#FINALLY WATCHED EP9 WITH SUBTITLES

[fluffypotatey]

Hello hello, S5 ep 9 let's-a-go! Warning, this one is BRUTAL. QXT: Macaque, what are you doing! M: Xiaotian, stop! You don’t need to do this. QXT: I do need to do this! M: I did tell you before to make your own choices, but this isn’t the way Xiaotian! QXT: You don’t understand. If I don’t do this, everyone will be done for! Everything will be destroyed! M: It doesn’t always have to be you! There’s always another way! QXT: But this is the only way! M: That’s not true. You don’t get it! Nines: Who says…*interrupts/traps* ...he doesn’t get it? Not bad. Who taught you that trick? Who did you make a deal with? M: What deal? Nines: Well, that’s not important. Everything’s ending soon anyways. The Harbinger of Chaos knows his mission. Only by sacrificing himself will you all be able to live. Nines is a real piece of work, making it seem like MK has a choice. That he doesn't care what he does, okay bud. Says that he's tired of being controlled by others LOL. Oh, the irony is enough to make this EP taste metallic. Tired of humans locking themselves in cages, ignoring chaos and destiny, etc. The quiet, seething way Macky asks "what deal?" almost seems guarded. Haha, perhaps he knows. MK saying "not this time" feels like a parallel to another episode, but I can't put my finger on it. Maybe something Wukong said? Yeah, that sounds right. "Sorry bud. Not this time." Yeah, S3 no? Wasn't there something like that?SWK: Xiaotian, no! Macky, watching this: *sighs* Even if this doesn’t work, I still gotta give it a shot. HELLO SIR YOU TOTALLY KNOW WHAT IS UP WITH YOUR WEIRD POWERS HUH? I'm skipping some parts, mostly the gang and Nine bc this ep is loaded, but note the way Mac's shadows infiltrate and surround the midsection where the power core usually is. SWK: Huh? What? My boi just turned himself into a shadowy nuclear bomb. I don’t like his prospects for the next season. Nines: You- what did you do? Why have I been separated from the chaos? I- I can’t feel it anymore! What did you do?! *screams lungs out as Macky gasps for breath on the ground.* HELLO MACKY IS MY POWER STEALING HC TRUE???? AYOOOOO Nine's is really flipping here, voice going all glitchy, robotic and echo-y. SWK: Macaque, you good? M: What are you waiting for? Stop Xiaotian! It's all about the tentative way Wukong steps forward and asks and Macky is clearly unwell...Is it worse or better than he was down for longer after fighting possessed!Wukong so we couldn't see his half-lidded eyes/struggle for air. He got himself up in the background of the SunBurst hug in a way that could be memed, but this? Nope. I brought it up bc I wanted to see if possessed!Wukong was holding back bc someone said he was re: laser eyes, maybe they meant him not using it until that fight, or the slow way(?) it charged up bc some part of him didn't want to kill Macky, idk. SWK: I won’t let you sacrifice yourself! QXT: Don’t stand in my way, Monkey King. Please. SWK: Not a chance, Xiaotian. You never abandoned me, and I won’t ever abandon you. QXT: Don’t force my hand, Monkey King. EVILLLLLL. JUST LIKE WUKONG SAID TO MACAQUE- don’t make me do this, Liu’er! SWK: No, Xiaotian. Don’t force mine. DOUBLE EVIL OH MY GOSH HE SAID THE THING AND HIS EYES WENT BRIGHT GOLD HE MEANS BUSINESS. They gave us serious scary Wukong FR.

I’m starting to see how things so easily went wrong for Macky. Wukong does NOT play around, even if you’re MK. Seeing him use the same spell LBD used to trap Macky on top of all this is making me LOSE IT.

QXT: No! No! SWK: There is still a lot I haven't taught you yet. QXT: Monkey King, please! This is my destiny! This is the only way! Let me just say I HATE the expressions Wukong has been making this entire episode. They're ruining me. This one too. SWK: Yes. You're right. It seems like this really is the only way to save everyone. QXT: Then- Then let me go! SWK: Nuwa, or destiny. No matter how you look at it, as long as we came from the same stone... QXT: What? SWK: You don't have to bear this destiny. Let me bear it. QXT: No! Monkey King! SWK: This world needs you, Xiaotian. Thanks...for everything. QXT: Monkey King! Stop, please! THE DRAMA FLUFFY THE DRAMA-! AND WUKONG IS CRYING AS HE FLIES AWAY- and then MK USES THE FREAKING SPELL. I swear everybody is trying to hurt each other and squabbling for the right of who gets to sacrifice themselves first and I'm FLIPPING. WHAT IS THIS?!?!?! This is what happens when you put two sacrificial morons with personal issues in a room together. SWK: No! Xiaotian! No! No! Stop Xiaotian! QXT: I'm sorry. I will be the one to bear my destiny. SWK: Stop! Don't Xiaotian! So anyways, Fluffs. We had all this angsty audio about Wukong crying/yelling if MK got hurt taken from Goku...and now we have to HEAR IT FOR REAL. And like, his VA is seriously good and I think I'll be crying for months if I heard that. I'm going to be crying to YOU about it and that is a threat. We'll cry together. I can kind of see Buddhist influence here since the cycle of reincarnation, while normal here for the characters, is actually the goal to "escape from." So to MK, it's not a good thing. Asides from how much angst Wukong gets from it. You would think it'd be like "oh I get to meet my friends in the next life" but nada, MK here is shook by it. Tho maybe it's because it's not natural, letting them live out to the end, but forcing it early?

OH MY GOD EPISODE 9

I TOOK ALL THE SUNBURST DUO SCREENSHOTS THAT MADE ME FERAL

like…..HELLO?????? 911?????? THERE’S BEEN A MURDER

AND THE FUCKING EXPRESSION BEFORE THE FIGHT🫠🫠🫠🫠 I AM SOBBING

[forgive me for the bad quality 🤧]

AND SWK SO READY TO TAKE MK’S OLAXE BECAUSE “hey, we’re from the same stone, so this destiny of yours should also be tied to me” AND WHAT IF I DIED???? WHAT IF THIS DIALOGUE STABBED ME???? LMK ANSWER FOR YOUR CRIMES

and the way Macky mourned Wukong privately while everyone else cried for MK (bc they assumed the Pillar repairing itsel meant swk failed) since he knew the Monkey King would try to take MK’s place i— 🫠

also Pigsy trying to change MK’s mind and when that didn’t work:

SOMEBODY SEDATE ME 😭

THATS HIS SON!!!! THATS HIS LITTLE BOY WHO LOVES NOODLES AND SUCKS AT DELIVERING THEM AND SPENDS MOST IF HIS WORK HOURS LISTENING TI TABG’S STORIES BUT PIGSY WOULDNT HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY

🫠

also i think @/lunarwandering mentioned this in a post of theirs but Nines is so confusing lmaooooo like bro 🤨 do you or do you not want MK to sacrifice himself???? “i am giving you the choice he free!!! but i will also make sure to stop your friends from stopping me and you from operation Commit Die!”

the way he snaps at being called a monster 👀 Nines please share in a way that isn’t the Allegory of the Cave (like sir, that is Greek Philosophy come on) (tho interesting that the borders of the “cave” from ep8 looked like Nuwa 👀

ans Nines clearly has some beef with Nuwa 👀 so. what’s up with that)

i have so many questions about Nines

[yurious-george]

what were ur thoughts on lmk season 5?

Disclaimer, I watched in mandarin with no english subtitles like everyone else!

If I could describe it in a single word, it would be... Awkward.

the animation, and how the plot was tied up. Felt uncomfortably like a season 3 rehash... and things just happened weirdly fast. It also felt uncomfortably fanservice-y...? Lots of fandom-favorite ships interacting, macaque felt weirdly powerful and wukong seemed unusually helpless... probably some other things. It's weird sandy suddenly got mad and immediately resolved it? hadn't it been previously established that it is very hard to push him to a breaking point? Idk... weird.

I'll hold off any final judgements for the english release, but it seemed... okay, overall? not that it didn't have its stand out moments. There was a moment in ep9 that made me SCREAM it was SO GOOD. iykyk.

but yeah, it felt... weird.

[likeaflowingriver1019]

Afterthoughts about 🍌 🐟

So I finished watching banana fish and I will save this spot to write some personal reviews and opinions.

「時の中に閉じたバラは枯れずに咲き続ける　愛のひとひらは 胸の奥にしまっておこう　永遠の時に閉じて」

I first heard about this work on Tumblr when someone was talking about the so-called “holy gay trinity”, which includes YOI, BF and Jeweler Richard, so I kind of like “well it sounds like nothing to do during this summer break on the way to graduate program plus quarantine why not start some new stuff to get into”. Long story short I first know about YOI in 2016 but I stopped watching it in the middle of airing I didn’t know why. I picked it up and finished watching it. It was a great show and it is literally making history throughout the time. Then I started watching Jeweler Richard and that was very good too. Put in one word or icon to summarize those I would use the the art style of female directors at Takarazuka, for YOI I will take it as 小柳奈穂子-ish and for Jeweler Richard I will say it is very 植田景子-ish. I would probably talk about them in the new posts. Those are just very personal view and if you don’t know about Takarazuka and those female theater directors you will have no idea what I am talking about.

And after I finishing these two I started watching BF, which is my favorite among the three and I will give it totally 上田久美子-ish.

There is an important thing I want to say that episode 24 of BF was in air somehow around Dec. 21st and that is also the day of F. Scott Fitzgerald ‘s death. People won’t take this seriously but it really means something for me that 月組 also revived the show The Last Party - S. Fitzgerald's Last Day. It was played by 月城かなと as Fitzgerald, 海乃美月 as Zelda and 暁千星 as Hemingway. They mentioned 楽園のこちら側 (This Side of Paradise), 美しく呪われし者 (The Beautiful and Damned) and 夜はやさし (Tender in the Night) in the play, but regrettably no ワルツは私と (Save Me the Waltz). I will talk more about this work later.

You know there are many literature references regarding the works by Hemingway and Fitzgerald in the plot and the ending cards of each episode, and the day of the double-shoot is just a ... mental suffering.

It also reminds me of Sisi, the Empress of Austria, but I would like to call her エリザベート. This vibe starts with a realization that the way Ash and Sisi died somehow shares something in common as they are both stabbed by someone else (although Lao is intentionally but Lucheni was not). It is sad and very torturing for me think about this because Sisi is my favorite historical figure and a character in Musicals, no exceptions. Thinking about two favorite characters died in same way is a terrible but blessed experience, no matter how you understand it. In Sisi’s “I-want” song Ich Gehör Nur Mir there is line saying she wants to be a bird and fly to the sea, and you know that Eiji jumped over that wall in EP1 like a bird, so...there is nothing left for me to say.

I also want to add that I found 七海ひろき probably is a great fan of BF (and I am not surprised that she is) because in some photos of her 入待ち/出待ち she was taking a Tasche with contents related to BF on it or it is just an official goods but I don’t know. 壮一帆 also mentioned in her radio program when ポーの一族 was on stage performed by 花組 in 2018 that she see this work as her “bible”, and she also agrees that it would be fascinating if River Phoenix would be able to perform Ash in a real person adaptation of BF.

I did start to rewatch ポーの一族 as well as はいからさんが通る to get a little bit more sense of so-called 少女漫���. I found that together with BF these three are all categorized as 少女漫画, the differences between them are too much to list. Like many other people I questioned a lot why BF is also categorized in it because there are many things in it you won’t be able to see in other works in the same genre. But during my second watching of BF I somehow could get a glimpse that it is truly a 少女漫画. And I think the main issue is with the logic in the plot. Sometimes you don’t need a very sophisticated logics in the plot as you need in Desinated Survivor or Into the Night (yes they are my two favorite Netflix shows) . Thinking about はいからさんが通る, do we need so much reasons for 少尉 doing whatever he can to get 紅緒 out of trouble? So the twist is the same at here, although the relationship between Ash and Eiji is not simple as it between 少尉 and 紅緒, but might be as complicated (in a good way and needs effort to interpret) as Edgar and Alan? I put my words here because when Yut-Long wants Ash to give him the research materials about banana fish and go back to Golzine otherwise he will kill Eiji, Ash then go to Max and asked for the files (with his gun aiming at Max). Max almost doesn’t say nothing and gives it to him but he points out that Ash is doing this for Eiji. I think this part is kind of out of the logic because Max would not be so willing to give the files to him, and Ash did all those things only because of the threat that If he doesn’t do this Eiji will be killed by Yut-Long and Blanca. This is a completely 少女漫画 thing I would say, and it is not bad.

My favorite episode is definitely EP9 “Save Me the Waltz”, Save Me The Waltz is a novel written by Zelda, and this is the only literature work that has been mentioned in the ending cards that written by female writer. This is one reason and feminists like me love those small detailes that can inspire a lot of interpretations. Ash’s appearance in this episode is fabulous, and it is a classic actualization of カリスマ, as you might see in the 中詰 of EXICTER!! The moment when Arthur loosing the chain and Ash reaching for gun looks like an angel is forced falling to the ground, it is beautiful.

The discussion in episode 17 when Ash and Eiji heading to Long Island on the Ferry was amazing. I keep thinging of the song 彼女はエメラルド by DaizyStripper. I strongly recommend you to check it out. I would also want you to go over the album Born To Die by Lana Del Rey, especially Dark Paradise and Summertime Sadness. You may also want to try Old Money and Young And Beautiful. It is better for you to do this after finishing the whole season, but it’s completely up to you.

I also love how eng subtitles translate THAT line as “I am going prostituting”, which is much better than the Simplified Chinese version. 

I went to New York first time in my life in 2017, by that time I am not obsessed with anything related to this “greatest city in the world”. I also went to St. Petersburg and Moscow this year and that was my first time to visit Russia. My second visit to NYC was in 2018 when I was there for getting a visa to Germany. I went to Trinity Church for Alexander Hamilton, Elisabeth Schuyler and Angelica Schuyler (okay I know it is not a proper time to reveal this but I think lot about “everything is legal in New Jersey” for the episodes when Ash was in that psychiatric facility in NJ). In 2019 I was obsessed with another fandom which I choose not to tell at here but I want to visit Queens at least once in my life time.  Finally now in 2020 I am recalled back to this great city and observe more -- the lovely the disgusting things, as well as the summertime sadness.

From that Hamilton vibes I also want to say that Garden of Light makes me think of Who lives, Who dies, Who tells your story. It seems that BF brings in more ideas to the discussion about “what is legacy”, the question that never will be out of date. 

And...this is just a meme but how about THE PHANTOM OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY??? 

「私の真の愛を受け止めて　いつもあなたが　音楽で私の心　包むように」

The song that immediately came to my mind after the ending of EP24 was the last number of musical Don Juan in Act 2, which is called Don Juan Est Mort. In Japanese version directed by 生田大和 and played by 望海風斗 this number has a lyric like “愛に呪われて愛に散った男 忘れない”, which impacted my heart with the insurmountable sorrow and sadness. I never feel drastically sad when I watch the ending of Don Juan, but this time I feel more than anything I have came up with when I do it. 

Please let me to share something personal at here:

Aslan means “dawn”. Ibe’s niece has 曉 as her name. I also have 晓 in my name. My mother chose this character for me because I was born at 7am in the morning. When I was reading Garden of Light I think there are so much feelings that I couldn’t express perfectly in words. I know I am strongly related to this story and I am so happy I get to know this amazing work. This is a epic I will never forget. 

[gillianthecat]

The Devil Judge: Episode 15

I just finished The Devil Judge and something about this show compelled me to take copious notes - it had emotional intensity and layers of mystery. These are long and rambling, so they're likely not of interest to anyone else, but since I spent all that time writing it I decided, why not post it. Perhaps someone will find it interesting.

Below are my moment-to-moment reactions, predictions and analysis as I watched episode 15.

eps 1&2  ep3  ep4  ep5  ep6  ep7  ep8  ep9   ep10  ep11  ep12  ep13 ep14  ep15  ep16

I wrote about my initial impressions, up to episode 5, here and here.

This is cleaned up only slightly. I followed the spelling given in the Viki subtitles. I mostly don't explain what I'm reacting to, so this will probably only make sense if you've seen the episode recently. Occasionally I give timestamps. 

all their memories. 😥

(11:30) this convo on morality and ends & means and being seen as a monster and Yo-Han yet again feeling betrayed by this man.  he thought he'd finally found someone who understood him.  who saw who he was and loved him and wanted to walk this path with him.  

(I really want to know more about Yo-Han and Mysterious Assistant's relationship.  Why wasn't M.A. this person for him? too similar to Yo-Han?  M.A. didn't have the goodness and the kindness that made Ga-On so appealing, that made his approval more meaningful?  just didn’t have that chemistry? Ga-On challenged Yo-Han, pushed him and questioned him and changed him.  M.A. would never even try.)

Maybe it's because I'm still bitter over YSH's death, but I'm feeling this conflict isn't substantially different than the first time Ga-On left Yo-Han's house.  like, i feel like their personal plot has stagnated a bit.  i don't know what i want differently exactly, but I guess I feel like I want something new from them, to see that they've changed.

also starting to get suspicious that YSH's death isn't going to even have all that much plot or emotional significance.  what a fucking waste.

Ga-On wants Yo-Han to choose goodness.  "I sincerely hoped that you would stop" (15:00)

the intensity between them! their faces! Yo-Han can't look at him. Ga-On's bow to his back, even though Yo-Han is refusing to see it. the light on the other side of the door that Ga-On enters and leaves through.  

Yo-Han likes grabbing people around the neck but still keeping them at arm's length.  Is this a common thing in S. Korean media? It looks odd and therefore memorable to me, and I can read all sorts of things about Yo-Han into this move.

finally putting pres. buffoon in his place.  The scary thing is that he wasn't even that over the top.  presidents do just order tanks to destroy their country's people. 

i'm sure this series is saying things about nationalism, racism, xenophobia etc in S. Korea, but I don't know enough to know exctly what.  is this something they could only say while under the heavily emphasized pretext that "this is a virtual dystopia"? and i beleive that they kept a lot of the markers of the korean govt. the same - the flag, the blue house (looks similar to what i found of the real blue house in photos).  Like, they could just be using prez. buffoon's nationalism for the 'vibes', but i suspect it's a least a little more than that.

I do think even though Seon-Ah is acting like this is a business decision, at least in part it's an emotional/[moral?] one. Now that Pres. Heo is threatening the place where she grew up.

if they're going with a nihilist ending (which they might, I genuinely cannot predict which way it will go.  part if it's that the homophonic need to deny the romance is going to throw things off) then my prediction is that Our Two Representative Business Men are going to be shown ending up on top.  That's how it usually goes in the "real world." the ambitious women, the public figures, the people who want to change things, they get destroyed and the men pulling the strings in the background, giggling at everyone else's attempts to be powerful, end up with the world in their hands.  but the show could be going with a different story.  although its hard for me to imagine what victory for Yo-Han would look like.  he doesn't want to rule (govern), he just wants to destroy the rot.  but as other characters keep saying, the rot goes deep.  The only "happy" ending I can see would be him and Ga-On leaving the battlefield to be cozily domestic together.  which is a happy ending for them (very hunger games, if i'm recalling the end correctly). but it also would be unsatisfactory for the audience.  we've been seeing all this evil, we want to see it destroyed.  but the show hasn't posited anything to replace it with (which these types of shows hardly ever do.  how do they usually end? i can't think of any endings i remember right now)

I love seeing a badass Seon Ah.  And Seon Ah in pink in this flashback! I think this is the first time in pink? oh, maybe a pink floral dressing gown at home with the bathroom mirrors?  What if anything does the pink represent?

(30:20)  this image of pres. Heo slumped under the tilting S. Korean flag!

Seon-Ah and Yo-Han keep having conversations about loneliness.

he's barely even reacting to her.  Usually he pretends he's ignoring her, but now she can't pull his focus from his thoughts.  he's not interested in these power games with her anymore. (ruminating on his heartbreak?)

and then he engages, but without the same intensity as usual.  it feels like he's done with her, with their power struggle.

I guess that really hurt her? it's hard to figure out what her actual vulnerable points are

(35:57) - Chairman Park asks "What kind of scam is he going to pull off this time?"  same, dude, same.

my god.  his face.  his voice.  Ji Sung sir you can act.

I feel like this is surrender. genuine surrender, not an act or an attempt to manipulate.  this was a confession of his soul. surrundering himself to Ga-On, not his enemies. He wants to be a man that Ga-On will trust and respect, no matter the consequences to himself. I'm obviously projecting and assuming a lot here, but I don't even think this was about trying to win Ga-On's love, he just wanted to become the man Ga-On saw.  

but probably it is also strategic.  We have two hours left. So even if this was him surrendering, he's gotta start coming up with plans and plots again or we're going nowhere.  I suppose Yo-Han could go passive and wait for Ga-On to rescue him, but that seems way too out of character.  I do predict that Ga-On is going to see that confession, (fall in love again,) forgive-ish him, and start plotting a rescue. 

Also, I think at this point Ga-On has some of Jeong Joseph's story?  or not?  we haven't heard it yet though. 

or maybe it was just p.r. as a manipulation it seems like it was effective.  The public is loving this questing superhero thing.  It was effective on me too.  I think the reality is that it was both. He was being honest and surrendering, but he also knew that it would work.  and to be fair, Ga-On also loves his manipulative scheming side.

I just feel like the series keeps showing us that Y is honest, and then pretending to ask the question, ‘oh but can we trust him,’ when they've already basically proven he can be trusted.  The game is starting to feel a little stale at this point.  you've already asked this same exact question and answered it, ask a slightly different one please.

interesting that the opposition party so far has just been a phrase.  we've never seen anyone from it, we haven't heard anything about them.  I know they already have a lot of characters, and the point is that the power is outside of the official system, but still.. (another thing that makes this world feel a little hollow.  like at least show us one of them making speeches on tv?)

(40:45) Yo-Han’s unreadable face.  slight smile.  my (perhaps wishful thinking) interpretation is that this is a victory, yes, but he's still heartbroken.

ok. Su-Hyeon's grave.  breathe, gillianthecat.  focus on the angst of Ga-On's emotions, not the meta around this scene.

the blood on the edges of the notebook!

i can't tell if Prof. Min feels manipulative because he is, or if it's because his narrative function is to explain things and be Yo-Han's foil in the battle for Ga-On's soul

YSH and G's song 💔

Is the dead guy YSH's killer?  i assume that's what the flashback indicates, but it's hard tell from these angles

oh fuck.  Ga-On's face when he hears Yo-Han's voice. 💔 his breakdown.  He is heartbroken.  He was falling in love. he wanted so desperately to trust Yo-Han, for the good parts he saw to be real

i'm still predicting Yo-Han's not going to turn out to be evil. that there will be an acceptable explanation.  because that's where the rest of the story has led us.  pure evil yohan will just feel like a twist for the sake of a twist without sufficient narrative support. We've seen the world through Yo-Han's eyes too much.  it might have worked if they kept him more mysterious

(55:00) My prediction is that Yo-Han know he's coming.  that he knew that that was Ga-On on the phone.  but i'm not very sure about this.

oh god, the echo of the knife that Su-Hyeon grabbed.  this scene is intense, i keep wanting to pause.

oh, they make the knife parallel explicit

"you will regret it." the same response Ga-On had to Yo-Han choking him at his office.  the way they know each other and don't know each other at all

Yo-Han always refuses to explain himself or defend himself.  he just talks around it "you should know that evidence is futile." some of that is the show's requirement to hold onto mystery and suspense but also... Yo-Han never expects to be believed, he thinks everyone has already pre-judged him as a monster and he doesn't want to defend his humanity

oh the look of betrayal on Yo-Han's face when Judge Min and the cops walk in.  even after all that he wants and hopes for Ga-On to be on his side.  he was less betrayed by Ga-On trying to kill him than by Ga-On turning him over to the authorities.

The only question he asks is, Ga-On do you believe me. That's all he cares about.  the desperate way Yo-Han says his name. my god.

If I'm correct in all my interpretations, I think the show wants to have Yo-Han as both a person and a mystery.  and that's a very difficult line for the storytellers to walk.  I think it's possible, but I think they don't quite pull it off.  At least for me, I've bought into him too much as a person, and the mystery now feels like cheap manipulation and unsubstantiated twists.

aaand Seon-Ah walks in.  was she behind the scenes on all this? did she plant Yo-Han's number in that dead guys phone (presumably he was actually YSH's killer, that seems like an unnecessary twist to it all)

I'm going to predict for now that prof. min didn't know about seon ah's involvement.  but who even knows at this point.

well, that question was answered two seconds later.  i guess my suspicions of prof min were founded.  I think I'm pleased with this twist.  or at least the concept, they could still ruin it at the end.  it was predictABLE but i didn't in fact predict it.  (it's hard to distinguish sometimes which things are holes in the story telling and which are intentional hints that something shady is going on)

and here's the oddly orchestrated Rachmaninoff 

but also Ga-On's 'oh no did i get this all wrong' face.  my god, he's being battered from all sides (this feels gothic, among other things)  and min is giving the same reasoning (1:01:34)  "It was a choice for greater justice. You will understand it one day."  

but what greater justice could this be?  He's working with self-professed manipulators who only want money.  Does he genuinely believe Kang Yo-Han is that evil that it's worth working with these other evils? or is he just lying about that?  

did he latch onto Ga-On already years ago (about 7 years?) when he was a law student (judge student? I don't know how that works in S. Korea) because he looked like Kang Isaac? or did seon ah go to him later on. presumably at least some of these questions will get answered in the final episode.

"You were the weakness I planted near the Young Master."

The wolves are closing in on them both.  of course this happened in the gothic mansion, in their domestic space, not in the halls of power.  not sure exactly why yet, but it feels right.  they're cornered together, they've got nothing left but each other (? i'm guessing?) and they have no power any more.  the outside world is invading their private space.  The two stories being told are colliding.  (they have been colliding all along, but i guess more so now?)

ok, I can see why Su-Hyeon's death was necessary given these twists and this direction. i still feel like having them get together immediately before she died was homophobic and there is no other reason for it besides homophobia.  

ok, my prediction re. Jeong Joseph and the tapes: he is telling the truth, Yo-Han did ask him to hide something.  but it's not that Yo-Han set the fire or killed his brother.  but frankly i have no ideas for what it could be instead.

oh my god his desperation here. We have never seen him this raw. my heart.  He does not want Ga-On to see this.  He cares so deeply about Ga-On's opinion of him.  Maybe he did do it?  and has been living with guilt.  finding out very soon...

their faces! the emotions here. the intensity.  the gothic thunderstorm. It's effective how they show us their reactions first, before showing us what happened.

one last guess that I don't actually think is true because it doesn't lead to the levels of angst we're seeing - Elijah is somehow responsible? ok, deep breath and dive in.

ok, I'm sorry, but if this is their approach to fire safety, how did this church not burn down years ago.  is this going to be a weak explanation that doesn't hold up to the weight of all the angst it's supporting?  I'm worried, but this show has redeemed itself before.

ok.  I guess that was it.  My throw-away guess was right.  I mean it makes sense in some ways.  Yo-Han is obviously incredibly devoted to her, has centered his life around her.  but I don't see how that has anything to do with all the other plotting going on.  How does hiding this mean he needed to bring down the foundation, minister cha, et al.

and why was he so desperate that Ga-On not see it?  Ga-On wouldn't judge or tell.  I think Yo-Han must know that.  has he just been keeping this secret for so long that its' grown into this enormous bundle of emotions he can't be rational about? the emotions are not matching what's actually happening

Also, I 100% blame the church people for that fire.  It was not her fault. who the fuck leaves that many candles unattended and precariously placed in a wooden building.  I'm getting emotional about it, but I don't think they're the emotions the show wants me to have.

"At that very second. I decided to die" with the scissors behind him.

For a second time, all this amazing intensity from the actors (wow they're both great here, Elijah too), the filming, the music, it all so well done.  but it's undermined by the fact that the plot twist behind it just doesn't make enough sense.  

I wish they had the courage to let Yo-Han have been the killer.  although that wouldn't have made sense either.  Honestly, I can't think what secret truth about the fire would have both held all that emotional angst and fit all the facts we already knew about the characters and their past.  

I recognize some of this may be cultural differences.  emotions around guilt and responsibility and protection can vary a lot between cultures, and so i don't know how i'd respond to these scenes if i was korean.  But even if it makes more emotional sense, I still don't think it makes enough sense to sustain everything else.

also, you don't want her to know that she killed her parents, but you let her become someone who is complicit in deliberately sending a prisoner to be raped.  I recognize that those are very different in any universe, and that in this universe the latter is apparently not a bad thing.  but since i've been yanked out of the story i'm gonna go ahead and complain about that too.  

oh, so Seon-Ah's skin care routine was product placement.  good on them in making it feel part of the story.  lol, this is a funny time to bring in the ads.  

I kind of don't even want to watch the final episode. I'm feeling so let down, and I don't have hope that the plot is going to get more sensical. 

but remember, the actors are consistently wonderful and intense. it's worth it to watch just for them.  and at this point i've got to see what happens even if the storytelling is a train wreck.  

still thinking about the reveal.  like, i fully believe that he would do anything to protect Elijah.  We've seen that all along.  His most intense reactions were whenever he thought she was in danger.  and it fits everything we've seen abou their awkward relationship.  She's become more of a mission than a person to him.  he never really had a parent, he doesn't know how to parent, so fiercely protecting her is the only way he knows how to show his love.

BUT.  how on earth does what he's done protect her?!!  How does making himself a monster help?  Is his desire for justice a separate motivation?  Is he trying to control the world because that's the only way he thinks he can keep her safe?  Is he even supposed to be thinking rationally here, or has the mission overtaken its original motivation (just like they showed in that scene with President Heo and his wife)?  I really hope they give me an explanation I can buy.  

hmm. did Yo-Han know that Prof. Min was working with Seon-Ah?  I think he didn't.

eps 1&2  ep3  ep4  ep5  ep6  ep7  ep8  ep9   ep10  ep11  ep12  ep13  ep14  ep15  ep16

[xtremedespair3d]

HajiKo Anime: Winter-Spring 2020 + Summer First Impressions

I wasn’t willing to return to Tumblr to keep making these posts about my anime reviews which they’re the only thing I make because I was burned out on making them and I wanted to commit on writing my novel but I ended up abandoning it now because I was frustrated with everything about it, from harsh criticism I didn’t ask for to not figuring out the story well enough.

Then I tried to keep my reviews going by making threads on Twitter, but later I wasn’t satisfied with how they turned out nor like writing them because I was feeling limited, and I was even debating on whether to keep the Twitter thread format going, returning to Tumblr or just simply tweet my tiers of every anime I watch, so what better way to keep this review series going? It’s to return to Tumblr because I really like reviewing anime and Tumblr has been the most comfortable space to make my reviews and giving it a new name, HajiKo Anime, as in my name I go on Twitter as Hajime Komaeda.

So, kept you waiting, huh?

I had a lot of stuff to do in my life to the point that it drives me totally insane to the point of questioning my will to live, and then there’s also the pandemic which everything gets delayed and cancelled, even upcoming anime!

The biggest problem with making my reviews is sometimes I have to force myself on commenting on other shows I don't have much thought on, only like few I have tons of feelings I want to express, so I really hope things will be any better once I’m back on Tumblr to make these reviews I liked doing.

By continuing to make these reviews by including my new tiers, let me remind how do I interpret the ranking tiers:

S: 10-9

A: 8

B: 7

C: 6-4

D: 3-1

E: 0

Let’s keep in mind that I wouldn’t give full reviews on literally everything I watch because sometimes I don’t have much thought on so I’ll just skip them, I make lengthy reviews on some shows because I genuinely have feelings on these shows, that was one of my struggles with my other reviews, some of them were forced but I promise I will only do lengthy reviews to some shows I have lots of thoughts to talk about.

First off with Winter which is looking qutie strong even for the beginning of the decade:

Winter 2020

(Higher resolution)

Ishuzoku Reviewers: Perhaps one of the best ecchi series I've ever watched in years to the point where the ecchi really gets near-hentai level... so much so it caused controversy for Funimation and Japanese television alike, with Funimation removing the license and cancelled the English dub due to its content, and the series being removed on Tokyo MX. Though I might say that I wouldn't go that far to consider this as the best ecchi series of all time because there are a couple of things I really hated about the show, it can be a little too biased on some fetishes, includes fetishes I’m not a fan of, etc. But still, I admire the show for taking risks by going beyond the limits of Japanese television.

ID: INVADED: This is the most surprising show I've ever seen this season, it may also happen to be somewhat underrated. How can a dying studio like NAZ produce something really well-animated for once? All thanks to Ei Aoiki. I'm not really much of an animation expert but I really hope there might be someone who will make an article saying "How Ei Aoki saved Studio NAZ with ID: INVADED."

BanG Dream season 3: This third season of Bandori is THE BEST Bandori season ever, this made me like RAS (RAISE A SUILEN) even more.

Eizouken: This was an interesting series about making anime that may or may not compete with SHIROBAKO, though even if they have the same theme of making anime, they're completely different in terms of setting. The animation, even from what I've seen with Masaaki Yuasa and Science Saru with Devilman Crybaby, surprisingly looks like the series was actually fully hand-drawn instead of Adobe Flash, though Adobe Flash is still present in the opening.

Isekai Quartet 2: This second season of Isekai Quartet was a huge letdown compared to its predecessor, my biggest deal breaker is how they wasted the Shield Hero characters into minor roles, they straight-up overhyped them. The last few episodes seemed like they were slowly redeeming themselves on making the Shield Hero characters have some more screentime. Now that the series got a third season, let’s see how they will handle the Shield Hero characters this time if they’ll truly become main character status to be shown on the OP and ED, or they continue to be minor characters on the classroom where most of the supporting and minor characters from the main isekai properties attend to. Also, at one episode there was this cameo of these two characters from a series called Cautious Hero, if they end up becoming actual main characters or something, I’m not even gonna bother binging the series just like I did with Shield Hero.

Nekopara: I was skeptical about this series, but upon watching the first episode alone, this is a very comfy series, but its existence and inclusion of original characters will always baffle me.

Honorable mentions:

Azur Lane The Animation: As of July 2020, I think I might have accepted the fact that a lot of people (At least the Western side of the AL fanbase) hate the anime and they say it sucks, I’m really spoiled about it and it sucks to feel that way. I’ve always been hype as hell when I was watching the series from the very beginning, it had all kinds of easter eggs and references I couldn’t stop pointing them out since I’m an avid Azur Lane player (JP version only), and the best part is that at one episode, it had a bath scene where in the Blu-Ray version, the whole scene happens to feature official animated nipples! Official Azur Lane nipples in official media! I wish this could happen very often, even official artists would occasionally draw their characters in full R-18, such as Sirius and Ark Royal. (NSFW, CLICK WITH CAUTION)

Sure, sometimes the series had some quality, especially at the end of episode 4, but that doesn’t make the series automatically garbage or anything. The Azur Lane anime is NOT GARBAGE, PERIOD. Got that?

If I had the time, I’d seriously love to rewatch the series (Using the BD rips of course) to prove everyone wrong.

In terms of the future of Azur Lane anime, as much as I’d love to see this get more seasons and even movies to beat Kancolle to the punch, we’re now getting an anime adaptation of the Twitter 4komas, well, at least that’s certainly something cool. With that being said, I bet people are gonna be like “This is way better than the main anime” which I won’t condone it like hell. Let me say it again, the main Azur Lane anime is not garbage.

Fate/Grand Order Babylonia: Long after watching the series when it was on the air, I’ve been thinking that this was probably okay, Babylonia is not my most favorite singularity throughout FGO because the previous ones deserve some respect and I’m biased to the Shinjuku singularity for obvious reasons. I do wish they would adapt pretty much every singularity but they’re tediously long that they need to make hundreds of anime of each, so they just happen to skip all that and decided to make a Babylonia series and the upcoming Camelot movies because they’re the most favorite. I don’t really buy it on why are they the most favorite, but okay.

My Hero Academia season 4 and My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising: Heroes Rising was probably the last movie I’ve seen going to the theater before the pandemic happened.

Castlevania season 3: For some reason I didn’t like this season as much as the first two (Unpopular opinion).

Phantasy Star Online 2: Episode Oracle: I was very skeptical throughout the first half of the season, but this second half was making me in high spirits, although I would still prefer the original PSO2 anime over this.

Moving on to Spring:

Spring 2020

(Higher resolution)

Fruits Basket: Fruits Basket continues to be an excellent series, balancing comedy and drama the way I like with the comedy always making me laugh and the drama always making me tense. (I don't wanna see or talk about EP9 ever again.)

Shin Sakura Wars The Animation: Sanzigen continues to deliver quite a lot even after BanG Dream! season 3, not only we get one but TWO shows this season. My main problem with Shin Sakura Wars The Animation is that they really must have abused the hand drawn parts so much, and this was a really frustrating problem that this should be A tier instead, but it was still quite good regardless, I love Sanzigen to death.

Watanuki-san Chi To: This was a neat second season and this makes me strongly believe that the Watanuki-san Chi series are the future of VTuber anime, or dorama as what the series is, and I’m still mad that there are still no subtitles for this, neither official subs nor fan subs.

My few complaints for Watanuki-san Chi To is that Ikuko's role that kinda takes Futaba's place a little too much since Futaba was working at a karaoke bar most of the time and Ikuko and Futaba had interacted on-screen like twice (or three if that ending from episode 3 counts) on episodes 5 and 12 (the final one). I'm hoping that we'll get more of the Watanuki sisters and Ikuko interacting together on-screen some more but I think things will be the same with Futaba continuing to work on the karaoke bar.

Then there’s episode 12 which was the episode where Ikuko leaves the Watanuki house after finding her real parents, the episode was kind of predictable as Ikuko returned and decided to stay with the Watanuki sisters afterwards. This is one of the few, if not, the first time that something definitely made me say and feel something was actually predictable, but not that I would hate on it or anything.

Another complaint I have for this entire season is that it lacked the crowd laughs the first season had, the first season felt like it was true a comedy and having no laughs this season gave an entirely different atmosphere and I wasn't very comfortable with it.

Despite the flaws, I give huge thumbs ups for what they did with the world and the characters, they finally happen to bring the characters from the audio drama played by various other VTubers, and we finally happen to explore outside of the world for a little bit between shots of the streets where Ikuko walked through at the beginning of the series and the karaoke bar, not just sticking to the Watanuki house over and over.

The best part of introducing the newer characters is that they finally showed male characters for once, one of which was Futaba's boyfriend, Kenji, who's sort of a recurring background character frequently mentioned in the first season, he happened to finally have his body revealed, but still no face reveal. And there was also this other male guest character in episode 3, he was interesting to say the least. Finally, something to make the series not sexist.

I wouldn't really consider myself as the most dedicated Western Watanuki-san Chi fan. As much as I'd like to call myself that, I don't really speak Japanese to understand the series some more and I would have to be a badass to actually make fansubs, some events happened in Japan, which I don't live in Japan, and I don't buy the merch, let alone the Blu-Rays and the audio dramas. The worst part about the audio dramas is they're purchasable on Pixiv Booth, which Pixiv doesn't really let me use my debit card (or might if I were to use my Wallet app or something). I for one wouldn't really consider myself as the ONLY person who watches the Watanuki-san Chi, I wouldn't be watching the series if it wasn't for the people who have been uploading torrents of every episode on Nyaa, there's a very niche amount of people who do watch the series.

(I probably shouldn’t talk too much about piracy related things and sites like Nyaa, and I try to make my review posts as formal as possible to stay away from such things, but I’m just an independent reviewer who makes these posts as a hobby, I’m not a big anime news site or anything and I can say whatever the fuck I want, so who cares?)

BanG Dream! Garupa Pico Ohmori and Welcome to the Japari Park season 2: These ones are definitely the absolute surprise and looks like things are definitely gonna get absolutely better. They both premiered between late April to early May, so they're kind of a special case.

Kaguya-sama season 2: I didn't get the first season as much, but this second season is finally making me feel better about the series. (Probably because when I binged the first season, I multitasked and get occasionally distracted, that's why I didn't get it at first)

Argonavis from BanG Dream: This one's quite an interesting series. Not as good as the mainline female-centric series, but as a self-contained universe, it's pretty good on its own. It even handles topics that the base series won't even do, like music industry and money. Although Chuchu is probably the closest thing we experience when she's a music producer character of sorts but she's more entitled to her own band, money is a far more important issue the series doesn't want ot tackle, and Argonavis does it right.

The only thing that almost ruined the series is the unnecessarily dark final episode where the entire episode was basically Banri passing out after doing their debut performance in Destiny Rock Festival and Argonavis were having a hard time about what to do if something were to happen with Banri and they made a song dedicated to him afterwards. Episode 12 should have been the final episode, we didn’t need to see a rollercoaster episode, this should be played out more as an OVA, but I digress. This isn’t the weakest or the worst finale but it’s seriously unnecessary.

Now I just hope the second season makes the other bands teased in the last few episodes become regulars, just like how the first season of the female Bandori where they teased a lot of the other bands, and then from season 2 onwards, the other bands have become regulars. I just really hope they'll make the other bands from Argonavis be full CG because they were all hand drawn for some reason,  and I also need season 4 of main female Bandori series so bad so they can introduce Morfonica which in anime format they're introduced in the Garupa Pico Ohmori series.

Brand New Animal: It partially is because BNA starts with B, but he main reason is that I thought it was alright, and as a Netflix series that I can binge in one run, it's easily forgettable. Not the weakest of TRIGGER, but I feel rather indifferent with this.

Princess Connect ReDive: This was my absolute least favorite of Spring, I couldn't stress enough on how much of a Konosuba wannabe this is, it's such a poor imitation and I wish the actual game wasn't this ridiculously bad. From the over-the-top wacky tone to goofier background character designs and a very retarded MC. I don't know why but I thought this would be a simple way to get into Princess Connect without getting into the game because I see fan arts a lot, and Japan apparently seems to like this, as evidence with the fan arts and as much as I would like to like this more because of it, it just didn’t work for me, the animation is alright, though. At least this is way better than the NOT Shadowverse anime.

I got a comment from someone saying that the Konosuba influence comes from the director of the Puriconne series and this series serves to introduce the game as an original story for non-Puriconne players without touching any major plot points.

And finally let’s talk about my first impressions to all the shows I’m watching this Summer season:

Fire Force season 2: I was hoping this season can be a little bit better animated than the first, but upon the first episode of this season alone the terrible pacing is still there, but then the second episode, things get really interesting. The story is the main thing that will keep me intrigued for the rest of the series.

Dokyuu Hentai HxEros: The first time I heard about this series was when I retweeted and saving a Suketto Sanjou-related picture by artist Rakko where he hid a reply where someone posted a link to the Amazon page of the upcoming volume of the manga of HxEros (which the manga is not by Rakko and this is totally unrelated, what the hell was the guy who made the reply thinking?), that was a little while before I heard that this was getting animated.

At first I was 50/50 on watching it or not, but I saw the news that there’ll be this “H Energy Unleashed” version, which is the “uncensored” version and that sold me, but I continue to be unsure on watching it, that is until the day of the premiere where I was randomly seeing screenshots of the episode on my timeline, particularly scenes where the girl Kirara was completely naked, and I was absolutely sold on it and decided to watch it, and after doing so, I kinda dig it.

However, I dislike Kirara because of how she is. It makes me feel bad for how she used to be when she was a kid during some flashbacks where she was a dirty minded girl to present day where she’s a hardcore tsundere hiding her horniness, the way she is, it really makes me hard to empathize with her. She’s pretty cute and hot too.

Re:Zero season 2: It feels weird having a second season of Re:Zero considering it’s been 4 years since the first season came out, and after watching the first episode, now I just feel unprepared.

Oregairu season 3: While I was watching the episode, I was randomly reminiscing some memories and characters I remember from the first two seasons and who do I like, which I kinda like most characters, but Komachi is my least favorite because she constantly says “gross” to poor Hachiman, geez.

Uzaki-chan: This was a pretty solid series and this is definitely being AOTS. However, recently I found something very hilarious that I’m dying to talk about.

Remember the time when there was a controversy from an SJW where they criticized the Uzaki-chan Japanese Red Cross poster because of her big boobs? Well, that’s a separate story, but things with Uzaki-chan gets more laughable, as I stumbled upon this tweet a few days ago and...

Anime News Network gave the first episode a 1.5 star review?!

Holy jesus... What is that?! What the fuck is that?!

Yikes, Anime News Network are a bunch of clowns!

I’m really glad ANN is getting the hate it deserves, I just don’t like ANN when they do reviews, I never liked them since their discussion post on Netsuzou Trap and then episode 0 of Saekano season 2.

All that aside, this series is going to be quite a fun ride.

This Summer season could have been strong if only Akudama Drive and Danmachi season 3 weren’t delayed, but that’s for the better as Fall 2020 is looking like it’s the strongest season of the year, and you’ll find out why in September.

And that’s it for all my reviews! I really hope you enjoyed my biased reviews and I can’t wait to continue to make these reviews just like I used to. Also, let me address that I don’t make money from making these reviews, I only write these posts for fun.

Anyways, see you in Fall 2020 for my review for this Summer season and what am I gonna watch in Fall!

Check out my Carrd.