#Faithfully yours retrospective 1

[chibimyumi]

what do you think of BOC ep1?

Doesn't it feel like the repetition of the many failures of the trio idiots, and the perfection of Sebastian, the butler? More or like the 1st chapter of BB manga or 1st episode of S1?

Dear Anon,

💖 I like BOC episode 1 a lot. It was admittedly not an impressive episode, but unlike 1st episodes of most anime, BOC's didn't need to draw in a new audience and impress everyone enough to stay. With BOC (being aired in the middle of the night), the target audience is one that already knew Kuro to be worth their time. Therefore episode 1 only needed to be an introduction to the axis of the show; the kidnapping case. Since it fulfilled that purpose excellently, it's an excellent episode 1 in my opinion.

Let’s unpack this episode. (*´▽｀*)ノ

"Just a repetition of the trio idiots"?

Ah, I partially agree with you. I do think the first episode is a showcasing of the trio idiots' failures in juxtaposition of Sebastian's perfection. However, I also think the first episode has more legitimacy than just going: "OMG Sebas, kyun💗", because for the Circus Arc this display of the trio's incompetence is functional. This is in stark contrast with most other adaptations of Kuro and in the beginning of the manga, which were little more than glorifications of Sebas.

The trio's incompetence display plays a key role for the series, because this image given to the audience is the same image the Circus Member would have had of the only remaining staff guarding the Phantomhive estate. I believe that this element of surprise is part of the Phantomhive strategy; intruders can't prepare themselves for 3 human war machines if they don't know of them. This is also reflected in what I read to be Sebas' main M.O. as described here, and now in retrospect it makes sense that it had been Sebas who recruited Bard and Meyrin.

This surprise that the Phantomhive servants are actually talented private soldiers is also not just there to "outsmart the audience, jokes on you!!" It showcases how well-organised the Phantomhive household is under Ciel and Sebas, under the same main strategy: "play with everyone's non-suspicion."

Indeed, with the first episode having shown how Sebas alone can handle any mundane housekeeping task, one is invited to question "why hire such fools in the first place for these jobs?" And the answer is clear now: "there was no need, and they were not hired for 'these jobs'." They were hired for the jobs of private soldiers, just put under guise of maid, chef and gardener, respectively. Of course they wouldn't be good at their not-jobs!

Potent introduction to the protagonists

Another reason I think episode 1 of BOC works well is because it introduces its two protagonists very effectively. The surface checklists of Sebas and Ciel are of course ticked, but it also does more than just that: episode 1 exhibits the mutual bickering between master and servant, Ciel's testing personality, and Sebas' passive-aggression.

When master and servant were walking down the corridor for example, Ciel told Sebas he "was not looking forward to it". Sebas however, interpreted it as his master was talking about the meeting with Brandel. That is quite telling for the way Sebas' brain works, because the demon consistently works only with very clear, transparent messages. If someone does not convey clearly what they mean, Sebas will have no choice but to guess.

It then turned out Ciel was actually talking about the dancing lesson, and Sebas then says: "I see. Do you mean to say that you wish to demonstrate your 'staggering waltz' to the Lady Elizabeth?" Defeated, Ciel only replies: "you snide bastard."

This conversation is likewise very characteristic of these two. Here again Sebas is interpreting, because it is unclear to him what exactly his master wants him to do with this information. Was he simply complaining? Or was he hinting for Sebas to cancel class? (Just pay attention to how much people "communicate" only implicitly through hints. For Sebas this "code of communication" must be as consistent as guesswork.) In Ciel's dismayed reply "you snide bastard", we get a hint that Sebas might not have been too wrong in his interpretation either, because it clearly touched a nerve. Had he been wrong, then Ciel would undoubtedly not have given Sebas the satisfaction of letting him know his comment hit something, and instead simply corrected his butler like he did about Brandel. This back-and-forthing is in my opinion an innocent but excellent taster of their toxic dynamic.

Potent introduction to the series nature

Another thing this episode does well is how it represented what this series is in its core; a comical dark fantasy. When Brandel was convinced that his assassination attempt had succeeded, he boldly hid himself under the table laughing, and when he emerged from underneath it was just total peace. I really giggled at the anti-climax and secondhand embarrassment, it was SO GOOD.

Then when Sebas congratulated Brandel for winning La fève, it was just so casually macabre, I loved it!! I really loved the skin-crawling feeling of Sebas having done a mass-murder, and just casually breaking it to Brandel like the most trivial thing. Because it WAS the most trivial thing to Sebas.

Once again we see just how terrifying the Phantomhive household is, what the "Phantomhive Hospitality" means, and what "Phantomhive" means.

When Sebas crowned Brandel I really loved his mirth at the man's terror. And when Ciel revealed his contract eye saying: "do you have any idea why nobody has spoken of how the Watchdog inflicts punishment? It is because dead men tell no tales." it was so bone-chilling, it was amazing. In my opinion it was a very effective way to impart "old information" to viewers, without it feeling like: "exposition, exposition, exposition".

Conclusion

So yes, though the first episode of BOC is not really impressive on first glance, it gives the audience a lot to unpack and understand what this series will be about.

The first episode effectively disclosed the universe's law: The Queen's Watchdog is relentless with "Phantomhive hospitality", made possible through his strategy and the demon butler's powers

It constructively introduced the character dynamic of the two protagonists: an unconventional master-servant relationship with back-and-forthing.

It practically sets up an image about the idiot servants, which is not a lie, but does paint a different picture of the full truth.

And finally, it faithfully shows the audience the atmosphere of the universe: a comical and macabre world where atrocious crimes are trivial to our protagonists from Hell.

In short; as an introductory episode for BOC, it's more than successful in my opinion. The episode was written by Yana herself, so naturally it understands the source material well. Yes, it's indeed not a very flashy or impressive opening, but for those who are interested, I do recommend giving this episode another investigatory watch rather than a passive watch.

I hope it had been an interesting read ^v^

[duhragonball]

ediblenonsense replied to your post “Dragon Ball GT Retrospective (1/7)”

i actually....... have never sat down and watched GT. i watched DBZ Kai, DB, and then the episodes of DBZ that i missed while watching Kai, but i haven't tried GT. but i do agree with this: "I think everyone at Toei understands now that GT was a failed experiment at best." IT DOES SEEM THAT WAY..... they NEVER bring in characters from GT, unlike DB-only characters lol, who sometimes make an appearance

They put GT characters in the video games, usually as bonus characters, although at this point there’s so many DBS characters running around that they almost don’t need them anymore.   I’m kind of surprised they added GT Goku to FighterZ, for example.    

But I think the way they’re used in the games sort of tells the story of how far GT has fallen.   In the early 2000′s, I think people at least recognized it as “sorta canon”, even if they rejected it as an official part of the story.   Because it was the only thing set after DBZ, so it was either that or nothing.   I preferred “nothing”, but I could understand how fans wanted something, even if it wasn’t very good.  

But the video games only use the GT guys as special bosses.   A lot of times the story modes don’t even bother adapting the plot of GT.   They’re just like “Then one day Super 17 showed up!    Goku has to fight him!”   And they only use the heavyweights or the most important characters: GT Goku, Pan, the Super Saiyan 4′s, Baby Vegeta, Super 17, and Omega Shenron.    Maybe Majuub, Nuova and Eis Shenron, but that’s unusual.  The Xenoverse games added GT Trunks, and I was astonished by this.  I think they only did it so they could have even more AU Trunks’ in the game.  

I guess what I’m saying is that they never put General Rilldo in these things, or any of the low-tier Shadow Dragons.  I think if GT had enough fan support, there would be a push to work those guys into the games, just so the story mode could adapt GT more properly.   They’d add GT Goten and Easter Sunday 18 just to recreate the Super 17 arc more faithfully, but they don’t, because no one seems to care enough.   

Personally, I think they could get some mileage out of reintroducing some GT concepts, sort of like how they did with Broly in the latest movie.   Baby has some potential as a lead villain, but they need a stronger, more focused script.   The Shadow Dragons could work, but they all need to look cool and kick ass, instead of four of them being total geeks.

Anyway, if you’ve got twenty bucks burning a hole in your pocket, you should check out the Baby Puke Green Brick Set and see for yourself just how bad it is get yourself something nice that you’ll actually enjoy is the end of that sentence.

[judithwesterfield]

FAITHfully Yours - Sunday Retrospective #1

FAITHfully Yours – Sunday Retrospective #1

“If we take people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat them as if they were what they ought to be, we help them to become what they are capable of becoming”

Goethe 

A Baha’i Bit

Essentially a mystical Faith, the Baha’i teachings focus on the soul’s relationship with the eternal, unknowable essence of God, and recommend daily prayer and meditation to everyone. 

Baha’is believe that the…

[sage-nebula]

yoshi12370 replied to your post: yoshi12370 replied to your photoset: ...

Like I do understand that Kanto was originally going to be a standalone series and the way it was written shows this fact, however it’s really glaring in retrospect. Gary during Kanto was just a shallow bully than a true rival for Ash and the writers didn’t really want to focus on it as a rivalry rather than comic relief scenes. Of course the series got expanded and I felt that their relationship didn’t translate too well in the transition from Standalone to Multi-Season. Not saying Ash and Gary’s relationship was bad but as you said, the bulk of Gary’s development was offscreen. He barely had any focus during his time and a lot of his achievements were informed rather than shown (tho when it was shown, it delivered). This is part of what I meant about the rivalry being one-sided, as it seemed like they had Gary be ahead just because

Oh yeah, I definitely see where you’re coming from, and for the most part I agree.

I do think that Gary’s relationship with Ash was always meant to be a rivalry from the start. However, since we don’t know exactly when they realized they were going to continue on past Kanto, I wonder if perhaps Ash and Gary were originally meant to battle in the Kanto League, only for that to fall through when they realized that the anime was going to be carrying on indefinitely. We know, for instance, that Mewtwo Strikes Back was originally supposed to end the series, but that it was rewritten when they realized that wasn’t going to happen. I wonder, then, if around the time that decision was made, they also made the decision to postpone Ash and Gary’s battle (and include a bunch of smaller ones) until the Johto League instead.

I say this because it makes sense when you think about how they basically copy-pasted the rivalry from the games. The backstory is the same (albeit a little more fleshed out later on), and Gary Oak is the most accurate adaptation of game!Green Oak I’ve ever seen, save for that little short from Pokémon Generations. People can rag on the PokéAni all they like, but the PokéAni team straight up nailed Green when they created Gary. They got him dead-on accurate. Even his personality shift later is reminiscent of how Gary acts in the GSC games (which comes across a lot more sloppily in the anime due to the anime not having a three year time skip like the games, but the PokéAni team did the best with what they had---though oh, imagine the possibilities if they had included a time skip after the Orange League!!). They did a damn good job with adapting his character, although it’s a bit of a double-edged sword since his character in the games is pretty one-dimensional.

Regardless, the point is, in the games, the rivalry between Green and Red is summarized as thus: Green and Red were childhood friends when one day Green decided to be an asshole and started bullying Red instead. Throughout the RGBY games he shows up at various points to be an asshole, battle Red, lose, act like an asshole again, and leave. This culminates in the two of them meeting at the League, Green declaring that he is “THE STRONGEST TRAINER IN THE WORLD!!!!1!!1!!!” because he became the Champion, Red beating him again, Green being scolded by his gramps, and Green stalking off, not to be seen again until he’s a more humble Gym Leader three years later. There’s not a lot of depth to that story, there aren’t many layers; Green’s just a jerkass who takes a dose of Break the Haughty before becoming a better person. He has a line or two about wondering where Red is, showing that perhaps their relationship has improved, but again, that’s not until GSC. In RGBY, Green was a douchebag from start to finish.

So when you consider that the PokéAni team was adapting that story, I would say that they definitely wrote Ash and Gary’s relationship as a rivalry from the start---it’s just that they wrote it as the Gen I games rivalry, versus the rivalries that we would come to experience later (in both the games and the anime). I wouldn’t say the scenes that we get with Gary were meant to be comic relief so much as they were meant to show that these two are rivals, and when Ash beats his ass at the League it’s gonna be so good. Sure, there are things to laugh at in Gary’s scenes due to how over the top ridiculous he is (the car, the cheerleaders), but I do think those scenes were meant to show us the Gen I games rivalry without the battles, for whatever reason---probably because they wanted to have One Big Battle™ between Ash and Gary at the League, which Ash was supposed to win, a la how Red beats Green at the League in the games. This would have worked fine, except then they realized that they were going to have to prolong the anime indefinitely, which left them with three options. They could:

Proceed with the plan as scheduled, and create a new rival for Ash after they wrote Gary out of the show following his loss to Ash at the League. (It’s possible executive meddling ruled this one out, because they had a ready-made rival in the Johto Rival that they could have used but didn’t. It’s possible that Gary was so popular that they decided to keep him on rather than replacing him with the Johto Rival, but I don’t know for sure.)

Have them battle at the League, but have Gary win, resulting in their rivalry continuing, but Ash getting booted from the League before Gary. (And also making Gary look correct for all the times he called Ash a loser.)

Have Gary booted from the League before Ash, but by someone else’s hand, and then create a new, League-exclusive rival for Ash.

In retrospect, I do think option one would have been the best option, as much as I do like Gary’s character later on. While I know they re-used the Johto Rival in DP in the form of Paul (though I hate making that comparison because I like the Johto Rival and dislike Paul but it is what it is, the similarities are there even if I don’t like it), I think it would have made more sense to utilize his character in Johto as a new rival for Ash, while letting Gary develop in the peripheral if they did decide to continue developing his character. At the very least, it might have helped make his development seem less clumsy and rushed, since all of it happened off-screen anyway.

But that said, as we know, they went with option three, which is how we got Ritchie. And I like Ritchie, don’t get me wrong! But I also feel that you can see how rushed he is in how much he resembles Ash, from his appearance to his choice in pokémon. (He’s just more polite and less snarky, which in retrospect means that he’s probably Serena’s actual Dream Guy, if we’re being honest.) Ritchie really feels like he was thrown together at the last minute when they realized they couldn’t have Ash battle Gary at the League, and it shows. I like him, but . . . well. It is what it is.

Anyway, this is getting off subject. It’s 5am. I’m very tired. My point is---I definitely see where you’re coming from and I agree, though I still think the real problem lies less in the beginning and more in the middle; they changed their plans at the last minute (I believe, anyway), and then didn’t know how to handle the transition they had to create as a result of that. I think that, had they gone along with their original plan and written in Ash beating Gary at the Kanto League like it was probably originally planned, things would have been better, even if Gary still showed up from time to time. Ash would have already secured a victory against Gary under his belt, we might have been able to actually see Gary coming to terms with the fact that Ash was the one who beat him out of the Kanto League, and if they had continued following the games faithfully, perhaps we could have even seen him become the Viridian City Gym Leader, at which point he and Ash had a rematch now that the Gym was legitimately run (instead of owned and operated by Team Rocket). Who knows. (Meanwhile, if the Johto Rival was the actual Johto Rival, i.e. was Giovanni’s son, that could have been really interesting too.)

I’m pretty sure we’re on the same page, though, even if there’s a bit of contention over where the problem stems from---and even then, I think we both agree that this was caused by the sudden decision to not end the anime after Kanto, and the decision to continue it indefinitely is absolutely what made it lose that original flavor it had in the first season. I mean, I think the Orange Islands season maintained that flavor, in all honesty, due to how much it was very much its own thing---but Johto adopted that formulaic, commercial taste that the anime would have for the rest of its run. They knew what they had to do by the time they hit Johto and it showed, whereas the first two seasons---and Kanto especially---were treated much more like an actual narrative and show rather than, “welp, this is a story we’re going to continue until long after the sun burns out, so we better keep and maintain a status quo, boys.” It wasn’t perfect by any means (my god, the OS could be called the Saga of Abandoned Subplots tbqh), but whenever I watch the anime, the Kanto season especially (but also Orange Islands) just has a very authentic feeling, whereas Johto and beyond* just . . . doesn’t, even if it’s still enjoyable to watch.

(*The Strongest Mega Evolution is the exception, because it was its own narrative story because that was the entire purpose behind its existence, hence it, too, had that very authentic feel that I honestly haven’t felt in the anime since the second season. It was literally written because they couldn’t figure out a way to show Alan’s backstory in the main anime, and so it was created for no purpose other than to just tell a story and it goddamn shows and I just---it’s one of the reasons I love it so much. I didn’t make an entry for PokéAni week, but honestly, my favorite saga? The first two seasons of the OS, and TSME. Do those really count as a favorite saga? Probably not, but see if I care, I will face Arceus and walk backwards into the Distortion World, that’s how much I care.

. . . Okay, honestly, it’s 5am, I should probably shower and then go to bed, I’m very tired. It’s been fun talking about this, though. Sorry for writing several rambling essays, hahaha.)

[kloveely]

The Assignment: Ten Years A Slave.

Ten years ago, out of the conviction of the Holy Spirit, I was assigned the task of leading worship.  Before I get into the assignment, or why I added “ten years a slave” to the title, I want to emphasize the part where I said, “out of the conviction of the Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit was sent to us by the Father, to teach and to remind us what we’ve learned about God and what I love about the Holman version is that it references the Holy Spirit as, “the Counselor” (John 14:26).

That connotation for me is so fitting and important, because a good counselor guides you in the right direction but also listens to you and understands you. In order to guide you, spiritually speaking, the Counselor also has to be present in moments of being lost, to lead you through. 

I grew up in church and I was always taught about the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and it was made clear to me as well as I understood they were God.Three-in-one. When I rededicated my life to the Lord it was more about choosing, outwardly for myself, to continue this walk my parents dedicated me to. I knew that moving forward, I had to choose God, and when I did, I learned quickly what the conviction of the Holy Spirit felt like. 

Coming into Rock Harbor I “knew” church. I knew how I was supposed to walk, how I was supposed to talk, and for the most part I didn’t do any walking or talking the way I knew I should. I was tired. I had been in church my whole life, and back then, I hadn’t even missed two consecutive Sundays in a row. I was religiously brought to church every Sunday. Not only that, I was a part of the usher board, I was in the choir, I was on the praise dance team, I went to bible study, Sunday school,  and I even assisted the Sunday school’s Superintendent in taking role and collecting tithes & offering from each class. In retrospect, when I came to Rock Harbor I was longing to not be expected to walk and talk in a certain way, to just be a child who made mistakes and have that be ok. So there I was, rebelling against going to youth group, joining the worship team, attending bible study, etc. although I continued to come every Sunday. 

Now here is where the conviction happens. 

I don’t quite remember exactly what happened but from what I recall, I remember it being Summertime, when the sun would be sitting right above the horizon just before setting around 7 or 7:30. I remember it being a weekday and the worship team, my friends at the time, would practice and I would wait for them to finish.  This particular evening, there was someone else waiting outside the church with me and we were singing some secular song in the parking lot together. We must’ve gotten really into the song because it disrupted the team practicing and they yelled for me to come inside. I can’t remember what was said to me or who said it but that very evening, I remember feeling the Counselor shake me to my core saying, “how dare you continue to defy me and not be where you’re supposed to be.” I felt grief, I felt fear, I felt exposed. I was convicted because I had been hearing my name called and I chose not to answer. 

Have you ever experienced that moment as a pre-teen or teenager being in your room and you hear your mom calling you from downstairs but you don’t want to answer because you know what she’s about to ask you to do? Well the conviction of the Holy Spirit hit me like that moment when she walks upstairs, busts my room door open, and in her lioness mom voice says, “did you not here me calling you?!” 

Now let’s go back to the beginning where I said I grew up knowing, understanding and believing in the Holy Trinity. That they together are God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three-in-one. 

When God the Father spoke the earth into motion, He said, “let there be light” and so the light came. When God the Son commanded, “silence, be still,” the wind ceased. In that same respect, when God the Holy Spirit called me by name and I ignored the call, I was brought to me knees to be reminded, what I had been taught about God. 

Out of the conviction of the Holy Spirit, I was assigned the task of leading worship. 

Now, this next part I would say is the manifestation of that scripture in 1 Corinthian where Paul writes, “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.” 

In school, when you’re given an assignment usually it’s based upon what was discussed in class and now it’s your task to apply it and see if what you learned stuck with you. 

I grew up learning to play piano but to be honest I didn’t totally love it. Therefore I didn’t practice enough to be on the level of experience I should’ve been after taking classes for over 10 years.   I was also trained vocally but I didn’t want to be a singer so I definitely wasn’t going to get in front of people and say that I was a singer.

However, I had to let the Holy Spirit lead me through and that doesn’t mean I was bestowed this beautiful singing voice with the ability to play the notes of angels.  Most Sundays I would sit behind this upright, old, out of tune piano, hands trembling, stomach turned inside out, so nervous I couldn’t even remember the words to the songs let alone look up from the piano because I only remembered 4 chords and not very well.   Other Sundays, I would be in the back of the church crying and pleading to my spiritual mom to let me not play this Sunday because I didn’t feel that I was qualified enough to be in front of people. Thankfully, Marshelle always managed to calm me down and get me in my seat to begin worship. 

Throughout this entire experience, I began to see by just being obedient and faithfully showing up week to week the Holy Spirit not only moved in my life but in other’s lives and I was just merely a pinky nail in the puzzle.

I can’t say that this assignment was given to me because I was ready, if anything I was given my assignment because I wasn’t ready and it took me working through this calling to be ready. 

There wasn’t this divine moment where God shared His plans with me and all that he has in store for me. God only shared that He already knows the plans He has for me and quite frankly that is enough. 

Which brings me to today, in this moment. I have my doubts often, if not daily.  God has brought me through so much just to show me He is not done. We are challenged to fulfill our assignments but we must do them from a place of conviction. We are free but at the same time we need to be bound to our life calling. Earlier, I mentioned how I loved the way the Holman translation of the bible spoke a specific scripture but I believe each translation is purposed to bring clarity so I check and re-check scriptures in many different versions. For the purpose of this conclusion I want to intentionally use the New English Translation for this final scripture. 

In Philippians 1:1, Paul wrote a salutation beginning with, “From Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus...”

I believe Paul intentionally wrote to reference the specific word ‘slave’ because of his own conviction. Essentially, Paul was a slave to Jesus Christ. I wanted to also mention it because it’s important or more symbolic to me of that day that I answered my calling.

That my life has been purposed for God to be used by God and apart from Him there is no purpose.  Very similarly to how Paul felt, I also feel this binding on my life and from the beginning of the story to this very moment it’s not about singing and playing piano but merely being obediently faithful to my God, leading a life of worship. 

After ten years I know that God will give me what it takes and what I need to go ten more years wherever the Holy Spirit calls me. 

[judithwesterfield]

Faithfully yours - Retrospective #2

Faithfully yours – Retrospective #2

“Shed the light of a boundless love on every human being whom you meet, whether of your country, your race, your political party, or of any other nation, colour or shade of political opinion. Heaven will support you while you work in this in-gathering of the scattered peoples of the world beneath the shadow of the almighty tent of unity.”

Baha’u’llah, The Baha’i World Faith,

“All major religious…