#BUT WE DID NOT NEED TO SACRIFICE ALL THOSE OTHER PLOT BEATS OR CHARACTER MOMENTS

[luckycheesefoodie321]

Inspired move to use “Imagination” as the end credits song for the final ep of To the Top

Bringing us right back to season 1 and hyping up the match everyone had been waiting for: Cats vs Crows.

(Then cut to another 4 year gap bc of covid AND the announcement they would turn the final arcs into two movies not a show T_T)

[spitblaze]

I haven't played Y6 for myself yet, but I'm a very nosy person, so I need to ask you what exactly happened in the game /lh

uuuugh okay im gonna put the thing that fucked it for me under spoilers

so at the beginning of the game Haruka runs away from home to do. something. she has a kid. and gets hit by a car. shes out cold in the hospital for like 99% of the game. bad start already, yakuza will never beat the misogyny allegations. The game is also EASILY the most racist the series has ever been since yakuza 2 and if you've played yakuza 2 that should ring some fuckin alarm bells

if it doesnt: yakuza 2 had a crooked cop who turned out to be a good guy actually. because he shot every korean he ever saw on sight and it turned out that every single one of them belonged to a secret evil mafia. every. single. korean. in one of the busiest districts of tokyo. you cant fucking make this up

anyway despite all that Yakuza 6's plot is pretty dang solid right up until the end of the final boss. The game was intended to be a send-off for Kiryu, his story was over, and someone else (Ichiban!) would take the reins. It wasn't, like, perfect, none of the characters you'd really WANT to see for a 'Kiryu Dies' ending were there, even though I love the Hirose clan. But still, if it had stopped there and Kiryu died, Yakuza 6 would still be a solid like...7-8 out of ten. Mechanically solid if simpler than its predecessors, a nice cohesive plot (5 was a mess. it was such a mess), and an emotionally satisfying resolution.

And then. The after-credits scenes.

So Haruka woke up from her coma only a little bit before the final boss, and we see her having a good time with her kid and the kid's dad, it's sweet, Kiryu is writing something at the desk but we don't get to see it. But in the after-credits scene, we do! It's a reflection on the themes of the story, of the many fathers in the game who took the familial bonds with their children for granted and how that came back to bite them, how patterns they didn't want to see repeated reared their heads because they didn't put in the effort to stop it, didn't think to speak to their children, didn't think to show them love or care, because to them it was a given that parents and children have a bond. Never mind that any bond requires effort to maintain. And Kiryu talks about that in his letter, how he regrets not spending more time together as a family, speaks about how sorry he is for doing the exact same thing that all of those antagonists did.

The entire time this scene is going, it frequently cuts back to Haruka playing with baby Haruto on the other side of the room as he writes. Haruka, the child that Kiryu took in and raised. He's supported her and all of the kids at Morning Glory since 3, gave his everything for them, sent money and kept leaving and disappearing just to keep them safe. And what does Haruka do the moment that Kiryu can no longer be in charge? She does the same thing. She learned it from him. She disappears, runs away from her responsibilities to sacrifice herself. She's Kiryu's child through and through, even if she only ever calls him 'ojisan'. It cuts to her while Kiryu talks about family. And failing as a father figure. And how he wanted to be so much more. The fact that Kiryu is writing a letter instead of saying it out loud feels a little odd, but not that weird considering his character. He's emotionally constipated, speaking from the heart is something he just can't do on the spot. Being open with his emotions is one of his big weaknesses, and writing this letter for Haruka, knowing he probably won't come out of this final confrontation alive, is still a meaningful gesture from him.

AND THEN IT TURNS OUT THE LETTER WAS FOR FUCKING DAIGO DOJIMA, A MAN WHO IS LESS THAN TEN YEARS YOUNGER THAN KIRYU, WHO HAS NEVER ONCE CONSIDERED THIS MAN A FATHER FIGURE AND KIRYU HAS NEVER ONCE CONSIDERED A SON. IT'S FOR DAIGO. WHY IS IT FOR DAIGO??? I DON'T KNOW. I DON'T FUCKING KNOW WHY IT'S FOR DAIGO HE DIDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING THE ENTIRE GAME HE WAS JUST SITTING IN PRISON IF KIRYU WANTED TO TELL HIM TO BE DIPLOMATIC WITH THE HIROSHIMA YAKUZA HE COULDVE JUST SAID THAT BUT NO WE GET A LETTER ABOUT HOW KIRYU CONSIDERED THIS GROWN-ASS MAN HIS CHILD??? AND NOT FUCKING HARUKA WHO HES BEEN BUSTING HIS ASS FOR THE ENTIRE GAME???????? WHAT THE FUCK. WHY. WHY WAS IT FOR DAIGO. IVE BEEN BANGING MY HEAD FOR THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS OVER THIS WHY IN GODS NAME DID THEY MAKE THE LETTER FOR DAIGO

God. Okay. That's not even the end of it but that's the part that pissed me off the most. The last part that made me go 'you know what they should've just killed kiryu actually they shouldve put him out of his misery'. is when he gets bribed by a politician to keep his mouth shut about the Plot Boat. And his condition for silence is that he wants to fake his death. And he can never see his family again. So it ends. With Kiryu. Yet again. Running away. From his responsibilities. God. Its so infuriating. Do you see now why the ending retroactively ruined the entire game for me. Do you understand my pain

[dean-winchester-is-a-warrior]

Big Sky Returns and I'm F*cking Livid!!

(And majorly turned on by Badass Beau!!)

Join me below for spoiler talk about Big Sky S3 E 11, Super Foxes.

Can we start with that last Beau/Carla scene?

K, so are we SERIOUSLY going with: Beau's whole fuckin' world fell apart and he checked out of their relationship for a while, and wouldn't open up to her enough about his crippling guilt and grief, so it was ALL HIS fault that she LEFT him when he needed her the most?

"I forgive you for all of that." she says, when SHE is the one who should be grovelling for forgiveness for COMPLETELY disregarding the part of marriage where you're meant to take care of each other!!!

I have never wanted to smack a character in the face more than at that moment. I kinda hate the writers for trying to make this seem like Beau's fault. Also, Jensen's INCREDIBLE acting aside, I wanted to scream when he was like, "I will always love you." Like, goddam dude you deserve SO MUCH BETTER than this BITCH!! Every episode I hate her a little more.

I loved every Beau scene (except the last one with Carla for the above stated reasons, though as I said, he still made me teary with his pain!!)

The badass way he took down the asshole with Avery had me fucking drooling! And then Avery proceeded to taunt and be a complete douch-nozzle to the guy who just saved his fucking life! Like two people have never deserved each other more than Carla and Avery. 😠😠

Then I almost choked when Beau actually mentioned my hometown of Winnipeg!! Holy Fuck!! 😍😍😍 I went back to listen to him say it like 5 times! 😁😆

Loved the interrogation scene, and the way you could see how desperate Beau was to beat the living shit out of Avery. Just do it, my love - DO IT!!

Anyway, loved ALL of Beau.

But I gotta say, I completely hated the entire Jenny and her mom storyline this episode. It felt so weird and random!! Like where tf did this deranged family come from? Like it seemed so out of nowhere and so completely bizarre. Just - SO weird! And the cornhole scene was really weird, and I felt like the dialogue didn't make much sense. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Idk, was it just me?

And I also can't help but feel like the reveal of Buck as the Bleeding Heart killer was a terrible reveal. I feel like it should have been a bigger deal. Feels like it just sort of leaked out of the plot at the end of that one episode. And now that storyline feels like it's dragging.

At this point, I do sort of feel like Beau is the only reason I'm watching and if they end up forcing his character back with fucking CARLA, I'm gonna have to spend the rest of my life writing fix-it fics for Beau.

Not that I'll mind that. Lol!!

Anyway, those are my takeaways. What did you guys think about this episode?

Edit:

I just watched the promo for the next episode and found out that it's the two part season finale?!! Like, wtf?

Only 13 episodes this season? And if they only had three episodes left why even take the winter hiatus? But also, wasn't there more filming recently?

I'm so confused, but also SO sad that we won't get anymore Beau!! 😩😩 Cause I'm pretty sure Jensen isn't coming back next season. Given the promo, and Beau's last speech to Carla, I'm a little terrified he's going to die, maybe sacrifice himself for Emily?! I will riot! 😫😫

Also what was all the show runner's crap about "paying off" Beau and Jenny's tension and chemistry in the "back half of the season"? Like you're gonna get them together in two episodes? I doubt that!!

I'm so torn about the two episodes next week. On one hand, Beau's storyline looks really good, but also I feel like I'm not gonna be happy with how it ends.

Just have to wait and see, I guess!

[pokidragon]

I wrote another rant about the School for Good and Evil, my thoughts on fixing the queer baiting, so ignore if you don’t care bout that

I’ve been thinking about it some more because the movie pissed me off so much and come up with a solution to The School for Good and Evil’s queer baiting problem. Make Agatha or Sophie a boy. Then change absolutely nothing else about the plot - except for the antisemitism in the evil school obviously.

This movie/book is trying the whole progressive “friendship is just as important and powerful as romance!” thing - which is true - they just went about it in a dumb and homophobic/heteronormatice way. Girl power is all we ever see in fiction, why can’t we see a platonic friendship between a boy and a girl that stays platonic forever and is proven to be more powerful than romantic love?

However, gender swapping one of the characters creates new problems like the boy always saving the girl or the boy being drawn to the dark and evil side - but there are solutions to this as well! If the movie is actually well written and displays its themes and characters much better than it did then such tropes aren’t a problem. Additionally, if Sophie is actually seduced by the dark side instead of kinda sorta being manipulated into it then the gender of the character is irrelevant. Or, u could have it that she jumps at the chance to be evil only to realize that isn’t what she really wants and that she is hurting the people she loves - that way her agency is still in tact. No manipulation required, the choice is always hers. That would honestly be a more compelling story and show kids that they will make mistakes in life but it is never too late to change course and make it right. I think the problem with the movie’s portrayal is that it is between these two extremes. If it picked one and went all out it would have worked better thematically.

I personally like the AU that Agatha is a boy. Not only does this allow young boys in the audience to see an incredibly soft and compassionate prince who is fiercely good in comparison to all of the shallow princes in the good school, it also shows them that these are not qualities reserved for girls - and gives them a gay relationship they can look up to! Girls have a number of queer relationships they can look up to but young gay or bi boys rarely see themselves in fiction designed for kids (outside of the parents of side characters). Give me a soft boi prince who is genuinely good for once. One so devoted to his friend that he ignores his own desires just to get her away from the toxic environment that is poisoning her. In this AU, b!Agatha still falls in love with Tedros. He is still jealous of Sophie spending time with him and trying to woo him and this time, the audience’s natural inclination is to think he has feelings for Sophie but no! That’s his best friend! b!Agatha still gets flustered around Tedros and they have all those stupid meet cute moments like they do in the movie. In the end, after Sophie has broken away from evil’s grasp on her own like in the movie, she sacrifices herself for b!Agatha and Agatha’s kiss on the forehead* is what brings her back. They save each other. They cannot defeat this evil alone. Then b!Agatha makes out with Tedros and the two go home. The end. Boom

Power of Friendship accomplished.

No queer baiting.

Accomplish subverting hetero normative and romance beats all tropes.

It is that easy.

You literally don’t need to change anything about the plot.

*a kiss on the lips has very specific narrative inclinations in fiction. There is a reason Maleficent kisses Aurora on the forehead. Cuz it would be weird as fuck for an adult mother figure to kiss an adult child figure on the mouth. A kiss on the mouth is coded as inherently romantic in fiction. If Boy Agatha kissed Girl Sophie on the mouth, not only would people assume it is romantic, people would also start screaming about consent. The only reason this doesn’t happen in the movie (by straight people that is) is because Sophie and Agatha are the same gender.

[itsclydebitches]

Guy who doesn't care for Ozpin here. When Qrow told Ruby she wasn't like Ozpin in Vol 7, I was expecting for there to be a moment where they both realize that was bullshit and sort of learn to empathize with the guy. That never happened. Instead, the open hostility Ozpin's treated with in Vol 8 (as if he hadn't just saved all their asses) left me completely baffled. Then they start talking about how trust is a risk, and it feels like an entire character arc for everyone was skipped there.

I was pretty baffled too, anon. Honestly, the entirety of the “trust is a risk” scene felt unearned, like (as you say) we’d missed a pretty crucial journey across Volumes 6-8. I’m still trying to puzzle out when the group took a risk on trust rather than just… blatantly risking everything on a wild card. Reaching out to Ozpin again would have been a risk. Meeting Ironwood with the truth when he did the same for them would have been a risk. Either one of these situations would have been nicely balanced between, “It feels like a risk because you hurt us before/your methods aren’t ideal” and “But you’re also someone who has done a lot of good for us and has thus earned a second chance/a certain amount of faith.” That would have worked for me in regards to "trust is a risk." But instead, risking trust seems to be applied to Robyn and Hazel, two characters that either the group knew next to nothing about, or knows for certain is an enemy. Neither of those were “trust is a risk” moments, they were just stupid, reckless decisions that never backfired as they were likely to because the plot ensures that things turn out in the group’s favor.

Recently, someone liked an old post of mine about the fireside conversation in Volume 5 and I was reminded of Qrow’s speech about how Salem’s greatest tool is dividing humanity from within. Four volumes later, I’m still shaking my head at the writers’ inability to see that they’ve crafted heroes who are doing exactly that. The group divides themselves from Ozpin. Then they divide themselves from Cordovin. Then Qrow. Then Ironwood. Then the Ace Ops. Then Ren (for a time). How many allies do our heroes need to reject before the show realizes, “Oh, this is what we introduced before. When people are so caught up in their way of doing things and flat our refuse to compromise, they become more concerned with fighting each other than the actual threat: Salem.” I’m not saying all these allies have never made iffy choices that the group was justified in questioning, I’m saying that since Volume 5 our heroes have flat out refused to sacrifice anything in an effort to hold tight to this unity. Why won’t anyone swallow their pride and admit that they treated Ozpin horribly? Why won’t anyone point out that sending Weiss to Atlas is better than starting a war with Argus? Why doesn’t anyone insist that Ruby stop repeating what they perceive as Ozpin’s mistakes? Why isn’t anyone willing to let Ironwood go while they defend Mantle, or suggest ways to buy them all time to finish evacuations? Why do they all wholeheartedly agree that beating the Kingdom's few huntsmen unconscious right before Salem arrives is better than accepting that they betrayed them and facing those consequences? Why does Qrow feel the need to attack Clover rather than just going to Ironwood to (he thinks) straighten things out? Why can't Weiss approach her brother in a compassionate way after her mother specifically asked that of her? Why is Ruby more concerned with preaching about how there are no sides than actually going down and saving people from grimm? Why can’t a single character agree with Ren and admit that they’ve messed things up along the way? At this point, I'm inclined to say "Cheap drama" because throwing in ridiculous airship plans or fights against other teams is easier than writing an entertaining story that also follows the moral code it introduced.

Every time these moments crop up though the fandom is ready with a number of reasons for why this is impossible, with “impossible” being equal to “It would have been hard for the group in some way.” Going to Atlas alone would be hard. Reconnecting with someone you’re mad at would be hard. Leaving Nora in the mansion would be hard. Finding a compromise with Ironwood after he no longer trusts you because of your betrayal would be hard. And my response to that is always, “It should be hard.” They’re our heroes! We expect them to make hard choices and shoulder a difficult burden in the name of protecting others. The show and fandom alike are so concerned with things being as good as they can for the group that they’ve lost sight of the fact that they’re supposed to be better than the average person—yet now, nameless, faceless soldiers (notably in a anti-military arc) end up looking better because they actually did something. The end result of the group’s avoidance of sacrifice is that they’ve spent three volumes dividing everyone around them. They’ve rejected, shouted at, betrayed, abandoned, and attacked every major ally they’ve encountered since leaving Haven and each time my thought is, “This is what Salem wants. This is what helps her get a foothold. Not teams splitting to do separate tasks, Ruby, but your refusal to meet anyone halfway, instead spending all your energy attacking them instead of the genocidal witch. Salem doesn’t need to take out the most elite huntsmen team, or get the Relics out of a vault, or destroy a Kingdom, or get this formidable force to break from within… you did all of that for her. Meanwhile the show, astoundingly, keeps presenting that as not just heroic, but above reproach. Let the group try and make mistakes—a heroism tainted by ignorance and inevitable, human failure—but also call them out on the damage they've done. Let them grow."

And it all started with Ozpin. Not just the snow scene, but all the way back in the Haven house when Yang waltzed in ready to tear him a new one because her absent mother said so. We’ve lost the camaraderie of early RWBY—when the inner circle disagreed but still worked together, when different schools stood side-by-side to defend Beacon, when the group was eager to learn from and assist Oobleck, when an adult arriving to save Ruby’s life was greeted with a smile rather than a charge of spying—and that has severely messed with the messages the show is trying to impart. Now, even a straightforward speech about coming together includes the oblivious note, "But not Ironwood. Don't trust him. Trust me, a random teenager, but one of your world leaders is a lost cause. I haven't been able to unify with the people I disagree with, but you all should. I see no conflict in my expectations here."

We’ve lost that camaraderie, but because RWBY is supposed to be about coming together, we get these incredibly random moments of, “Let’s trust the thief stealing the supplies we need and then keep that as another secret” or “Let’s trust Hazel with the very thing he’s torturing us for,” or “Let’s immediately welcome in the woman who has spent years trying to murder us.” Like sure, go for it, plenty of shows shrug off villainy in the name of second-chances and that's fine provided it's consistent, but in order to achieve consistency you’ve got to trust the people actually working to help you first. Moments like Qrow telling Ruby she’s better than Ozpin not only ruin the dynamic the heroes once had, not only undermine the message the show wants to impart, not only makes the group look like hypocrites without that being a characteristic the story wants to explore… it also ruins the forgiveness for any other character who has done legitimately worse things. Emerald, Hazel, Robyn, and their like would by default have better arcs if Ozpin, Ironwood, Ren, and their like had been treated better.

[lostcauses-noregrets]

Chapter 137: A vow fulfilled and shirtless to the last

He did it.  He finally did it.  After waiting almost five years, Levi finally killed the Beast Titan.  I can hardly believe it *.  It’s taken me a while to gather my thoughts on the chapter and I’m still not sure they’re entirely coherent, but let’s give it ago.

I speculated last month that there was a possibility that Armin would talk to Zeke in paths and convince him to sacrifice himself in order to stop Eren, and that Zeke would allow Levi to kill him, thus stopping the rumbling and enabling Levi to fulfill his vow to Erwin in one neat move.  (I also thought Levi would die in the process, but more that that below.)  This is more or less what happened, but what I didn’t expect was the line of reasoning Armin chose, I thought there would be a lot more angst and harking back to Grisha pleading with Zeke to stop Eren.  I actually really like the way things played out though.  I know that some of us (me included) have been critical of Armin because there’s been precious little evidence of his supposed genius, but perhaps at the end of the day, Armin’s brilliance was to appreciate the significance of simple things, and to understand the importance of a life just lived.  It reminded me of that moment by the ocean where Armin revels in the delights of the present, whereas Eren has already raced ahead to the future, without ever stopping to see or appreciate what is right in front of his nose.  And it also put me in mind of Carla telling Shadis that Eren didn’t need to become great, or to be better than everyone else, that he was great simply because he was born into the world. What a tragedy that Eren never appreciated that.

I also think it’s telling that this is what finally got through to Zeke.  In the chapter 136 podcast we discussed whether Zeke deserved his reputation for 11/10 intelligence, and all three of us agreed that he did not. I know some listeners disagreed with that, but I stand by the argument that while Zeke may have been intelligent, he wasn’t half as clever as he thought he was, and ultimately that was his downfall.  For all Zeke’s logical intelligence, I don’t think he ever really understood people.  Zeke always lacked empathy, which is something Armin has in spades.  He was so wrapped up in his own grand schemes that he never really stopped to consider other people and that’s why ultimately so many of his plans failed to come to fruition.  He underestimated Levi, and he fatally misunderstood Eren.

I’m conflicted here because I can't help feeling that Zeke got a better end than he deserved, but it was also one that was completely in character.  He did finally acknowledge that he had killed too many people to deserve redemption, but at the same time he still couldn't let go of his conviction that his euthanasia plan had been justified. Despite his moment of revelation that it’s the simple things that make life precious, he still couldn’t quite let go of his arrogance, his belief that he alone had the power to decide Eldians’ fate.    

I did think the way Zeke died was brilliantly done.  He always had a bit of a flair for theatrics, which went hand in hand with his high opinion of himself.  For Yams to let him have one last final grand-standing moment, to wax lyrical about the meaning of life, before being unceremoniously cut down by Levi, was just perfect.  The fact that he was shirtless at the time just made it all the more ridiculous.  Zeke Yeager - topless and on brand to the very last.  I hope to god I never have to see those nipples again.

And what of Levi? I honestly never expected that Levi would be able to kill Zeke and live.  It’s the one scenario I was not mentally prepared for.  I always thought that Levi would either die attempting to fulfil his vow, or fail and have to live with the guilt. I know that a lot can happen in the two chapters that are remaining and I suspect we will see more deaths before the end, but I’m starting to think that Levi might survive, and I’m actually…okay with that.  I reblogged a ficlet called Scars, that I wrote in response to an ask, where Levi survived the war and lived on with his scars and his memories, but I never thought there was a possibility that would happen.  Perhaps Levi will get his Morning in the Museum after all, as @momtaku​ dreamed of in her gorgeous fic.  

I know there’s been a lot of speculation about Levi’s expression immediately after he kills Zeke, and what it means.  Some people have interpreted it as sorrow, emptiness, disappointment.  Personally I think it’s a whole mess of overwhelming emotions; sorrow certainly, but also pain, relief and disbelief too. It’s everything all at once and it’s too much to process.  I think that Levi moved so fast that he didn’t have time for conscious thought.  He saw his opportunity and he took it. This time he didn’t hesitate.  Processing those emotions will (hopefully) come later.  I also don’t think that the fact that Zeke effectively offered himself up as a sacrifice cheapens the fulfilment of Levi’s vow in any way.  We already know that Levi could beat Zeke in a straight fight, he did that several times.  What matters is that by killing him, Levi was able to fulfil his vow, and perhaps more importantly, stop the rumbling, thus honouring his promise to Erwin and proving that his fallen comrades didn’t die for humanity in vain.

So yeah, thems my thoughts. All in all, I enjoyed this chapter and I’m cautiously optimistic for an ending that reminds us that there is beauty in the world as well as cruelty.

* There is an annoying little voice at the back of my mind whispering “maybe Zeke isn’t actually dead…” and, with Isayama, there is always that possibility. However with only two chapters left, I don’t think there’s time for another convoluted plot twist.  Also the lovingly detailed way that Isayama drew Zeke in this chapter makes me think that this is indeed his swansong.

[gch1995]

I just listened to ShadowStreak read part of the leaked live action CW PPG script, and while it sounds like they’ve fucked up every character worse than ever before, it sounds like they did Professor Utonium’s character the worst injustice again by turning him into a controlling, narcissistic, and shallow stage dad, which is just not who is character was at all in the classic cartoon. 

Professor Utonium had a few OOC of indifferent, neglectful, or ridiculously stupid bad parenting in the classic cartoon here and there in some episodes, such as “Daylight Savings,” “Moral Decay,” “Coupe’detat,” and “Keen on Keane.” He could be misguided and naive at times in episodes like “Mommy Fearest,” “Town ‘n’ Out,” and “Uh Oh, Dynamo,” though he meant well. However, those naive moments and/or OOC instances of bad parenting to fit certain plots were pretty far and few between ones that he would either snap out of at the end of the same episode, and/or they would never referenced or mentioned in following episodes of the series ever again when things went back to normal.

However, in the 2002 prequel movie and in most episodes of the classic cartoon, Professor Utonium was an attentive, caring, doting, kind, and selfless good dad, and a good person, who loved his three little girls dearly. He was proud of them for fact that they chose to risk their lives to save him and their city, and he encouraged them when they didn’t believe in themselves as heroes, but he never forced them to be heroes. That was Blossom’s, Bubbles’, and Buttercup’s choice, not his. Professor Utonium treated the girls as people, rather than products or experiments more than any other adult in the classic series.

In the classic cartoon, Professor Utonium accepted the fact that the girls accidentally got superpowers because he loved them, but he didn’t purposely set out to give them superpowers when he made them. He wasn’t trying to be a celebrity. He just wanted to be a dad, and spread some good in the world.

In the classic cartoon, Professor Utonium gave the girls emotional support when they needed it most of the time. He built a super suit to hang out with them when they kept getting busy saving the day because he wanted to spend more time with them, and because he wanted for them to be able to have their dad to protect them. He had a birthday party for them. He let them have a slumber party with their friends. He did everything to protect them, save them, or rescue them when he saw they were being hurt or in danger in episodes like “Uh Oh, Dynamo,” “Collect Her,” “PowerProf.,” “Knock It Off,” “Nano of the North,” and “Film Flam,” even if it meant he had to risk and/or sacrifice himself to do it at times.

In the classic cartoon, Professor Utonium stressed when the three cakes he was making to surprise his kids for a party had designs that were less than perfect in one episode “Little Miss Interprets.” He encouraged them take time off when they were stressed or wanted to play with their friends when the Mayor called for trivial things in “Superfriends.” He took them on trips and outings with him when he they were free, and he wanted them to be able relax at times in “Uh Oh, Dynamo,” “PowerProf.,” “Roughing it Up,” and “Sun Scream.” He even dressed up once as Bubbles in “The PowerPuff Girls: Best Rainy Day Adventure” for a little bit, even though he was busy with work all day, when she told him that Blossom and Buttercup didn’t want to be her when they were playing PPG on a rainy day inside because he saw how much it upset her. He doted on all three of those girls, and always saw them as his “little angels,” even though they were far from the “perfect little girls.” He generally was pretty reasonably strict when he disciplined them or gave them chores in episodes like “Helter Shelter,” “Beat Your Greens,” and “Twisted Sister.” He wanted for his kids to get a good education and do well in school. He wanted for the girls to be happy and healthy little girls with normal childhoods as much as possible, while also letting them use their superpowers to be heroes on the side.

In the classic cartoon, Professor Utonium was pretty much the antithesis of the stage parent. No episode proved how much he wasn’t really big into the idea of his girls being forced into the limelight than the classic episode “Film Flam.” Professor Utonium actually was pretty uneasy about signing up his little girls to be in a movie with the offer from Bernie Bernstein. He went along with it at first by signing the contract because he saw how much his three kids wanted to do it. However, as soon as he saw Bernie Bernstein yelling at Bubbles and grabbing her jaw harshly for pointing out a lie he was telling, Professor Utonium got pissed off, and went down to the set to save his three little angels. Then, when he found out that Bernie Bernstein was a fraud, trying to scam everyone to rob the bank by making a fake movie about the PPG, Professor Utonium warned his little girls about what was going on by disguising himself to get on the set, and punched the jerk in the face for fucking with his kids to steal money.

This version of Professor Utonium in the CW script seems to see Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup as products to market, to show off to the press, and make money off, rather than genuinely loving them as his children or even seeing them as people at all, which is like Professor Dick Hardy, who he hated for wanting to make artificial superhuman children to mass market to people for crime fighting in the classic episode “Knock It Off.”

I don’t have a huge problem with the girls calling Professor Utonium dad, but one thing about the OG cartoon that made it even more meaningful and sweet was that it was generally a pretty rare occurrence that came up in little moments here and there to remind the audience just how much the girls loved him. Bubbles called Professor Utonium “dad” the first time after he bought her her first gift after she and her sisters were born to thank him. Buttercup called him “Daddy-o” once in the movie when he came to talk to them for the first time as a parent in the movie about being careful not to use their superpowers in public. They all referred to him as “dad” when Major Glory asked them about who did everything around the house in “Members Only.” Bubbles called Professor Utonium “dad” when she, Blossom, and Buttercup were all convinced that he wanted to get rid of them in “Little Miss Interprets,” and wanted to change his mind.

Also, it really creeped me out that all three girls in the CW pilot script were discussing their dad’s sex life in detail in the classic

It’s just, why do we live in an age in which parents always have to be portrayed as bad, especially because, generally speaking, that’s not the kind of parent Professor Utonium was to Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup in the classic cartoon. In fact, no adult in the classic series wanted for the girls to have the chance to live full happy, healthy, and normal childhoods more than Professor Utonium, sometimes to the point of overdoing it a bit in his desperation to keep them safe by overprotecting them, though he did learn to ease up and give them the freedom to fight crime without trying to coddle them. He was not a controlling stage parent, who forced his three kids to be heroes and to be in the limelight at all.

[shihalyfie]

02′s themes in relation to its finale

By “finale” I don’t mean “epilogue”, but rather the final battle and confrontation that make up 02 episodes 48-50. Generally speaking, 02 is a series that is much less about progression of plot events as much as it’s about theme and message, and my feeling is that this becomes increasingly so the deeper you get into its second half and approach its ending. Narratively speaking, we need a big, bad enemy to beat up in a fight, but if we shift our perspective a bit, what does this finale say as a close to 02′s themes and concepts?

The thin boundary between good and evil

Our major enemy for the first half of the series was the Digimon Kaiser, who was later established to be the very naturally kind Ichijouji Ken -- which is a pretty massive swerve, considering that most series with “reformed villains” would usually make them a bit of an edgelord who happens to be a little nicer. But instead, the series goes very deep into the psyche of what could make such a kind child be tipped over the edge, and, even though it’s all revealed to be accelerated by supernatural interference, it’s made very clear that his own trauma and insecurity was most of what did it.

So, anyway, it’s revealed in the end that the “final mastermind” behind it all was none other than Vamdemon, an effective midboss from Adventure. Vamdemon’s popularity aside, this initially seems like a very strange choice. But looking at some statements about 02′s initial planning is somewhat revealing: the original planned concept for the final boss was a Digimon that would ultimately be reduced to only “an idea” (and was rejected on the grounds of being too gory for the Sunday morning kids’ timeslot). When you think about this original concept of “a Digimon that had been reduced to only an idea,” that explains the initially odd-seeming combo of defeating a Digimon with the combined power of idealistic positivity, because it’s a plot point that would certainly make more sense if said Digimon had been reduced to a spirit of malice.

However, the interesting part about this is that the replacement for this original final boss was not Vamdemon but Oikawa and his lackeys, which means that, substantially, the real “final enemy” of this story is actually Oikawa, and the ideological questions he poses for the Chosen Children and those around them. Vamdemon may be the “mastermind” from a plot perspective, but, ironically, his important role is actually to define Oikawa’s narrative -- and, as if to drive this in further, he’s not even voiced by his original voice actor from Adventure (Ohtomo Ryuuzaburou), but Oikawa’s own, Morikawa Toshiyuki (and this voice change is actually pointed out in the series proper, too).

So why Vamdemon and not just a random spirit of malice? Well...

Vamdemon’s presence specifically establishes the precise moment in time Oikawa lost complete control of himself -- and, more widely, establishes the connection between himself as a “Chosen Child who could never become one”. Prior to this episode, we knew that Hida Hiroki’s death and their shared childhood had some relevance to Oikawa’s downfall, but the August 3 “Odaiba fog” incident in 1999 is the exact moment where everything could completely crash down in front of Oikawa’s eyes, with Hida Hiroki having just died, and Oikawa personally witnessing Digimon, the Digital World, and the Chosen Children (and boy, the way this scene is framed with him right next to the waterfront, you might even wonder what he might have done with himself had Vamdemon not interfered...). The Digital World didn’t have a huge amount of contact with the world before then -- in fact, Oikawa not being able to make much contact is a huge part of his character arc -- which basically leaves this as one of the only moments you can have this exact moment of Oikawa being ready to go over the deep end in this way. All of his regrets, of never being able to make proper contact with the Digital World, of Hiroki having died and left him alone, are ready for him in this exact moment -- as his own lackey Archnemon had said earlier, “human weaknesses are easy to manipulate.”

Moreover, of all of the “entities of malice” that made up Adventure’s villains, Vamdemon’s the only one who brought it all the way over to the real world (where the majority of 02′s conflict is set). This brief moment of contact with the real world was established in 02 episode 14 to be the defining moment of “contact” that would lead to Daisuke and Iori becoming Chosen Children. Particularly in the case of Iori, you can see the parallel -- Hiroki’s death and the resulting incident here would shape Iori’s strive to become a model citizen and a hero as a Chosen Child, whereas the exact same incidents shaped Oikawa’s descent into villainy.

Oikawa’s “sacrifice” in the end is not really a sacrifice in terms of sacrificing his life -- it’s said outright that his body is deteriorating, and so he would have died either way. What Oikawa does sacrifice is the ability to take one more step and make proper contact with Pipimon -- it is explicitly stated that he has to use the power of the dream world to grant his wish, meaning that he would never be able to take a proper step into the Digital World as a human, and therefore would never truly be able to have his initial wish granted in the way he originally wanted.

Thus, Oikawa leaves off with one last “regret” -- that, perhaps, if things had been different, he could have been just like the Chosen Children, going on “adventures” like them. But Iori points out right after that he did achieve his dream in some sense -- he got to reunite with the Digital World, and he did get to meet his partner, and so: it’s all about mentality. All of what happened to Oikawa was because of his own closed-in way of seeing himself and his place in the world, instead of being able to move on productively from his perception of what he “could and couldn’t do”.

In the end, Iori, the one who had once been so cold towards the idea of anything remotely associated with evil, is the one to guide him to that answer, and the other Chosen Children, who had previously not been very sympathetic towards him, still grieve over his death because they understand what it means to have a partner, and the sense of loss it would entail to be separated from one. It’s the one commonality they all can understand, and in the end, none of them were really all that different; it was just what they chose to do with what they had.

This is especially because we see extensive flashbacks of Oikawa in 02 episode 47, and his design is that of a completely average adult in 02, nothing like the “look at this instant villain!” design he had during the course of the series. Oikawa was, for all intents and purposes, a completely average person who had dreams that he shared with his friend, dreams that they carried into adulthood -- it took this little to push Oikawa over the edge, and yet the things that did it were the exact same things that, in a different context, Iori took to become a Chosen Child who fought him on the other side.

False happiness and pointless fixations

Tying into Oikawa’s fixation with “regrets” and an unhealthy mentality about his own position, Oikawa blames his inability to go to the Digital World in 02 episode 48 on himself being a “tainted adult”, not recognizing that it’s his own having fallen off the deep end that’s the likely reason he’s being rejected. Oikawa is, effectively, maintaining a fixation on “regrets” and a past he can’t get back; he’s still stuck on the image of his happy childhood playing with Hiroki, and all of the things he “couldn’t do” as a child after having his initial contact with the Digital World cut off. The ending reveals that he had met Pipimon before, and so you can interpret everything he’d done beforehand -- including creating two Digimon that are ultimately his “minions” more than they’re his actual “partners” (and were ultimately ripped away from him by the very same malicious spirit that represents his nihilism) -- as an attempt to reconnect with that partner, even if it resulted in him forgetting his actual purpose.

Beyond that, the Chosen Children themselves are momentarily sidetracked by a “fixation” of sorts --

02 is a series about “accepting things and moving forward”, so each of the illusions presented by BelialVamdemon have to do with a fixation that’s holding each respective kid back:

Takeru’s idea of seeing his family together again might not be completely impossible, but it’s probably not happening anytime soon -- and, as far as 02 episode 17 and 47 showed us, relations are at least improving and everyone else is doing a much better job of actually moving on and accepting the current state of affairs than he is.

Iori’s fixated on the idea of being able to please and be with a father who’s long dead (again, his issue is technically the same one Oikawa’s fixating over).

Hikari’s fixated on a future idea and dream that she wants to see pass, which won’t happen unless she can proactively work towards it now (and the 02 epilogue itself establishes that getting there won’t be all sunshine and roses).

Miyako’s fixated on her surface mood of stress and a desire to escape it, only to be confronted with the fact that it doesn’t actually make her all that happy either.

Ken’s fixated on ideas of “punishment” and “forgiveness” that ultimately won’t get him anywhere.

In the end, the one to avoid it is the most “forward-thinking” of all of them, Daisuke, who’s least likely to get caught up in such fixations. But even he has this to say:

Daisuke understands that not everyone is as simple-minded as him, and that’s not inherently a bad thing -- it’s just that when you need to go forward, you need to go forward (and people who exploit others’ weaknesses against them are still unforgivable jerks). You need to accept that things are the way they are at current, and use the information you get from it to keep moving forward and do something productive with it rather than clinging onto things you can’t have to the point you can’t do anything. Nobody was giving anyone shame for having those internal worries that BelialVamdemon plagued them with -- it’s just that staying in there forever, instead of moving on with important things they had to do, wouldn’t be good for them either.

Hence, that’s what Oikawa actually sacrificed -- he had a choice to use his final moments to spend his remaining short time with his partner that he’d spent so long unconsciously chasing after, but he instead decides to do something to help the Digital World and reverse some of the damage he’d personally caused instead of continuing to fixate on that regret. At the very least, he can continue to be with Pipimon in some other sense, even if it’s not what he originally wanted.

The pressure to be a “perfect person” as imposed by society; the conflict between that and pursuing one’s own happiness

In the last section, I mentioned that Oikawa was the kind of person who fixated on regrets about what he “couldn’t do” during his childhood. You can identify a bit of what was leading up to this in the prior episodes:

We learn in 02 episode 47 that Iori’s grandfather Chikara made the mistake of barring Hiroki and Oikawa from getting too deep into their connection with the Digital World, considering it “nonsense”, which led to the two of them becoming disconnected from it and continuing to wistfully chase after it -- which also led to Oikawa being driven further over the deep end when Hiroki, the only person who understood that, died.

Moreover, Oikawa ended up developing a complex not entirely unlike the Kaiser’s fixation with being a “perfect” person in the first half -- and, just like how he blames his inability to enter the Digital World on being a “tainted adult”, he fails to have the self-awareness that it’s this exact nihilism keeping him out of it, taking even further offense at the idea of him being a “tainted existence” (because of what he’s embracing) and deciding that his reaction needs to be sinking even deeper into it. And while he implants the Dark Seeds into the children with the intent of exploiting their power, he also indicates that he thinks he’s doing them a favor by enabling that ideology of “becoming a perfect person” within them.

Remembering that the final battle in this series is not necessarily about the physical fight as much as it’s about the ideology that Oikawa espoused, in the end, what Oikawa really “implanted” in these kids along with the Dark Seeds was the pressure that they should sacrifice their happiness to be “perfect” people. The Chosen Children reach out to them by asking about their dreams, and the children list off careers that have certainly gotten their parents scorning them for not being “good enough” for them, or gotten them mocked by other people (Hiroshi says that he gave up on his manga artist dreams because people laughed at him for it). In the end, “the pressure to be ambitious” is pressure in itself -- what if what you really want isn’t ambitious as much as it’s something that makes you and others happy (like, for instance, ramen making)? And especially when you’re a child -- shouldn’t this be the time when you enjoy yourself to the fullest?

This is even alluded to in Ken’s Spring 2003 track, in terms of how he and Osamu weren’t able to enjoy their childhood because of that pressure:

You were demanded to grow up fast, weren’t you, Brother? Because we were always being evaluated and compared by someone, we didn’t get a chance to have more freedom. We didn’t have any chances to run down an alley because we felt like it, or pull up weeds, or tumble around… meaningless things, things that didn’t bring any value to us at all. Just like the cat napping on the roof… we weren’t able to fully enjoy any everlasting freedom.

Like Ken and Osamu, the Dark Seed children accepted the Seeds because they decided that it would be better to trade in their happiness in exchange for getting closer to that ideal of “perfection”, only to destroy their own selves in the process. Which is accentuated when acknowledging their own selves is what leads to them meeting their own Digimon partners.

Takeru had said, earlier, that the Digimon will appear if you wish them to -- and given that a Digimon partner is a metaphor for the inner self, it says a lot that the point here is “the key to connecting with your partner is to connect with your actual self”. Like how Ken managed to reunite with Wormmon in 02 episode 23 by accepting everything about himself and resolving to live with it, and how Oikawa will later meet Pipimon after having come to terms with what he was actually looking for the entire time.

And in the end, what we see of Vamdemon isn’t really all that different from the original “reduced to an idea” concept we got from the original 02 final boss concept -- remember that BelialVamdemon has effectively become the incarnation of Oikawa’s own nihilistic ideology; perhaps he took on a lot more than just a voice actor! Actually, the whole sequence in 02 episode 50 with everyone listing off their dreams and destroying BelialVamdemon part by part is relatively similar in substance to the original proposal (the staff must have been really attached to that idea). And, hence, why what destroys him for good is the combined feelings of everyone together, resolving to move forward instead of chasing after meaningless things.

Oikawa ultimately recognizes that what was holding him back was his own mentality -- everyone here, Ken, the Dark Seed children, and Oikawa himself, all thought they were becoming “strong” and “perfect” people by ignoring them, but instead ended up as pawns for others, and all of these people could have found better ways to cope with their problems through embracing themselves and finding support, and would have come closer to those “dreams” while they were at it. Instead, Oikawa exploited others and clung onto shallow symbols because he thought that kind of straightforward idealism was an impossible route for him, and locked himself out of all of it. But in the end, he’s able to do something -- he’s able to use his “dreams” to have the Digital World healed -- and with that, is able to have his last moments in happiness.

Incidentally, back in 02 episode 49, Daisuke had even outright said that there’s no inherent issue in striving for self-improvement (after all, both Adventure and 02 were about people slowly getting past their insecurities and becoming better people). Daisuke himself is a person who’s improved a lot over the course of this series! But that’s something you need to do on your own terms and in a way you’re comfortable with -- not forcing yourself into the mold of an “ideal person” at the expense of losing everything about yourself, like Ken, the Dark Seed children, and Oikawa all did at some point.

[hopeswriting]

I meant to do a post about my thoughts on the Daily Life Arc now that I finished rereading it, but I can't seem to find the time and it's been a while now, and if I keep it up I'll forget what my thoughts are to begin with lol, so here's the long story short:

I know it's a long arc, as in it starts being boring and more or less unbearable past some point, because the "gag of the chapter" format only takes you so far, and not actually very far if Amano's humor doesn't work on you much, if at all. I don't think it's an arc you can reread right away/soon either, lest you feel that one flaw even faster.

And I felt it too, starting with the fourty-something chapters I felt like it was dragging on too much, though to be fair that probably had to do too with the fact I knew things much more interesting were coming after that.

Still, all that said, like, it's an enjoyable arc. Amano's humor happens to work on me, and she does it really well, and I liked reading the arc. There are some chapters where you're really asking yourself why they were written for lol, but even then you read it for the characters, and it somehow keeps you going.

And like, even though I think Amano could have seen the fact the comedy was going to turn repetitive and thus boring at some point, and try to diversify it or something, it's just how comedy/humor/gags works? Some jokes land and some doesn't, but for me at least a lot more of them worked than not.

The DLA is a good enough arc is what I'm saying.

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On than note and on the contrary, of course it's fine if you think it's a bad arc, to each their opinion, but personally I really don't agree it's an unnecessary one.

I'm saying this because apparently it's not uncommon to advice new fans to skip the arc and directly start with the Kokuyo one? (Or so I learned on TV Tropes anyway, this might or might not be still relevent/accurate.)

Now don't get me wrong, the DLA does fail to hook the readers to the story for the reasons stated above, I agree with that, but it literally introduces the main character? And all the other characters, and gets us to know them, and establishes the dynamics between them and why they're the way they are, and, though only in a more or less superficial manner (and more than less) by design of the arc's purpose (not being deep in any way lol), it still gives us an insight into the characters and why they're the way they are. A glimpse into the core of their personality, the "stakes" of their characters, the flaws they have to overcome.

And all that in the context of their daily life, so if you skip it to go directly to the arc that challenges them, you can't appreciate fully how they rise to the challenge, how it shows their growth or reasserts their core values. You can't know how much or what it means, for example, off the top of my head, to have Yamamoto sacrifice his arm to beat Ken, when only a year ago he tried to kill himself over his broken arm. Or Hibari losing against Mukuro, thus telling us how much of a real threat he was. Or Tsuna screaming at Lancia for having hurt his friends, anger on his face, clearly despite himself, that Dame-Tsuna.

All these just wouldn't hit you the same, and it'd be such a shame? I mean I guess the ones who start with the Kokuyo arc go back to read the DLA, or you could compromise like the anime did by splitting the DLA between more serious arcs, but like I said I personally don't find the DLA that bad, so I still wouldn't advice it lol.

Even if, I suppose, it'd mean they might give up on the manga somewhere through the DLA, but like? Some mangas just don't speak to you, and that's fine, and it'd be a little of a shame from my POV as a KHR fan, but still, no big deal.

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I'm still very impressed with how smoothly Amano went from a gag manga to a shonen one, and how she made it so the DLA still fits with the rest. I mean the sudden change in tone/stakes/etc is jarring, sure, but it's all based on stuff she introduced in the DLA, which she presumably came up with with no intention to ever make it something deeper/more meaningful.

It's easy to believe the foreshadowing, and generally speaking the worldbuilding was planned all along, which, again, probably not, and like? Super impressive.

(Though once more don't get me wrong, there are inconsistencies/plot holes in Amano's plotlines and worldbuilding, but not, like, at their seams, if I can say it like that? It's more often in the details, and it's fairly easy to fill in the blanks ourselves.)

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Finally it was a lot of fun to rediscover the characters in a new light, and a bit of a disbelieving surprise tbh.

For context before I started my reread of the manga, all this time I was going with the time I read/watched it years ago plus the times I skimmed it, but mostly by all the fanon I was consuming. And it's not to say fanon is wrong per se, but it latched on one to three character's traits, or slapped an easy character archetype on them easy to "relate" to within, and apparently never looked back lol. And also often dialed up those traits (good or bad) in a very noticeable manner.

What I'm saying is, fanon is, in fact, wrong sometimes zldnslsz, and the characters are much more nuanced even in the DLA! (Which still leaves us at a more or less superficial level, because, you know lol, but still!)

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To name the ones that stood out to me the most:

Nana isn't abused by Iemitsu, nor is she unhappy in her marriage despite Iemitsu being an absent husband (which is not relevent in the context of the DLA, but still, you can tell). She isn't an abusive mother to Tsuna either, and she is literally never an airhead. She literally just isn't, she actually does react very normally to the crazy Reborn brings with him, but much like Yamamoto as long as no one gets hurt (or walks it off), she just brushes it off.

And she has friends she goes listen to piano recitals with, and tries to save on money by eating rests, and gets in two-way arguments with Tsuna, and raises his allowance if he gets better grades to push him to work harder, and all around is just your average mom that really didn't read as just The Mom, if you know what I mean.

She has her flaws, definitely, she's not a great mom, namely is apparently used to call Tsuna Dame-Tsuna, but she's not just that.

She takes care of him, worries over him, and seems to be the only one who hasn't given up on him yet when the story starts. She supports him (though sometimes in a tactless to hurtful way), praises him when he does well, and trusts him to watch over the kids.

She's not that bad is what I'm saying, and 100% redeemable (that is, if you think she needs to be redeemed to begin with, which I actually do think she does, calling Tsuna Dame of all things is just a really shitty thing to do.)

(Though it's interesting to note that she doesn't do it again after what happened with Kyoko iirc, even if she might very well still talk to him in a belittling way at times. I just wish Amano would have commit fully to acknowledge it and resolve it, what with already having made it Kyoko's Dying Will Regret.)

(Edit: I had forgotten but she literally forgets his birthday while preparing someone else's birthday, so I take back that she is 100% redeemable because it's being too nice. But my point still stands.)

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Haru is literally such a fun character, it makes me even more sad now to know what Amano did with her (nothing ansknslq 😭😂).

She's unhinged, has zero impulse control, does not reflect on the consequences of her lack of impulse control as Tsuna points it out, is ready and willing to throw hands at any given moment and is unapologetic of it, and is the one Amano actually calls an airhead.

The only problem she had with the mafia is that she thought Tsuna was forcing it on Reborn, and when she confirmed it was all true she literally didn't even blink at it, and immediately called herself the future Decimo's wife djosdkkd.

On that note she is literally mafia right from her first appearance, is more or less involved in almost all the mafia shenanigans, was right there with Tsuna & Co when they went to destroy the Tomaso's headquarters.

And like?? Amano could just have left it at that if she wasn't going to do anything else/more with it. Haru had so much potential, and not only Amano did nothing with it, she actually watered her down and took away all her distinct character's traits 😭.

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Hibari is so much more feral and playful than his fanon cool, overpowered, quiet badass counterpart. Which I love too, don't get me wrong, but these two sides of him don't have to be exclusive!

He talks and smiles and jokes often, and shows off and casually insults you, and licks the blood away from his lips after having beaten bloody other middle schoolers who dared to defy him (I know this happens in the Kokuyo arc, but it illustrates my point the best).

Not much more to add than that, we should just acknowledge that and put it in our works more often.

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Gokudera is a compelling character from the get go, and as far as the DLA goes, he's the most compelling character second to Tsuna. He's the only one to actually have flashbacks and a backstory. And what stood out to me the most that I don't see often in fanon, is that he's really a good friend.

Yes he has a short fuse and snaps easily and is easy to anger, but he's not always angry. And is seen having and being capable of positive exchanges outside of Tsuna (I'm thinking Yamamoto namely, who's made with Ryohei to be the one he gets angry with the most).

And yes he holds Tsuna on a pedestal and sees him through heavily tinted pink glasses, but even through that he's earnestly a good friend. And tries his best, and is hardworking and overachieving, so much so he messes up without meaning to, but he only ever has honest, straight-forward good intentions behind it all (well, maybe not always lol).

I love him a lot more now is what I'm saying.

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And Tsuna. I'm not sure I'll be able to articulate my thoughts properly, but like... he's just your average teenager. Which of course is his whole thing, and I'm saying it in a very not judgy way whatsoever, but he's often made to be at least a little more than that, namely about his bullying.

Like, it's kind of dramatised in fics? And I'm not going to elaborate on that more because it might come out wrong and I don't want that, but it's just, like—canonically he is just bullied, simple as that. Like many other teenagers are.

And it's all in a "chill" way (for unfortunate lack of a better word, I don't mean to trivialize bullying at all, it's wrong and unfair and never deserved or okay, just so we're clear), and by the time the story starts Tsuna is used to it and has given up fighting against it, and actually finds refuge and a twisted comfort in embracing his Dame-Tsuna's monicker, because at least he's not gonna hit rock bottom deeper than that if he does.

And I'm not actually going anywhere with this, it's just? It hit me how differently canon and fanon portray his bullying.

Back on the note of him being a (below) average teenager, Tsuna is not an uwu pure cinnamon roll too good for this world.

He's literally so quick to judge and criticise, whether in his head or out loud when he knows more the person (namely Haru lol, poor girl), it was actually a bit of a shock tbh lol. He snaps easily, and is lazy, does not want to try even one bit, and is happy to run away from his responsibilities whenever he can.

And not only I'm not saying that in a judgy way this time either, but I'm actually saying it in a good way. He really felt like your average middle schooler, and it was so refreshing to see. That, plus the fact the narrative never holds it against him, let alone punishes him for it even if he's made to grow out of these traits, and it's literally part of his character arc, is kind of unique for the shonen genre (maybe, I'm not exactly a specialist of shonen mangas lol).

And I can see why you'd want to change it in fics, but personally I think it really makes his character's arc even more meaningful.

[fandom-sheep]

Capt. Puffy and BadBoyHalo 25 APR 21

Delayed Liveblogging Red Banquet Part 1/1

I’m not mentally prepared for this

But Eret looks awesome and I’m glad they decided to ride the red armor horse.

We’re nervous too.

Also Fundy casually wearing just plain armor.

I’m dual weilding streams now.

Bads got some good music going.

I’m going to primarily watch Puffy’s POV but I’m also watching Bad because I refuse to miss anything.

Ponk and Ant are there wondering where everyone is. Everyone is watching Eret spin on a horse.

Oh Niki!

Oh Sam!

I love how some went all out and got new skins while others just, threw on some armor.

Oh. Everyone’s finally wandering in.

I’m going to mostly listen to Bad never mind. I feel listening to the most main character ish character would be smart.

Ah water. Sketchy.

This is too hospitable for my liking.

Niki seems impressed.

Everyone claiming to be 6’3” wow.

I’m still in love with the fact that Eret’s and Foolish’s outfits do match those from that one fan art.

Oh look at Fundy all dressed up.

I look away for one second and Sam is in a cauldron.

There is too much funny stuff happening for lore.

Finally making there way to the dance floor. Nice.

Bad’s end is so far behind where I am watching Puffys.

Forget it. I’ll watch Puffy’s uneless something interesting happens.

Everything does look nice.

Foolish. Please don’t make this too cursed. Please.

Thick Cider. Mhm.

*noises of disappointment in cursed lore*

Has no one met Fundy? They are surprised he robbed the outfit.

Eret so proud of her dress.

Oh wait George is here for the Lore and he is on time. Impressive.

Sam isn’t wearing pants... that is a good point. Oh off he goes.

This is just a series of insulting each other in fancy outfits. There is no lore. Only mild chaos.

Are we having a maid bit? Yep we are having a cat maid hbomb bit.

We’re just sitting her insulting one another.

Dinner! I’m also trying to add tags to this with everyone who is here and this is going to be hard.

Puffy also sitting at the head of the table. That’s probably symbolic.

Look at Foolish go... look at that totem go.

Oh look the King is speaking. Oh monarch?

Eret’s skin just looks so good. I can’t get over it.

Everyone taking turns sharing at the banquet like kids introducing themselves at the start of an event.

Oh no. Puffy is going.

Road trip plays in the background.

Oh George. Fundy cheering for being asleep.

Beat flavored soup. Wow. Free range beet. I would say that.

Who is throwing eggs? I recognize that sound effect.

Bad. You are talking yourself into a hole.

I know dramatic speeches and I did not like those pauses.

Whoa Whoa Whoa. Lava Wall.

We leaving the leaf.

HBomb is sizzling.

Oh. They planned for her plan.

This feels like a chaotic show.

WAIT HANNAH! I FORGOT THE EGG GOT HER!

No. No main event.

How many other plans are there?!?! This feels like such a strange episode.

Oh? Attempted egg splosion.

We knew that wouldn’t work after Quackity’s attempt.

Well... it was a good try.

Wait executions! There aren’t enough cannon lives here for executions.

Oh Eret! Speaking up.

You go your majesty.

He might have been the original traitor but he did get to grow.

Oh please don’t sacrifice Eret.

Oh Fundy sounds so distraught.

Oh wow Fundy and Niki saying exactly the same thing.

I do not like this.

Ah the totem has yeeted the Rolex.

Yes Lightning!

Oh they planned for that. he revealed his skills and they planned for it.

*distressed sounds*

Wow Eret is ready to die first so Foolish doesn’t have to.

And they swapped spots.

No. Quit manipulating. We don’t need another manipulation arc.

I’m getting chills from all this.

NOOOOO

Canon Life’s Lose so far: 1

Bop Bop Bop. Another one bites the dust.

Oh. Quackity.

Sup Quackity.

Eret you aren’t streaming quit blocking the view.

Go duck man go.

How did Quackity get in again? I missed that somehow?

The Rolex. Quit with the mild comedy! We’re over here crying and y’all are throwing a Rolex.

Oh no! What army.

FREAKING TECHNOBLADE!

AND THE HOUNDS!

Alright. Waiting for the dogs to come is an acceptable comedic distraction.

Techno is terrifying.

Oh Purpled. And kiddo has a nice suit.

Techno and Quackity’s fans are going to go nuts.

Look at Puffy go.

Good job gal.

Look at that hound army go.

All the cannon lives being lost.

Don’t go for him?

Oh Purpled go. That ok.

Poor Fundy sounds so stressed.

Techno in character going “IDK who that is”

Oh rats. They got out.

Another prison. Why is that our solution to everything.

Ive pulled Bad’s POV up again, but I’ve got ads.

Oh. Bad sounds sad. And his chat is spamming dream...

And he has sad music.

Everyone being an unreliable narrator here.

Oh bad boating away.

While everyone talking about containing the egg.

Oh Bad’s ending on a sad note.

People talking about plot armor. Eret has been here since Early L’manberg and he still has all cannon lives.

Well. Bad ended and everyone else is stressing.

Digging out. Everyone so done with all that.

Aww. No more parties...

Hooray Air!

Oh. Stew.

Oh Puffy honey.

Her child was killed in front of her. Killed her friends. There is a crisis.

The others dinking around just out of and just in frame aren’t helping the moment.

Oh. We lost a doggies. Sadness.

Sorry wait Puffy is doing heart hurting stuff.

Go find your boy honey.

Oh wait we’re ending.

Well... that was something.

Can someone else go live and just kinda chill on the smp out of character please? Just so there is a little less whiplash of streams ending.

Anyway. That was really good and I like all the characters being involved. Didn’t feel like anyone was too out of place between speeches and just the hanging out at the beginning.

[linkspooky]

What is a Hero’s Cape for?

This meta is in response to a comment by @k-isecchis​

I’d also like to point out the parallels between Eri and Shigaraki. Eri was left to suffer longer due to strategy. Something that always rubbed me the wrong way about that arc is that besides Mirio and Deku, everyone’s so desperately trying to save her because they knew that was Chisaki’s trump card. Eri’s power is as potentially as destructive as Shigaraki, but she was “lucky” Chisaki was making enough waves for the heroes to notice. 

Thank you for pointing out this excellent parallel. This opened my mind to the parallels between the war arc, and the overhaul arc. How both arcs are really about showcasing how massive the divide is between the ideals of hero society “saving people” and hero society’s pragmatic realization “defeating villains”. Once again let’s talk more about hero society underneath the cut.

1. Two Kinds of Heroes

Chapter 120 solidifies what has been an ongoing theme in the background of the story for awhile. That there are two prevalent attitudes in hero society. There are heroes who prioritize saving above everything else, and there are heroes who want to be strong and beat villains. This is also something that is outlined for us byb the narrative as set up for the overhaul arc. 

All Might says that both attitudes are necessary. That is true to an extent. For example, Deku’s biggest weakness narrative wise is his total lack of self preservation. Deku dying for the sake of saving people is selfless, but it’s not very practical. He needs to be able to live to save others, and there are people that Deku will have to fight to accomplish his goal of saving everyone. There are people like Chisaki who need to be taken down. So, it’s not wrong to want to get strong enough to save others. In fact the story has gone over several times with characters like Aizawa, and Kouta’s parents that dying in the line of duty while very noble helps no one in the long run. So yes, Heroes do have to be strong to overcome villains, especially people like Chisaki, and All for One who are unrepentant abusers. 

However, while acknowledging that point we can also agree that while Heroes do have to be strong to overcome obstacles, Bakugo’s attitude of being a hero who only wants to win is FAR FAR more prevalent in the current hero society, and especially the older generation of heroes. 

This motif of two kinds of heroes, one focused entirely on selflessly saving others, and the other who wants to become a hero to become strong enough to beat up bad guys is something we see repeat over and over again.

The Endeavor vs All Might rivalry, which is a direct parallel to the Bakugo vs. Deku rivalry is entirely built around this idea. Endeavor has the most resolved cases in history, but his focus has never been saving others this is something he himself admits, he does what he does because he wants to be stronger than everyone else. 

This same kind of divide repeats again between Endeavor and Hawks the new number one, and number two. Endeavor still focuses on being the strongest, and defeating the strongest bad while Hawks always makes sacrifices to save as many people as possible.

Hawks also, while being a much more popular hero than Endeavor and way better at appealing to the masses still believes he’s an inferior hero to Endeavor because he’s not as effective at fighting villains. Hawks reflects the attitudes of the hero society that he was raised in because while Hawks personally believes in sacrificing everything to save others, he thinks the only way to put people at ease is to be strong enough to defeat any villain. Hawks thinks that Endeavor’s way of heroism is better, to show that society as a whole right now prioritizes being strong enough to beat back villains, and having a strong flashy quirk is the best way to be a hero. 

So to summarize, in the prelude to the overhaul arc, and the next plot relevant arc the Pro Heroes arc it’s established there are two kinds of heroes, those that focus on saving, and those that focus on defeating villains and hero society is built to favor the latter. 

2. Saving Eri

The overhaul arc begins with this very conflict, Mirio on Nighteye’s instructions makes a decision not to help a little girl they see immediately in danger.

Deku wants to prioritize saving what is obviously an abused child, but Mirio tries to follow Nighteye’s orders of waiting until they have a better time to catch Overhaul and shut down his operation. 

So the question is, what was the priority in the Eri arc? Was it really saving Eri, or was it taking down Chisaki Kai’s operation? The answer to that question is split. 

For the previous generation, aka the adult heroes we see again and again the biggest priority is taking down Chisaki Kai. 

There is an extremely marked difference in the way the adults talk about Eri vs. the way Mirio and Deku react. The adults all calmly discuss Eri, and pay lip service to the fact that what she’s going through is bad (I get that they do this for a living but still, you can tell how different their reaction is to Mirio and Deku).

So, what is more important here? Saving an abused child, or putting down the threat to hero society that Chisaki represents? You can see it in the adults that they may care about Eri and obviously don’t want a little girl to get hurt, but they also keep bringing up the idea that saving Eri will also stop Chisaki’s plans. 

Rock-Lock says directly that if they had taken custody of the kid on the spot, the villain’s plans would have been stopped. So, there are two different interested parties those who want to stop overhaul, and those who want to save Eri. I think it’s an important distinction because it once again represents the two priorities of hero society, heroes who kill villains, and heroes who save. This raid is one where the goal just happens to coincide, but it’s still markedly different from the Kamino ward Raid where the number one concern was returning the kidnapped child Bakugo as quickly and safely as possible. 

Mirio’s decision to let Eri go back into the hands of her abuser, so he could rescue her at a more practical time is also something the narrative directly calls him out on.

Not only does the narrative call Mirio out on this: that in the moment he cared more about stopping Overhaul than saving a little girl who was right in front of him, but Mirio admits to his own personal weakness too. He says that this was wrong of him, that the worst thing he did was make a choice that let her go back into the hands of her abuser when he was supposed to save her. 

This is the entire thematic conflict of the Overhaul arc. The younger generation, represented by Mirio and Deku are trying to define themselves as what kind of heroes they want to be. All of their motives as heroes are called into doubt, because just for a moment they let Eri go back into the hands of her abuser. How can they call themselves heroes if they can’t save an abused little girl? 

The overhaul arc establishes that the younger generation is desperately trying to make up for the people who don’t get saved like Eri. And, what is Mirio’s greatest heroic action in the arc? 

He literally loses his quirk, because he doesn’t want to ever make the same mistake again. This is a choice a hero like Endeavor would never make because their priority is always being the strongest. However, despite literally showing us all of the effort Mirio put in to become strong enough to save other people he throws all of that away in a second because SAVING ERI IS MORE IMPORTANT. 

In the overhaul arc the thematic conflict is that Mirio and Deku make a mistake based on the logic of the previous generation. They let a little girl go on being abused because taking Chisaki down is higher priority then saving her. Then, Mirio and Deku do everything they can to try to fix that mistake. The younger generation tries to fix the mistakes of the older generation. Mirio and Deku both establish that HEROES SAVE PEOPLE and that should always be their top priority over being strong, including Mirio literally losing his quirk and all of his strength just to keep an abused child from getting harmed further. 

3. The Old Guard

If the Overhaul arc is about the new generation acting like heroes, then the War Arc which directly parallels it shows over and over again the older generation failing to act as heroes. There are several parallels which I will go over. First, in the Overhaul arc a big fuss is brought up about using children in an active raid. This is also something that happened in the Kamino ward arc, the only arc of the three great hero raids where the decision was made not to let ANY CHILDREN be involved (Deku, Momo and the others acted on their own and even got actively punished for it.)

Rock Lock literally brings this up, that just because they go to an elite school doesn’t mean they’re not children. He thinks protecting the safety of children should be their first priority. In the War Arc none of the heroes even question bringing along a bunch of children to one of the most dangerous widescale operation in hero history. The only person who points out how wrong it is to bring kids along is a LITERAL VILLAIN. 

Both the Overhaul Arc and the War Arc follow the same pattern. First, there’s a internship arc where Deku interns for a pro hero and immediately afterwards that Pro Hero becomes the head of the raid against the villains. However, the difference between the two characters is palpable. While Night-Eye is the sidekick to All Might and disapproved of All Might’s habit of saving everyone because it was literally killing All Might slowly, Endeavor is a child-abuser. 

While yes, Endeavor is repentant for his actions it’s clear his goal isn’t to save abused children. Endeavor legitimately believes the best way to make up for what he did is to continue being the best hero he can be, a hero Todoroki can be proud of. Endeavor is still stuck in the mind-set of defeating villains, rather than saving. 

In the internship set up to the arc this is something Endeavor is directly challenged on by Ending. Ending states that of all heroes, someone like Endeavor is most likely to kill a villain, and that he’s already stepped over the line and completely incinerated a Nomu. 

This isn’t about whether or not it’s ethical to kill Nomus, this is about a critcism the narrative is levying against Endeavor. What is his priority? Killing villains, or saving? The set up in the Overhaul arc is that the hero they are interning for is flawed, and makes a mistake, that the younger generation has to correct. Endeavor’s mistake in the fight against Ending is literally hesitating to save Natsuo. Endeavor isn’t a hero who saves, and once again this is something Endeavor admits directly that the younger generation was covering for his own mistakes. 

Hawks also serves as a parallel to the overhaul arc. Hawks, the character who was introduced to us as a hero who always saves everyone at great personal cost to himself, is shown being paralleled to a villain in Chisaki.

This is a comparison the narrative makes once again. Hawks’ actions are compared to Chisaki’s. Hawks takes advantage of Twice’s willingness to trust others the same way Chisaki does. Hawks also considers people ultiamtely disposable the same way Chisaki does. 

Chisaki decides people’s literal worth on whether or not they’re useful to him. Hawks decides if people are worth saving depending on if they’re useful to society or not. He deliberately says that Twice is the only one worth saving out of all of his friends because he’s the only good person, even though we know by now that everyone in the league is a victim to some extent. 

Twice even directly echoes the sentiment that he first stated on the eve of the Overhaul arc. That heroes only exist to save the virtuous people and no one else. This is an idea that was established by the overhaul arc, and we see this arc finally shows the result of that idea, Hawks deciding that only good and virtuous people are worth saving causes him to make the direct decision to kill Twice for the sake of the greater good. (The greater good). 

In the overhaul arc there was a conflict on what was more important, for the younger generation saving Eri was the most important thing, for the older generation it was putting down a threat. We even see in this arc shades of that conflict, Tokoyami as flawed as his logic is that Hawks did no wrong makes the decision to SAVE HAWKS rather than FIGHT A VILLAIN. 

This isn’t just me hating on hero society. It’s a question the narrative directly asks. A character says it aloud. That heroes should think harder about who really needs saving. It’s something challenged by both Dabi, and Hawks. Are heroes really saving people? 

Who is it that needs to be saved the most in this society? This is also a question asked by pitting Endeavor and Shigaraki against each other. In the Kamino ward raid arc, it was a simple fight of good against evil. All Might vs AFO is a very black and white fight. 

Chisaki has a parallel in the War arc, but his parallel isn’t Shigaraki, it’s Endeavor. Both Endeavor and Chisaki made the decision to use a child’s quirk for their own selfish benefit and abused that child in the process. Endeavor is repetentant about it, but he’s still the Chisaki parallel here. 

We’re reminded in Shigaraki’s dream sequence that ultimately what drives him is being an abused child who had his entire life controlled by abusive patriarchical figures, both Koutarou, and later All for One. 

The one leading the raid against Shigaraki is Endeavor. Endeavor’s actions parallel both AFO’s and Koutarou’s. He tried to force his son to become his legacy by grooming him, and subjecting him to violence from a young age. He also is shown to beat his child in front of his wife, which was Koutarou’s breaking point. 

Yes, Endeavor is repentant (please stay out of my inbox with this point I’m begging you) but at the same time as someone who has abused people before Endeavor’s priority should be on the suffering of abuse victims, but it’s not. Endeavor’s priority is stopping evil. Even though those villains he is fighting against parallel his own actions. Endeavor is trying to take down an abusive system, while having little to no sympathy for longtime victims of that system Shigaraki. He also has no awareness at all that his direct actions created one of those villains with Dabi, and therefore he himself is responsible for the evil he’s fighting against. 

There’s even a direct parallel between Aizawa’s roles in both arcs. In the overhaul arc, Aizawa’s number one priority is both the safety, and the feelings of the children involved in the arc. Aizawa only lets Deku come along because he feels like Deku would just run off on his own unsupervised to help Eri, and therefore decides it’s safer to supervise him directly and let him help the efforts to help Eri. 

In the War Arc, not only does All Might have no problems at all with involving children in the war arc, even though being on an internship at a young age and being exposed to danger is directly what got Shirakumo killed. His priorities have shifted, Aizawa whose good points are always connected to the empathy he shows to children, and who is practically Eri’s guardian 1) shows absolutely no sympathy at all for Shigaraki who is not only a parallel to Eri but also someone Shirakumo his friend cares about deeply. 2) Has his priorities shift from saving people and keeping children safe, to taking down a villain for the sake of petty revenge. 

Once again this isn’t me dramaticizing, it’s something that Eraserhead literally says. His priority here is payback. The Overhaul Arc and the War Arc are deliberately written to contrast one another. In the Overhaul Arc it’s established that saving an abused little girl should always be a hero’s number one priority, and in the War Arc, the villain that everybody is trying to stop is an abused child and a direct parallel to Eri that went unsaved for 15 years and now the heroes are only trying to put down. 

In this arc the heroes parallel the actions of the villains in the Overhaul arc. 

Chisaki loses his quirk as a narrative punishment, and also direct revenge for his decision to kill Magne. A decision fueled by the fact that Chisaki being a raised as a tool himself considers people to be ulttimately disposable and defined by their worth to others. 

Hawks loses his quirk as a narrative punishment for his decision to kill Twice. Once again, because he decided that Twice’s life was expendable because his worth is generated by how useful he is to society, and whether or not he can be rehabilitated to fit into the current society. Hawks, and Twice are both characters who make the decision to kill the outcast because their lives are worthless, the actions of a hero directly reflects that of a villain. This narrative punishment is also directly dealt out by Shigaraki and Dabi who are narrative foils to each other. Dabi and Shigaraki both prioritize the individual lives, of Twice, and Magne, whereas Hawks and Chisaki both considered those people to be expendable because they were outcasts. 

This is in comparison to Mirio who makes the decision to give up his own quirk, because nothing is worth letting an abused child get harmed any further. Mirio’s action is the only one framed heroically, funny that. Almost like the story sets up the idea that the priorities of hero’s should always be saving people. Finally, once again connecting to Mirio this is a parallel directly pointed out by @thyandrawrites​.  

Shigaraki’s first response upon waking up is to declare that he is cold, and steal the cape of a hero. 

This is a direct reference to Mirio’s famous line about the fact that a Hero’s cape should be used to wrap around the shoulders of a little girl in pain. Shigaraki is an Eri parallel. He is an abused child who needed to be saved from the abuser who convinced him that his quirk only exists to destroy, and wanted to use him as a weapon to destroy hero society. Mirio’s cape is used for further symbolism. 

When Eri grabs Mirio’s cape, she remembers that the hero’s number one priority was to save her. That is what finally convinces her that her quirk is capable of more than just destruction, and she uses it to help people. 

In 270 the opposite happens. X-Less is told to carry Shigaraki out of here, and even is told directly the Shigaraki’s heart has stopped. However, instead of saving Shigaraki he prioritizes destroying a random machine. He makes the choice not to carry Shigaraki out of there and because of that, Shigaraki wakes up. His first action upon waking up is to steal X-less’s cape, mirroring Eri’s choice to grab and reach out for Mirio’s cape.

Eri is moved by the actions of everybody trying to save her, and that convinces her to overcome Overhaul’s brainwashing of her. All of the heroes treating Eri like a victim in need of saving changes her. Whereas, every hero regards Shigaraki as a THING that needs to be stopped and it produces the opposite effect. 

The heroes caring about Eri enough to save her helps her shake off her abuser’s manipulation. The heroes only caring about Shigaraki as a threat to be stopped drives him literally directly into the arms of his abuser. 

And therefore, the opposite happens. Eri uses her quirk to save others for the first time. She becomes capable of more than just destruction. Whereas Shigaraki uses his quirk only to destroy. 

That is the greatest point of this arc. The heroes actions to save one little girl results in a lifelong victim learning that her quirk is capable of more than just destruction. However, the heroes actions in not saving Shigaraki convince him he’s only capable of destruction. Ther overhaul arc sets up the idea that heroes should always act to save people, and the War Arc subverts it by showing the consequences when Heroes choose not to save. 

[blind-rats]

For the fans, it’s never about the “happy endings”. People misunderstood that it seems to get a good storyline, either it has to be happy or dark. It’s not that simple. It’s not Happy Ending vs Dark Ending. It’s about good storytelling and characterization.

For years, fans cared more about the characters. When a writer only focused on the plot, and not the character, then they would usually sacrifice the progression, the development, the investment, the connection, and the fans who actually watched the show FOR the characters since the beginning. Good storytelling is when it elevates the character (good or bad) into something layered.

Season 1: 

Aaron was arrested for Lilly’s murder was a good thing; something that should be done. The baddie finally was captured, even got hit by a truck. 

Logan wanted to jump off the bridge was a cliffhanger; something that would keep the fans tuned in for the next season. 

Lianne took the money was IN character; she wasn’t a good mother and Veronica finally admitted that. For a whole season, V thought that by solving Lilly’s murder, her mom would return, but in the end, it didn’t matter. V accepted that. It sucks, but it was progress for Veronica that she finally let her go, although she lost the money. There was balance for these plots and these characters, that is why season 1 was the best.

Season 2: 

Keith missed the flight wasn’t about a happy ending -- it was a set up for the next season because he received a mysterious assignment from Kendall. Again, it kept the fans wanting more.

Season 3: 

Logan beat up Gory was a set up for the next season. Like I mentioned before, if the show wasn’t canceled, it would give Logan a darker path or a lighter path in his life. It was supposed to make the fans wanting more; what would happen to Logan? What would happen to him and Veronica? There was a lot of speculation at the time, but it wasn’t supposed to be the ending.

Keith lost the election, according to RT himself, because he helped Veronica. Which was IN character. He helped Veronica, and it ignited another rivalry between him and Jake Kane again. It was supposed to be another set up for the next season, and it wasn’t supposed to be the ending. 

The Movie:

There are so many retcons in this movie that fans noticed and many expressed their displeasure because the storytelling of the movie was a bit weak, BUT they are still IN characters. Yes, there are some changes, obviously you can’t have the same characters from a decade ago. Logan was matured, Wallace was matured, Mac was matured, Weevil was matured, even Piz was matured. 

Veronica was trying to find herself and decide what kind of person she wanted to be. At the end of the movie, she decided that she wanted to help people. And that is why many fans liked the movie because the character progressed into the next stage. The character didn’t stay stasis.

The movie had so many flaws, especially with cheesy dialogues, unimportant cameos, and frankly not so good plots. But when fans have waited for so long for the conclusion of the series, to have characters finally get their deserved/bittersweet endings, is a good thing.

The Books (The Thousand Dollar Tan Line and Mr. Kiss & Tell):

Maybe because the books were (co)written by Jennifer Graham, a woman, a fan, she knew about the characterization of the characters. Fans immediately noticed the differences between her writing and Rob’s writing; which parts were hers, which parts were RT’s. 

Nobody cared nor remember about the professor and the murderer/rapist, but everyone mostly remembered about Haley, Lianne, Aurora, Hunter, Petra, Jade, Norris, Grace, and even The Gutiérrez cousins.

Notice that all of the memorable characters in the books were absent from season 4 because RT didn’t write them in the books and he felt that he didn’t need to explain their absence.

Logan and Weevil had a good relationship, and they both were friendly with each other. That was progress and should be allowed to continue.

Logan and Veronica had stability and a good relationship even when there were some problems. Even when Leo (who was inserted by RT) was there. But it was pretty much good characterization for both of the characters. Something that was missing in season 4.

Season 4:

To those who said that the whole season was great except for the ending, didn’t pay any attention. From the very beginning, fans were being introduced to a lot of new characters that fans didn’t know nor care like it was some sort a new show. They have their own storylines, their own plots, even their own endings. It would be fine if this was a brand new show, but it wasn’t. It was a continuation of the previous installment. The new characters from the books were much more nuanced compare to the new characters in season 4.

The show focused more on the plots instead of the characterizations. They focused more on the special guest stars instead of the regular cast.

The characterization of Veronica was WAY OFF; so different and seems to be regressed to her former self when she was 17 years old. She was rude to everyone including Logan and Wallace. She didn’t know what was going on with Keith. She was nonchalant about filming others having sex. She was using drugs. She was drinking and shooting a gun. She was mocking Wallace and Logan for having stability. She was more interested in having a fling with Leo but she refused to break up with Logan.

Fans would accept Veronica’s regression if there was something happened to her. Why she behave like that? What was the reason? She was having a life she chosen from the movie and the books, and yet she wasn’t happy. Because of what? What kind of trauma that made her regressed? No reason at all? Because normal life is not something that a detective should have? And that’s when the characterization was down the drain. When a character doesn’t have a motivation to do what’s right or what’s wrong, their behavior is considered to be OOC. 

Matty, a new character, a white rich sociopath girl, wasn’t Veronica, and yet the fans were expected to treat and view her like she was Veronica. 

Marcia, the new chief of police was a wasted character. She wasn’t a foil for Veronica, wasn’t an enemy of anybody, and she spent her time in the precinct only.

The assassins from the Mexican cartel had too many plots and not enough characterization, and frankly, the fans didn’t care about them, especially when the writers sacrificed Wallace and Mac.

The death of Logan wasn’t just the only thing that was considered worse, but the fact that they immediately didn’t see the aftermath. They never showed the emotional impact and didn’t even give the characters and the fans to mourn the character. RT tends to leapfrog a plot, even in iZombie, and put exposition instead. 

The death of Logan was wasted, done by the most insignificant villain in the history of the show that didn’t even have a proper characterization and development. But the show promoted him like he was one of the best things ever happened.

Logan’s death wasn’t caused by a heroic moment or something dramatic. It was last minute and immediately swept under the carpet.

Veronica spent her last monologue talking about exposition. it was an ending. It wasn’t something that fans wanted to tune in, unlike the previous seasons, movie, and books.

So the whole notion that every season ended in a dark ending is partly untrue. Plot-wise, it should served their characters. It should elevated them into something better or something darker, but it was interesting nonetheless. Season 4 didn’t have that at all. All the characters were gone, finished. Veronica rode off to the sunset without any kind of satisfying ending, good or bad. Bad, mostly.

This is why Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul and Cobra Kai are praised because of the writings and characterization. We see the progression of the characters of Jimmy to Saul, who is not a good person, but still layered. We see the development of Johnny Lawrence; from a bully to an anti-hero. Or Hawk from a nerd into a bully himself. IT'S THE CHARACTERIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT accompanied by good storytelling. It’s not (just) about happy/sad ending.

It’s also not just about killing off the main character. There’s a reason why fans are still angry with the ending of How I Met Your Mother or LOST. So many people are pissed with the ending of Dexter and Game of Thrones. Don’t forget about The 100, Gilmore Girls, and Arrow. Not because of the dark endings of those shows, or the killing off the main characters. It was because they wasted so many years with the characterization and development just to get subverted endings that the writers seem to pat themselves on the back, ignoring any fans who had been there for the start.

And RT’s betrayal to the fans isn’t just about killing off the main character. It was the way he did it. He was using the fans to revive the show, using the fans’ money to revive it, knowing that he would kill off a popular character, knowing that he would piss loyal fans and the fandom, who had been very supportive with his works and projects, and yet still done it, just because he despised a character he created for so long. Even BBC News knew this trend and called him out. It was the way he exploited the fans that were considered to be a betrayal.

[davidmann95]

How about those JL storyboards?

In case you haven’t heard, Zack Snyder is putting on display the ‘storyboards’ - i.e. a rough plot summary accompanied by some Jim Lee sketches - for what would have been Justice League 2 and 3, or as this puts it 2 and ‘2A’. You can see them here (I imagine better-quality versions will soon be released), and read a transcript here. This is evidently a very early version: this was apparently pitched prior to the release of BvS and Justice League being rewritten in the wake of it, with numerous plot details that now don’t line up with what we know about the Snyder Cut, plus it outright mentions it builds on the originally planned versions of the Batman and Flash movies. But it’s a broad outline of what was gonna go down, and while I initially thought it was Snyder throwing in the towel, the timing - paired with the ambiguity left by the necessity for changes, including that this doesn’t factor whatever that “massive cliffhanger” at the end of the Cut is - says to me he’s hoping this’ll be a force multiplier behind efforts to will sequel/s into existence. He’s probably right.

I’ll be discussing spoilers below, but in short: with this Zack Snyder has finally lived up to Alan Moore, in that like Twilight of the Superheroes I wouldn’t believe this was real as opposed to a shockingly on-point parody if not for direct, irrefutable evidence.

Doing some rapid-fire bullet points for this baby to kick us off:

* Folks who know the subject say a lot of this is a yet further continuation of Snyder doing Arthuriana fanfic with the League reskinned over those major players, and I’ll take their word for it.

* I don’t know whether I love or hate that in Justice League 2 the Justice League are only an extant thing for the first scene, and then it’s Snyder giving everybody their own mini-movies. It’s compressing the entire MCU “loosely interconnected solo stories leading to a single big movie later” strategy into a single movie!

*  Funniest line in the whole thing: "Even Lantern has heard of the Kryptonian, worried that he's under the control of Darkseid. He heard his spirit was unbreakable." Hal what fuckin' Superman movie did YOU watch? Second funniest being “IT WILL GIVE HIM POWER OVER ALL LIVING LIFE”

* 90% of the plot I have nothing to say about, it’s generic stage-setting crap. That to be clear is the ‘shocked it’s Snyder’ element, it feels so crassly commercial in a way I can’t believe is coming from the BvS guy.

* Most of what I have to say is unsurprisingly gonna be about a handful of characters but Cyborg’s happy ending being “he isn’t visibly disabled anymore!” is not great!

* The Goddess of War battle with Superman...never pays off? No clue why it’s there.

* What I’d originally heard was that the Codex in Superman’s blood was the last key to the Anti-Life Equation and that’s why Darkseid was coming to Earth. It’s not like all of this wouldn’t have already been averted by Kal-El’s pod smacking into an asteroid on the way to Earth so it’s not as if this makes it any more Superman’s fault, and it would have at least tied all this back to the beginning of the movies, but I suppose that was either fake or from a later draft.

* I have NO idea how this was reimagined without the ‘love triangle’, it’s the central character thing and the entire climax flows directly out of it!

* Darkseid’s kinda a chump in this, huh

Anonymous said: So: Does Zack Snyder hate Superman?

Look: the hilarity of this when Cuck Kent has been a go-to Snyder cult insult towards ‘inferior’ takes on Superman for years cannot be understated, yet at the same time I can almost wrap my brain around where Snyder’s coming from with that as the end for his take on the character. He talked in that Variety piece on how his interest in Superman is informed by having adopted children himself, and Deborah Snyder is the stepmother to his kids by previous relationships, so I can see where he’d be coming from, and I can even imagine how he’d see this as ‘rhyming’ in the sense of “the series begins with Kal-El being adopted by Earth, it ends with him adopting a child of Earth!” In the same way as MARTHA, I can envision how he would put these pieces together in his head thematically without registering or caring what the end result would actually look like. In this case, Superman raising the kid of the man who beat the shit out of him who Batman had with Clark’s wife, who earlier told Bruce she was staying with Clark because he ‘needed her’, suggesting if inadvertently that this really honest to god was a “she’s only staying with Superman out of pity, she really loved Batman more” thing.

But Clark is nothing in this. He’s sad and existential because of coming back from the dead I guess, then he’s corrupted, then time’s undone and he woo-rah rallies the collective armies of the world (interesting angle for the ‘anti-military/anti-establishment’ Superman he’s talked up as) as his big heroic moment in the finale, and then he stops being sad because he’s adopting a kid. So his big much-ballyhooed, extremely necessary five-movie character arc towards truly becoming Superman was:

Sad weird kid -> sad weird kid learns he’s an alien, is still weird and sad, maybe he shouldn’t save people because things could go really wrong? -> his dad is so convinced it could go wrong he lets himself die -> ????? -> Clark is saving people anyway -> learns his origin, gets an inspiring speech about being a bridge between worlds and a costume -> becomes superman (not Superman, that’s later) to save the world, albeit a very property-damagey version, rejects his heritage he just learned about and space dad’s bridge idea -> folks hate him being superman and that sucks though at least he’s got a girlfriend now -> things go so wrong he considers not being superman but his ghost dad reminds him shit always goes wrong so he should be good anyway, which sorta feels like it contradicts his previous advice -> immediate renewed goodness is out the window as he’s blackmailed into having to try and kill a dude but the dude happens to coincidentally have some things in common so they don’t kill each other after all -> big monster now but superman keeps supermaning at it because he loves his girlfriend and he dies -> he’s brought back, wears black which apparently means now he likes Krypton again? -> he has work friends now but he’s still sad because he was dead -> evil now! -> wait nevermind time travel -> rallies the troops -> his wife’s having a kid so he’s not sad anymore -> Superman! Who gives way to more Batman.

Do I think Zack Snyder is lying when he says he likes Superman? No. I think he sincerely finds much of the basic conceits and imagery engaging. But I don’t think he meaningfully gives shit about Clark as a character, just a vessel for Big Iconic Beats he wants to hit. Whereas while for instance he’s critical of Batman as an idea (at least up to a point), he’s much more passionately, directly enamored with him as a presence and personality. So while Superman may be the character whose ostensible myth cycle or arc or however it’s spun might be propelling a lot of events here, it’s a distant appreciation - of course the other guy takes over and subsumes him into his own narrative. Of course Batman is the savior, the past and the future (though if he’s supposed to be Batman’s kid raised by Superman there’s no excuse for him not to be Nightwing), the tragic martyr to our potential. Admittedly the implication here is also that Batman can apparently only REALLY with his whole heart be willing to sacrifice his life to save an innocent, for that matter apparently his great love, once said innocent is a receptacle for his Bat-brood, but he and Clark are both already irredeemable pieces of shit by the end of BvS so it’s not like this even registers by comparison.

Anonymous said: That “plan” Snyder had was utter dogshit. Picture proof that DC & WB hate Superman. Also I love how you’re like Jor-El: Every single idealistic take you had about Snyder, his fandom, and BvS was wrong. Snyder’s an edgy hack, his fanbase just wants to jerk off to their edgy self-insert Batgod as he screams FUCK while mowing people down with machine guns, and the idea that BvS said Superman was better than Bats was completely wrong. You know what comes next SuperMann: Either you die or I do.

In the final analysis, beyond that mother of god is there sure no conceivable excuse for the treatment of Lois in this? The temptation is to join that anon and say as I originally tweeted that these were “built entirely to disabuse every single redemptive reading of the previous work and any notion of these movies as nuanced, artistic, self-reflective, or meaningful”.

...

...

...yeah, okay, that’s mostly right. Zack Snyder’s vision really was the vision of an edgelord idiot with bad ideas who was never going to build up to anything that would reframe it all as a sensible whole. He’s a sincere edgelord genuinely trying really hard with his bad ideas who put some of them together quite cleverly! But they’re fucking bad and the endgame was never anything more than ramping up into smashing the action figures together as big as he could, the political overtones and moral sketchiness of BvS while trying to say something in that movie reverberated through the grand scheme of his pentalogy in no way beyond giving his boys a big sad pit to rise out of so when they kicked ass later it’d rule harder, and all the gods among men questions and horror and trappings were only that: trappings. Apparently he’s really pleasant and well-meaning in person, but at his core his art as embodied in a couple weeks in his 4-hour R-rated Justice League movie meant to be seen in black-and-white all comes down to that time he yelled at someone on Twitter that he couldn’t appreciate Snyder’s work because it’s for grown-ups. He made half-clever, occasionally exciting shit cape movies for a bunch of corny pseudo-intellectual douchebags, folks latching onto and justifying blockbusters that at least acknowledge how horrifying the world is right now even if the superheroes are basically useless in the face of it if not outright part of the problem until a convenient alien invasion shows up to justify them, and a handful of non-asshole smart people who vibe with it but...well. ‘Suckered’ is a harsh word, and definitely doesn’t apply to all of them re: what they’ve gotten out of it up to this point and would (somehow) get out of this. But it doesn’t apply to none of them, either.

[blorbosexterminator]

Thanks @spiny-norman for tagging me! I definitely think it's time for me to try and put an overview of my thoughts coherently in one place, instead of the cluster I've left my blog in lmfao.

For lack of better words, here's a review of s5

I'll start with the positives too! The things I truly enjoyed:

The action was really thrilling and well-done.

It was funny. That is a very important aspect to me lmfao. I was truly worried the season was going to be too edgy for its own good and sacrifice its trademark humor. Tamayo was easily a highlight of this season. I loved that man from the moment he showed up in season 3, and he only got better this season. Alicia was also one of my favorite things. She's just so hilarious, I'm rooting for her to betray everyone and fuck them up.

In la banda itself, Tokyo and Denver completely stole the show, with magnificent acting from both Jaime and Ursula and genuinely good writing for them this season (something I can't say for the other characters), and the way they stayed true to themselves and yet evolved in such an organic way will always stay with me.

Tokyo deserves a whole point on her own even though I haven't shut up about her for nearly a week now lmfao. I'm still amazed at the perfect way her arc was handled, I could have never imagined or wanted anything different for her. It was a hugely bold move to place this in the finale of the first volume because I have no idea how they'll top it with anything now. Ursula obviously stole the scene, but everyone's acting in that scene punched me in the gut repeatedly. Very few characters' deaths in all media really affected me generally speaking, but I just know Tokyo's is here to stay with me.

Now, for everything else. This is already long but it's about to get longer lmfao.

First, I genuinely disliked how the show handled its political aspect this season. It was never perfect at it tbh, with a lot of misplaced allegories, but it was fine. The reason it was fine is because, other than a few weird moments, the show stayed realistic. It was was character-driven, and most of the time, the characters didn't mold themselves to be activists. This seasons' progressive tone was very out of place. I know a lot of people took pleasure in Bogota's speech while he beat Gandia, but it took me out of the mood. It was out of character and very ill-fitting to Gandia. I disliked Martin's speech nearly as much. Again, it was very out of character and ill-fitting. The really fun and realistic thing about the previous seasons was that just because a character was a minority or in some unfortunate group for one reason or the other, it didn't change anything. It didn't make them better people. Martin was still an egotistical, narcissistic, power-hungry, misogynistic, macho piece of shit. The fact that he was gay changed nothing, it didn't make him kinder to fellow oppressed people, not once did he act or gave any indication that he thought of himself as a victim in that sense. They were very unnecessary scenes.

Speaking of the characters, outside of Tokyo and Denver, I didn't feel 'anyone'. All actors did more than an amazing job, Rodrigo and Alvaro were top notches. But it just, the story had suddenly changed from a character-driven story to a plot-driven one and the show didn't handle that change well. Raquel, Martin, Andres, and Sergio were just there. I'll come back to Andres later because he's a special case lmfao. But those three, with how huge their roles are supposedly now, literally were just there. Raquel was just going around shooting things and sometimes giving some order or the other. Martin is pretty much the same. And the only useful thing Sergio did was pull the kid out of Alicia.

Now, I get that Alex Pina said this volume will all be boom boom, and in the next volume we'll get more of the character-focused scenes, but I'm not disappointed because the scenes were few. No, I'm disappointed because they were out of character. Martin was very, very not Martin. He was just some guy lmfao. It's not that I just wanted him to be more of an asshole, which I did because he is an asshole (bless the Monica and Arturo scene tho) but also he was just very soulless. Very unrecognizable. The moment he showed up, took Raquel's order to stop the melting without even one objection or even asking her to explain lmfao, (even fucking Tokyo was like ????? and not Martin!!!), I knew that he's not himself this season. And I was right, this Martin didn't give a single shit about the gold, had no passion, no fire, no soul. It's not like he doesn't resemble 'Palermo' (whatever the fuck that means), he doesn't even resemble himself in the s3 and 4 flashbacks. This isn't healing or redemption. This is a complete personality change overnight. And it just made him a boring character ngl, he's just not entertaining or complex or intriguing anymore. He's literally just some guy with some cringy out-of-character moments that made me go ???? Not even asking about plan Roma and having no problem with not melting the gold, telling Bogota 'revenge is egotistical and bad uwu', his whole speech of being the shit of society or whatever were all highlights of how the show just threw his previous characterizations in the trash lmfo. I genuinely hope it was just because this volume needed to move without any obstacles from the characters and he'll go back more to who he is in volume 2, but I doubt it tbh.

The flashbacks. First, they were funny, and that is their only saving grace. Andres going 'LOBSTERS' in the middle of telling his kid that he ruined his life was top-notch. Other than that, they were terrible, terrible shitty writing. The show didn't connect them in any way to Andres' flashbacks in s3 and 4 and at the same time didn't connect them to bank heist (outside of the parallels of the water, diving, and gold in both heists). They were very disconnected from everything else, and even though I'm certain they'll have more meaning next volume, it doesn't erase the fact that they had none this volume and didn't establish any stones for connections. @spiny-norman Tatana isn't even my type lmfao so I got nothing from this.

Lastly, the relationship dynamics were so.....not there. We got about nothing other than the Tokyo stuff. No hermanos, no Martin and Sergio, no Sergio and Raquel, no flashbacks from the panning in the monastery, no Tokyo and Martin being a pain in each other's asses, no Martin/Andres and the plan, no Martin and Raquel beyond co-leading. If we had time for that stupid, stupid love triangle, then we could have had some meaningful interactions between the actual important relationships in the show. Monver defending each other and their relationship to other people was very <3 though.

The plan has no meaning. Sure, I enjoyed the action. But this bank plan itself was devoid of the soul it had since it first appeared. The bank plan was something like an individual character in previous seasons lmfao. It was the one true love story of Andres and Martin. I think the show could have balanced some of that with the action and thrill.

Again, I know it's all about the action. But the show had a true shining chance to have some iconic scenes between Raquel and the police now that Sergio was unable to participate, and we had absolutely nothing. No negotiation, no clever back and forth between her and the people she worked with for decades, just nothing. I loved seeing her in action, but the boom boom omg badass queen woman warrior with a gun thing gets boring. This fits Tokyo. Raquel's truest moments of really being a boss were supposed to be between her and the police. Just again, all characters were just doing the same thing. They were no longer brilliant, varied individuals each shinning through their own strengths that were already established. I only hope we'll get more of that in volume two.

I think this captures most of my thoughts about the volume. Sorry for long it is lmfao.

[azraqnar]

Thoughts on Agony of a witch (Spoiler warning! (Duh))

Oh boy I was doubting this series’s before but not anymore! This episodes is easily the best in the season. Grom doesn’t have shit on this episode! Everything was just great about AOAW, the music, the suspense, the action, the story, the animation, it was all wonderful!

- for one, Hooty is damn creepy when he fights not only does he effortlessly kick the emperors covens ass (you’d think they’d be more powerful than this but whatever) but he has a tea party with their unconscious bodies after. That was an interesting (& creepy) choice & it has me curious if Eda created him or not. We need a hooty backstory.

- Eda’s curse is getting worse and after episodes of not mentioning it they finally acknowledge how bad it’s getting & how Eda needs more potions or a higher dosage to barely keep it under control KEY WORD “BARELY”. It does remind me of when my aunt had cancer and her chemotherapy stopped working they had to higher the dosage. Good job on finally talking about it.

- When Luz leaves I do like how Eda & King reflect on how the “vibe” of the house changed when Luz showed up & how King thought they were gonna eat her (I guess it confirms witches do eat human kids)I am picking up a familia love from Eda & King so now we have the found family trope (Which I love). I thought it was cute when Eda decided to make a cape as a sign of gratitude & how it sets up how important this cape is when Eda talks about the material it’s made out of.

- Luz’s class is going on the field trip to the emperors coven but isn’t Bump the principal not a teacher?At my school whenever we had a field-trip it was the Teachers that went with us not the principal, Bump didn’t even play a big role so they could have swapped him out for a Teacher & nothing would change.

- Amity’s leg is still broken so she can’t attend the field-trip, which I thought was a good idea she didn’t go. I feel like the writers would try to force in more Lumity moments and it would distract from the plot. I do like Lumity but if Amity was there then fans would focus on that rather than the story & the last two episode were Amity focused so she wasn’t needed in this episode. Smart move from the writers, maybe if her legs heals next episode she could be there but idk.

- Now while Luz was thinking about stealing the healing hat I was a bit conflicted on it. I don’t like how the show is telling viewers it’s okay to steal but In Luz’s case it’s for a good cause, she wanted the hat so she could heal Eda’s curse. It’s like those cases you hear of people stealing groceries to feed their families, I felt the same here. Yeah stealing is bad but if it’s for saving someone you love is it really that bad? Idk if the writers wanted us to be conflicted over that dilemma but they succeeded.

- “Good luck with puberty” I laughed when Lilith said that, can’t believe Disney let that slip in.

- I have to say I do like the lore we get in this episode. Emperor Belos established the coven system 50 years ago to “honor the titan” which is the boiling Isles where they might get their magic from, before that witches were doing wild magic in what was called “the savages ages” it’s setting up more lore about the emperor like how did he rise to power? Who was he before? What were these “savage ages” like? If it was 50 years ago then there still are witches & demons that were alive in the savage age & they could tells us what life was like before. It also means Emperor Belos is 70+ years old. I’m just saying a human could live that long. 👀

- Now emperor Belos, wow his designs looks cool as hell, his voice is amazing too, it’s kinda sinister yet soothing at same times. As shown, it looks like he’s in a weakened state, he has to take these weird bird glowing green slime thing to have energy. We don’t know why or how he got like that, but it seems like he wants to Capture Eda so she doesn’t try to overthrow him since he’s weak. In fact, that might be the reason for the coven system, if he limits their magic then they aren’t strong enough to overthrow him. We only saw him for a bit but he gave a good impression when Luz said that no one will know about her stealing the hat we hear Belos voice echo: “ I will know” in the most bone chilling voice ever! The crew did a great job on him! Tho one thing I noticed is why is every big villain always in a weakened state? Darth Vader, Hordak, Aaravos, Zarkon, every anime villain. I just noticed this trope is overused, but I hope we can see Belos at his strongest and see how powerful he is. I have high hopes for him!

-Lilith discovers Luz is there & decides to use her as a decoy to lure in Eda. Which she succeeds when Eda goes there all angry for daring to drag Luz into her issues. I love how Eda doesn’t even try to stay calm she just straight up attacks Lilith & you can feel her angry.

- Speaking of that fight, best fight in the series thus far! The animation, the spells, the music, the raw emotion, it was all down great! It does remind me of a DBZ style of fighting when they’re moving so fast that your eyes can’t catch up & their magic surrounding them like Eda went super Sayion, I’m not complaining I like those kinds of fight & The intensity you feel in the fight is overwhelming. Luz’s life is at stake and Lilith even uses her as a human shield. She knows how much Luz means to Eda & was willing to kill her. Hell, she even threw Luz toward the spikes and Eda had to save her, then they both struggle with Eda trying to lift her up & Lilith trying to press her against the spikes & then Eda slowly turns into a monster THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE A FIGHT (takes notes she ra)

- Now the biggest bomb drop in the series. IT WAS LILITH WHO CURSED EDA. she blurted it out in a rage of jealousy it seems. They were insulting each other on how one is better than the other. Then when Lilith says “THEN WHY WERE SO EASY TO CURSE?!” My jaw dropped, I suspected they would tell us but not this episode, you see can see the hurt & betrayal in her eyes when it was her own sister who cursed her. Like ouch. From what I suspected is that Lilith was jealous of Eda from what their exchanges told us. But why was she jealous of Eda? Friends? Magic capabilities? Power? Maybe fighting over a crush? What? Whatever the reason is does not excuse doing that to your sister and your YOUNGER SISTER AT THAT. Goodness & I thought Edric and Emira took it too far with the diary thing. I’m officially part of the hate Lilith club. Idc what you do but hurting your sibling like that is the worst thing you can do to them, just imagined how much Eda suffered for DECADES with this curse. No redemption can fix that. But boy do they need Family therapy or just punch it out that works too.

- I loved it when Eda went into rage mode when she found out it was Lilith who cursed her. Her own sister. Like damn that has to hurt knowing your own family did that to you. She deserved to beat Lilith to a bloody pulp & I’m happy she didn’t even bother to listen to Lilith she just wanted to attack her & I don’t blame her one bit.

- Ugh the scene where the curse overtakes Eda was a heart wrenching one. She knows she slipping away and tells Luz to take care of King & Hooty & to stay safe before she slips away. When Lilith told Luz that Eda is with her true family made me want to punch her more than Amity’s parents. You feel how helpless Luz felt & I hope they work towards her character with that feeling because Luz is happy go lucky & seeing her in despair makes for great character development.

- it kind of reminds me of when Queen Angella sacrifices herself In season 3 but I hated how they never acknowledged it since season 4 & she doesn’t even return by the end season 5, they pretty much forgot about her. We know for sure Luz will never leave Eda behind & will go save her.

- So we know Luz will go back to save her cuz we do see her wearing the cape Eda made her in the promo. Also we have 1 episode left so we know she’s gonna attempt a rescue mission for Eda but will she succeed? She’s up against the emperors coven! She’s gotta pull all her cards on the table & team up with her friends.

- A witch loses a true way. It could refer to Lilith officially turning to the dark side or Eda being lost in her curse even into season 2. Knowing Disney, they will give us a happy ending cuz it’s Disney but I will be pleasantly surprised if Luz fails to save Eda by the next episode.

- One last thing, I like the credits had no music, just silence. It reminds me of in full metal alchemist whenever a character dies the credit are always silent. I guess it’s meant to represent despair in a way? Or change? Yeah it think it’s change.

- This is why shows should focus on the plot because when you do, it delivers for some great storytelling & this episode surpasses all of the episodes combined. when you focus on the story & lore & characters it makes for great emotional impact of an episode and I hope Dana and the crew continues to do this. This show has so much going for it & people who only watch a show for a ship are clowns because this is what you’re missing out on. an amazing story. I applause Dana & the crew for this episode, really outdid yourselves!

- Overall 9.7/10 it was phenomenal!

[zachsgamejournal]

PLAYING: Breath of Fire 4

This was supposed to read COMPLETED: Breath of Fire 4, but the designers decided in lieu of story and character development, they’d pack in a billion bosses in the longest dungeon this game has ever seen.

So we arrive a fishing village. It’s cute, but small. That’s the weird thing about this game, every town and dungeon is very compact. Even the village with a giant canon shooting nuclear-level hexes at places is smaller than a 7-11 parking lot. Anyway, village. In order to progress, we need directions...I guess. The only guy with directions won’t give’em until we bring him one of three things. I decided to go search some ruins for a special item. It took a while, but i found it and the path was revealed.

This brings us to the world map: unlike BoF3, instead of moving about freely, the player moves along paths to hot-spots: like Mario RPG. So you cannot discover places without being allowed. This is a good way to control the player’s progress. It also prevents confusion, like in Breath of Fire 3 when you move to the East Continent and everything is just available to the player, but you’re not quite sure where to go. But this also carries the issue of having to “lock” every new location until the player fulfills a prerequisite.

So...we went south. We found some nomads. They warned us the checkpoint to the capital was closed due to some business. We instructed to go through a tomb. This is the tomb where Fou-Lu came out. We run into his guardian, and defeat him. This was a fun fight. It was challenging but not overwhelming. I had to shuffle characters, manage healing, and pull off some good spell combos: fun.

But then at the end of the tomb is another boss. This boss is a pair of dice. Dice one is impervious to magic attacks. The other is impervious to physical attacks.They both have spells that murder and insanely injure in a single hit. This boss was not fun. But I survived.

So we get back to canon town. Ursula gets us on the inside. We move up to a headquarters on the hill. Inside, we find injured soldiers. Moving through some weird lab with a giant organ in the middle we find a room filled with...more giant organs. I remember this part, but I actually thought this happened sooner. Anyway, ELINA is here, we found her! She warns us that a tentacle or something that is blocking our way can only be cut with the Dragon Slayer, a sword that Yuna--a bad guy--has. Talking to the injured troops, we’re told Yuna is at the check point.

Giant eye roll here friend: GIANT EYE ROLL.

Get to the check point, Yuna says he doesn’t want to fight. Ryu isn’t playing though, he swipes at Yuna and the dragon slayer is dropped at our feet. Yuna flees and we take the sword back to the organ room. As we make our way through gunk and ribs, we find small house in an indoor garden. Inside is Elina.

Yuna is there to explain. To shoot the Hex Canon, they need a sacrifice. The more attachment the sacrifice has to the region targeted, the stronger the hex. Also, they need to fill the sacrifice with negative feelings. So they torture the sacrifice, horrifically. The problem, according to Yuna, is that the sacrifice often dies. So Yuna wanted to create a permanent sacrifice. Something that could survive the torture and be used again. So taking parts of monsters and using a variety of black magic, Yuna turn Elina into an “endless” (a god, like Ryu and Deis). But she doesn’t look human. Her lower torso down is grotesque mix of enlarged organs spilling out of her. Those ribs we climbed up were hers. Those tentacles we cut, were hers.

It’s gross.

And depressing.

It’s weird, BoF3 was like hit after hit of emotionally challenging scenarios. Nothing this dark, but consistently more than “hero defeats evil”. But this is some dark shit. Cruel. it’s not morally grey. It’s evil.

And Yuna escapes again.

Elina and Cray are in love. So she asks Cray to put her out of her misery. Cray is quite heart broken. Cray doesn’t tell the others what he did, but they know and they support him.

We’re now committed to find Fou-Lu. we get to the capital and it’s destroyed. refugees are sprinkled about, lost and confused about why this is happening. Imperial soldiers are injured and express absolute fear of what’s happening. We find a general. It’s interesting that bad guys in the city are thieves (looters, I guess?). Turns out it’s Ursula’s grandfather. They have a moment before we enter the castle. It’s interesting, despite the empire being evil, the soldiers don’t seem to share the innate cruelty of their commanders...but you know. You commit to serving monsters, you don’t come out smelling of roses.

SO--finally in the castle. I’m like, “This is it--I’m finally about to beat this game.” Nope. The largest, most confusing dungeon in the whole game. I mean, it makes sense, it’s the final dungeon. But so much of this game was short, compact dungeons. There’s no more story left. We know all the plot, we know all the character stories (for the most part), yet there’s hours of gameplay here.

The castle is confusing as hell. At the beginning is a door that says you need a blue charm. Damn. So I start wandering the basement. I got turned around and confused so many times. Every time I thought: “This is it”, I found a dead end with some shitty treasure. It’s not fun. I’m not high level, so none of the fights are a breeze. I can still win, but it takes work and concentration. So it sucks being lost and bumping into a fight every 30 seconds.

FINALLY I find another boss: Dragonne. It’s like a zombie dragon or something. After every round, he heals for 15,000 hp. No way I can do that much damage in a single round, so I’m freaking out. I check online, they suggest using a dragon form to knock out the healing. After that, the battle isn’t too bad. Afterwards, I get lost again and find a door now needing a red charm.

DOES THIS NEVER END!?!?

I checked a guide. Apparently Dragonne dropped a blue charm. I missed it. I had to call it a night. I really thought I was gonna wrap this up, but god...