Rampo. I think I had to approximate how he would say stuff with Pocky in his mouth, but Slug (current scanlator) went the extra mile and stuck food in his mouth to do the same panel.

It seems to make a short ep., they strung a bunch of the chapters together. Also, I don’t think we ever found out what Yosano’s puddle was and that was…probably for the better.

Oh yeah…I think I remember this one.

Now I remember it! I remember having fun explaining what a youkan was.

Whoa, Higuchi scrapped the SFX! That wasn’t in the original…

The ED seems to be an Atsushi cover of Namae wo Yobu yo.

Oh noooooooooooo! The flower gazing episode! That’s the one I remember most, because I was trying to figure out how to translate 移動 while making it smooth-sounding English…(I remember the final result was something like, “Move! Move~!”

Dr Stone: Stone Wars 1

Final debut! Let’s go~!

The last time this series was on the air was about 1 year ago. I can remember that far back…

I like how that recap is framed as Gen talking to the kids.

Senku overcomes every problem with science.

���not much to comment on here.

[terryblount]

RAGE 2 – Review

What is the secret behind a good sequel? Some of the best examples focus on refining what was poorly implemented in the first instalment, while others just carry on the story and leave the core gameplay largely intact. On the other hand, certain sequels have achieved greatness by making everything bigger or more elaborate, and yet some of my favourites are basically just a graphical upgrade.

While there seems to be no clear or definitive answer, there is actually a common thread between all these different approaches. A good sequel comes from a developer that can objectively ask what their game needs. This may seem like an oversimplification, but all the best sequels in our industry work because they find something new in the familiar. A good sequel has the potential to lift out an I.P.’s residual potential rather than adding, rebooting, beautifying or changing.

That hair style was all the reason I needed.

So this brings us to RAGE 2, a sequel. This collaboration between id Software and Avalance Studios has stayed within the first game’s premise, but the graphics, gunplay and scope of the game have all been overclocked. I can sense an attempt towards continuity from the first game, and yet it feels like RAGE 2 could do without many of the changes that have been added. As an open world game, there is undeniably a solid experience here, but I would have a hard time convincing fans of the original to go out of their way to play this.

Up your asteroid

The first RAGE game was a pretty big deal back in 2010 even if the story hardly brought anything new to the genre. RAGE was released during the ‘Crysis era’ when first-person shooters were at the forefront of graphical experimentation. See, you played Rage to benchmark John Carmack’s fancy new ‘Mega Texture’ tech building the game’s identity from the world around you.

Rage plunged the player into a bleak world filled with mutants and garage bandits fighting for survival in the aftermath of a cataclysmic asteroid strike (rather than a nuclear winter you see often nowadays). RAGE 2 plays out within this same setting, but takes place 30 years later in a civilisation that has risen from the ashes and is no longer trying to get by on scraps of resources.

Meet the leader of The Authority.

Players thus enter a world in which the Arks, or satellites preserving life on earth, have been reactivated and a new world is beginning to emerge. Unfortunately, a formidable faction seen in the first game, named The Authority, has proclaimed themselves the leaders of this new Earth. Rather than earn their leadership, they have used a series of bloody wars to obliterate anyone standing between them and their authoritarian regime.

The only opposition that once proved a match for The Authority are a division of technologically-enhanced mercenaries called rangers. You play as either a male or female version of the last, surviving ranger named Walker (I can neither confirm nor deny if this is some kind of Chuck Norris reference). The campaign is subsequently centred on Walker’s exploits of starting a contingency plan against The Authority named operation Dagger. You do this by shooting, blowing up, eradicating and driving over anything they deem even mildly important.

Choose wisely. The game kills off the character you don’t choose shortly after this.

What’s my age again?

Sounds kind of familiar right? Well, Avalanche Studios are the developers of the Just Cause series, and they have fallen back on their tried and trusted template of toppling a South-American dictator here. Yet, this is also the problem since RAGE 2 plunges into the trap that I see many open-world games fall into. Namely, the rather poorly-told story just ends up fading into the background.

Now many might say “Hold up, the Just Cause games are about blowing stuff up, not a moving, deep story!” True, but remember that the post-apocalyptic and open-world genres are hopelessly oversaturated markets right now. Seeing as RAGE’s story was somewhat underdeveloped, this would have been the perfect opportunity for RAGE 2 to make me care about its plot and characters some more.

These arks are scattered all over the Wasteland. They unlock powers for Walker’s ranger armour.

Instead, you have to grind your way to a farcical and irrelevant main villain via a series of noticeably repetitive tasks. Let me be clear that these tasks are fun, but the fun only lasts for small doses at a time. Playing RAGE 2 gets monotonous too quick for comfort because every play through eventually began to feel like I was working my way down a checklist. Killed all those mutants? Check. Destroyed this big sentry turret? Check. Cleared the outpost of bandits? Check… why am I doing all this again?

This is a problem I see all the time in the abundance of open world types filling up my backlog. A character would yak-yak-yak away telling me so-and-so has their such-and-such and the solution is to go to point x and kill every last y. I don’t care about such-and-such because I don’t know them, and don’t bother yacking my ear off because I know how the mission is going to go anyway. This feels too similar to what I have been doing for the last 2 hours, and it is a design philosophy in open world games that needs to evolve.

Smash that asteroid

So you will probably forget the story, but does the gameplay redeem RAGE 2? Well, sort of. RAGE 2’s gameplay ends up feeling like a weird hybrid of genres. It is like 2016’s DOOM hardware, but running on Far Cry’s software. This means that Bethesda has recycled the explosive, momentum-based mechanics they had virtually perfected in 2016, and revived it in a lush, open world this time.

That is the actual shock wave from my shotgun.

What do you actually do in RAGE 2? You shoot the crap out of things, so that you can collect things, so that you can upgrade things, which is interspersed with the occasional race through the wasteland. It is really that simple because the aim of the game is not to find missions. The player’s task is using an arsenal of weapons and traversal abilities in order to turn themselves into a killing juggernaut.

RAGE 2 absolutely nails this part because the combat truly goes out of its way to make the player feel dangerous. It is every bit as gloriously violent as DOOM, except demons have been replaced with split-lipped mutants and punks who look like they are attending a Rammstein concert. There are also show-downs with big bosses who were deadly head-on, but fell quickly once I used Walker’s smooth acrobatics to stay just one step ahead of their sights.

Thank heavens for the dash ability.

The first RAGE had some of the best enemy AI I have ever seen in a video game, and this has been faithfully preserved in its sequel. Enemies dodge and leap out of your gunfire while their companions would sneakily flank you from behind, forcing you to switch to close-range artillery. Virtually all the missions dealing with baddies involved either clearing an outpost/bridge/building claimed by bandits, or, in the case of the mutants, it was a closed-off, darker lairs where Walker could mow them down in droves.

As a side note, I played as the female version because reasons, but this frequently became annoying due to the actress’s voice acting. I would recommend the male Walker because nearly every time she received an injury, she made a moaning sound which I can only describe as somewhere between an orgasm, and giving birth.

In any case, killing enemies gives you various kinds of loot used for the aforementioned upgrading, but once the environment is covered in blood, the player can also explore for additional goodies hidden in cooler boxes and crates. You will know it is loot because they are painted shocking pink. Who the hell was making all this pink paint before the apocalypse!? Far Cry: New Dawn this is your fault.

This brings me to the second issue I took with RAGE 2 because the developers have just gone way over the top with locked content. Worse still, the upgrades have all been arranged in a rather convoluted system of menus and sub-menus that made me exhausted by just looking at them. It is all really just too much since I rarely noticed the upgrades once I unlocked them, and let’s not forget that the first game had a much more subtle emphasis on this aspect of gameplay.

Look at all these upgrades… you don’t need.

Road Rage

Since Half-life 2 introduced drivable vehicles into shooter games, cars were basically just an interesting way of getting over long distance. Again, RAGE was sensitive to this. You could do races which I actually enjoyed as a minor distraction, but the major purpose of the armour-clad dune buggies was to get you through dangerous terrain.

The vehicles serve a much more central role in RAGE 2 as there is a lot more driving and races. I actually had to look both ways before crossing the roads since I was run over more than once, and had to restart from the last checkpoint (lol). However, I still felt most cars to be a little sluggish and unpredictable in their handling.

Some of my vehicular antics.

When cruising through the wasteland to my next objective and taking on convoys with mounted guns, this is less noticeable, thankfully. During the races, it is rage-quit inducing. I found almost no enjoyment in the racing at all since the cars refuse to turn, the handbrake is far too enthusiastic, I occasionally won only for a bug to tell me I placed second, and hitting certain plants made my buggy fly out of the track once. RAGE was much better on this point.

Boy you shur got a purdy mouth

Despite bandits having an unhealthy obsession with the colour pink, RAGE 2 is graphically quite varied. As mentioned, the arks have been terraforming the Earth again which means that forests and wetlands have begun to emerge in certain parts of the wasteland. This makes for a nice distinction between the missions when the same vegetation and rocks begin to test your patience.

Bandits love blocking the roads and attacking anyone caught in the blockade.

This game is also more expansive and more vertical than the claustrophobic canyons or corridors of the first one. There was the occasional, jarring pop-in while driving across the landscape at high speed, but the mountains did a reasonable job of hiding such things in the distance. The slow but steady day-night cycle produced some gorgeous sunsets, and I never felt that the wide variety of textures in the landscapes ever repeated themselves. Avalanche is really good at this stuff.

During combat, the game is more than capable of handling large variety of explosions and particle effects when the action intensifies. This is particularly noticeable when you use the nanotech abilities within the ranger armour. These are movement-based attacks which allow for devastating damage on the punks and muties, and they feel glorious within the physics system built into RAGE 2’s engine. I suppose I do not have to explain what everyone’s favourite, Shatter, does…

Even the sunsets are pink! Pretty though…

Dammit Bethesda

I get that everyone’s favourite target of internet hate is the Epic Store at the moment, but Oh My Gosh the Bethesda client is utter trash. It happened to be the platform on which my review copy arrived, and I instantly remembered why I have been avoiding their stupid software until now. I felt as if I fought with it to play this game.

I urge everyone to purchase RAGE 2 on Steam instead. Virtually every button on the client basically opens up a web page, you have to log in with your password every time, I could not find any option to save screen shots, installation of the game randomly restarted, there are only a handful of games, and my download speed was embarrassingly slow. My experience may represent no reflection on yours, but it is high time we start putting some pressure on Bethesda to get with the program.

That is the question

This conclusion puts me in a difficult situation. If you enjoyed the first game and you are looking to have a repeat performance of that experience, I am afraid that RAGE 2 will leave you disappointed. I actually played RAGE in preparation for this review and I have realised they are almost nothing alike. They share ideas but not experiences, which make me wonder if the title was trying to bait fans by using nostalgia. This feels more like some sort of a standalone expansion to DOOM.

The environments in RAGE 2 feel incredibly alive. Bandits are constantly racing past you and having little skirmishes on the roads.

However, if this is what you are looking for, or your appetite for open world games is somehow not yet slaked, you are going to love this game. The action is refined and intense, the world is big and begging to be explored, and there are tonnes of unlockables to refine your playing style. Matter of fact, you would have to be a cantankerous old fart who’s daily highlight is chasing children off your lawn not to find anything you like here.

Let me therefore emphasise, again, that the problem is how long this fun will last for. After playing for about 5 hours, my map was chockfull of question marks, arks to explore, bandit camps, and so on. One part of me was saying “seriously, do I have to do all that? I just cleared out a hundred hideouts!” The other part was hopping up onto a garage roof, charging up Shatter, and turning some blue-headed sucker into a cranberry smoothie. I like that part of me.

Decent graphics

Combat (DAMN!)

Story

Selection of guns

Interesting environments

Racing

Overemphasis on unlocking

Lackluster story telling

Too far from first game

Boring NPC’s

          Play time: About 20 hours total. Combination of both missions relating to main story line with a substantial amount of side questing.

Computer Specs: Windows 10 64-bit computer using Nvidia GTX 1070, i5 4690K CPU, 16GB RAM

RAGE 2 – Review published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

[stellacarriersgifts]

Magazines and Periodicals Released by Tuesday 10 am  July 18, 2017 by Stella Carrier

To all curious in viewing this online list; The Following Are a List of Magazines That I am Going to Donate Within the Next 10 hours or less of this posting. I have documented the names of the magazines, periodicals, and some of the written captions with them in order to help study my own reading, educational, scholarly, and magazine browsing habits. I have wrote down some of the writings that I had seen in the magazines in case I may want to go back and refer to them online  for educational, personal, andor informative reasons in the future.

  Magazines and Periodicals Released by Tuesday 10 am  July 18, 2017 by Stella Carrier-time dropped off for donation to be updated in my googleplus, tumblr, and wordpress blogs.

Madonna The Official 2015 Calendar

Woman’s World November 7, 2016 issue Dr. Oz’s Metabolism Boosting Detox Diet Soup

Town & Country November 2015 Katherine Waterston Playing The Original Apple of Steve Job’s Eye

Runner’s World September 2016 Best Tips Ever Train Smarter, Stay Motivated Race Faster & Other Secrets of the Olympians Delicious Super-Healthy Meal Plans From Foodie Marathoner Shalane Flanagan

Ok Magazine May 2, 2016 issue #18 Britney I’m Lucky To Be Alive Her New $35 Million Vegas Contract

Robb Report Host’s Guide The Grand Pour All-Around The World Taste of Lavish Bottlings & Batches

Raise Your Spirits Our Toast To the Best of the New 2016 Robb Report Host’s Guide

Woman’s World August 29, 2016 Walk of 103 Pounds You Can Drop 8 LBS a week, At 230 lbs, she could only walk 10 minutes now she’s slim and healthy Brighten Your Week With Oreo Sunflower Cupcakes

Vanity Fair February 2017 Dive In! The Water’s Fine Chris Pratt The Millionaire Family Feud Roiling Venice by Milton Esterow, The Queen’s Favorite Bookshop Turns 80 by Francis Wheen

Entertainment Weekly November 4, 2016 The Walking Dead Shocker Dead Glenn Talking Steven Yeun Shares The Inside Story of His Character’s Brutal Death, Scoop On Fantastic Beasts, Rogue One, La La Land & More The 10 Movies You Need To See Before The End of the Year

People Magazine January 23, 2017 How I Lost 42 LBS! Oprah’s Emotional Interview Plus 11 Women Who Lost Half Their Size (And Kept It Off)

July/August 2015 magazine issue of Modern Luxury DC MODERNLUXURY.COM  THE RESTAURANT ISSUE The 50 Finest BEST NEW EATERIES, OVER THE TOP DINING EXPERIENCES, MIXOLOGY MAGIC, CHEFS OF THE MOMENT, & MUCH MORE PLUS

The Inn Crowd; Patrick O’Connell’s Reign in Little Washington Take Away; Chic Resto Aesthetics At Home Winning Summer Whites; Fab, Virginia Wine Blends

 Display Until 11/2/2015 Life Story Movie Magic Countdown To… Star Wars The Force Awakens Collector’s Edition Plus Exclusive Interviews & First Looks At Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Trek Beyond, Fantastic Four

November 2016 magazine issue of Robb Report What To Collect Next Expert Insights on the Latest Luxury Investments

November 2016 magazine issue of Washingtonian 2016 Top Doctors The region’s best physicians-chosen by their peers 1,900 Physicians 39 Specialties

Hello International Magazine of the Year Number 1344 September 2014 The Wedding of Brad And Angelina Inside The ��Emotional Ceremony At Their French Chateau

November 2014 Outside Magazine The New Dream Jobs 8 Step Plan Get Paid To Do What You Love

The Secret Science of Fear, How To Thrive When Things Get Scary

Official Vistor’s Guide Extraordinary Alexandria 2016 Edition VisitAlexandriaVA.com

The Clarice 2016-2017 Calendar Tickets On Sale Now Building The Future of the Arts THECLARICE.UMD.EDU

Virginia Beach Vacation Guide 2014 VisitVirginiaBeach.com

Virginia Free Official State Transportation Map 2014-2016 Virginia Department of Forest Turns 100 Virginia is For Lovers slogan

2014 Vistor’s Guide Chesapeake Virginia www.visitchesapeake.com toll free-(888)889-5551

GIANTFOOD.COM  April/May 2017 Savory Fresh Fast and Easy Sunny Food 50 Recipes For Picnics, Parties, and More

August 31, 2015 Star Magazine 30 Hottest Beach Bodies! Britney Spears, Kylie Jenner Plus Hollywood’s

Best-Kept Diet Secret SlimFast

#532 April 2015 madmagazine.com Mad Magazine Lego House of Cards, A Sneak Peek At the New Star Wars

May 2015 Washington Life magazine Power Couple Chris and Kathleen Matthews The 10th Annual Power 100 Washington’s Most Influential My Washington; Thievery Corporation’s Eric Hilton, Sports; D.C. United’s  Chris Pontius and Steve Birnbaum Power Dining Spots Ruth’s Chris Turns 50 & Parties, Parties, Parties,

October 27, 2014 Life & Style Christina at 150 pounds How I Lost 40 LBS-IN 8 WEEKS LIFEANDSTYLEMAG.COM

May 2015 Philanthropy Issue Town & Country Bill Clinton; He Wheels, He Deals, He Makes A Big Difference Salma Hayek Golden Heart Brass Knuckles

Display Until January 5, 2015 Forbes.com October 20, 2014 The Forbes 400-The Richest People In America The Definitive Ranking of the Richest People in America Special Edition Self-Made or Silver Spoon Exclusive New Scorecard Revenge of the Nerd Jerry Yang and the Untold Story Behind the Alibaba Jackpot Plus Steve Ballmer on the Rebound, Victoria’s Other Secret, Who Poisoned the Orkin Fortune, The 21st Century Power Broker, America’s Most Generous Givers

April 2017 magazine issue of Washingtonian Washington Real Estate Right Now 40 Locals to Watch-All Under 40 Years Old Where To Buy, What To Look For, When to Sell, What’s Next

 September 2015 Ebony magazine Black Model Moment 4 Killer Style Trends For Men A Johnson Publication Ebony.com

Please Display Until March 27, 2017 Consumer Reports New Car Buying Guide Spring 2017 CR.ORG Most Reliable Models, New Car Buying Guide Spring 2017 Your Dream Car Inside

Display Until May 23, 2016 Volume  173 Number 4 Fortune The Best 100 Companies To Work For Everything You Need To Know To Land Your Dream Gig pg. 141, March 15, 2016 Fortune.com

T&C 50 Families of The Year November 2016 Town & Country magazine American Dream Girl Dakota Fanning Blows The Fantasy Wide Open Putin’s Royal Murder Mystery

Sept 18/25 2015 #1381/1382 Fall TV Preview Entertainment All the Buzz on 115 Shows EW.com Empire, American Horror Story Hotel, Grandfathered, Best Time Ever, The Flash, Supergirl, The Walking Dead, Scandal, The Muppets, Ash vs. Evil Dead

FORBES.COM OCTOBER 19, 2015 Forbes magazine issue The Forbes 400 Money + Politics Who the Billionaires Are Backing quote of Money is Power At its Most Liquid attributed to Mason Cooley, Cooley quote written on the spine of this magazine issue

Ackman’s Holy War on Herbalife by Roger Parloff FORTUNE.COM magazine issue; September 15, 2015 Fortune 50 Most Powerful Women Including 27 CEOs Who Run Companies Worth A Collective $1 Trillion page 90 Plus From Secretary to Hollywood Studio Boss page 80, How Google Became the Talent Factory For Female Execs page 110

Forbes.com/March 23, 2015 Forbes magazine issue suggestion to display until May 10, 2015 quote on spine of the Forbes magazine issue “I’ve Been Rich and I’ve Been Poor. Rich is Better” by Sophie Tucker Special Issue; Meet the Richest People on the Planet 2015 Edition 29th Annual Almanac of Wealth, Videogame God Markus Notch Persson Minecraft’s $2.5 Billion Mastermind, The 2015 Billionaire’s Issue 1,826 Billionaires, 290 Newcomers, 68 Countries, 197 Women, 536 Americans, 46 Under 40, $7.1 Trillion Net Worth

August 2016 LAMAG.COM 93 Things You’ll Love Los Angeles Best of LA Faith In the City of Angels A Photo Portfolio page 96

November 2015 magazine issue of Glamour Magazine Sandra Bullock +45 Rule Breakers & Role Models from Michelle Obama to Serena Williams Give You Life Advice

November 2015 magazine issue of Washingtonian Great Places To Work;) 50 Employers With Generous Pay And Perks-And Very Happy Workers, Washington’s Most Powerful Women, How Donald Trump Took Over Virginia’s Biggest Winery, Our Definitive Steakhouse Guide

March 2014 The Official Magazine Britain Travel Culture Heritage Style www.britain-magazine.com Castles Around the Cotswolds Bringing the past to life, Magical Cornwall Smugglers, Adventure, and Romance

Consumer Reports CR New Cars, Top-Scoring Luxury Sports Sedans April 2017 listed as a suggestion to display until April 24, 2017 Ratings on 248 Models, I love my car Exclusive Owner Satisfaction Stories

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Summer 2015 issue of The Public Relations Strategist Strategic Collaboration PRSA Public Relations Society of America

May/June 2015 magazine issue of Robb Report Home & Style Luxury Residences and Fine Design

October 2014 Magazine issue of Washingtonian Great Home Design Inside Six Beautiful Houses Plus 115 Inspiring Architects, Designers, and Stores The Silver Line; A User’s Guide p. 56, Dress Like Claire Underwood p. 95

August 8, 2016 magazine issue of For Women First Olivia Newton-John Reveals The Tips That Keep Her Looking & Feeling Great At 67

June/July 2016 Town & Country magazine Family Philanthropy Issue 50 Names That Will Restore Your Faith in America’s Future, Matt Damon: Hollywood’s Golden Boy Gets Dirty For A Cause, Life Inside A Trump Building, Homeless Billionaire Builds Dreamhouse

Winter 2015 The Public Relations Strategist PRSA Public Relations Society of America PRSA Power Up In the New Year