#Having said all that there are some characters whose character arcs were a little lackluster

[bleue-flora]

I don't get why so many hate the finale lore stream like the first 3 people were fine with but so many hated the last one I've even see c!Dream apologists dislike it. Like why?

I’ve talked about this before [here] which I feel might be one of my better essays covering my thoughts on the matter, but I’ll talk some more about it. I think there are a few things to keep in mind.

Firstly, finales will always have a divided audience approval. Some will love it, some will hate it. This is true across the board, it may be more skewed in certain directions, but still there is always diversity even on some of the more infamous finales. And this is partly I think due to us mourning the loss of our beloved show, book, series…etc. and sometimes misconstruing our dislike of the finale as disliking the story it tells not the fact that it’s ending period. I will always kinda hate finales in this way because I’m sad to see it go, which also means I will, in a sense, set a high expectation for the finale, which may or may not be reasonable. Though, since I have watched so so many tv shows, I have definitely lowered my expectations, especially because as a writer, endings are hard. It’s easy to make a mess of all the toys and get to the climax, but it’s not as fun to clean up after and resolve it (in my opinion). So not only are endings hard to write they are also hard to do, as to do a satisfying ending there may be additions that aren’t possible. And on top of that, endings bring an end to the audience’s hope of seeing perhaps certain scenes they long for, so if things you wanted to see didn’t happen then the finale is already going to be disappointing because now it won’t ever happen.

Anyways, in the case of the dsmp finale, one of the things I think happened was people set an expectation that was unreasonable logistically and characteristically. Now that doesn’t mean a finale can’t be judged because of its limitations, I certainly could write an essay on why the Supernatural finale was the worst finale I’ve ever seen, Game of Thrones and Sherlock included. But it isn’t fair to judge something with an expectation that it could never live up to.

To be honest though, I’m not entirely sure what they even expected to happen, since not a single thing in the finale surprised me because I more or less saw it coming (but I do tend to predict endings so no shade to people who did not of course). It was what it needed to be, what it should be, what it was going to be based on the irl events. If you were paying attention to the narrative and the characters this was the direction we were headed to. Now are there things missing I wish were included? Of course. Are there characters who didn’t get the resolution they deserves or things I thought could be better? Of course. Are there plot holes and questions I still have? Of course. It is far from perfect (and not just because Tommy couldn’t throw the discs properly lol XD). But just because I’m sad it’s ending, and sad I didn’t get to see certain interactions or scenes I wanted to, doesn’t make the ending bad.

But anyways, the main reason I think people disliked it is because they weren’t paying attention. Or at least they didn’t quite have a good understanding of the characters or the story at large and because of this the finale came out of nowhere and didn’t make sense. I think people especially don’t quite get the last conversation between Tommy and Dream, I mean I think we’ve all seen the outrage over Tommy “apologizing to his abuser,” when Tommy was only apologizing for killing them all, killing their chance at a happy ending. But just to be clear, neither Tommy nor Dream apologized nor expressed guilt or remorse over their actions in the finale, that wouldn’t really be character consistent. No, all that happened was for the first time Tommy saw that Dream was more than a 1 dimensional villain. For the first time, Tommy actually heard Dream.

And not only did that fit nicely into Tommy’s character arc and Dream’s, but also the story at large. A story about characters who all have povs we as the audience get to watch, where everyone is the hero in their own story, everyone is right from their point of view. In the finale, we see one of, if not the only moment where a character actually understood someone else’s pov and realized they weren’t the hero in everyone’s story after all, that they weren’t the only ones with hopes and dreams and motivations and pain. They weren’t the only protagonist.

In addition, I think one of the misunderstanding of the characters comes from taking too much of what Punz and Dream say as truth. I myself am guilty of this, and it is only when I look at streams like the one with Punz and Dream talking before prison, that I realize, just like the disc monologue where Dream theatrically goes on about control, there seems to be some serious showmanship going on. Of course, like all of Dream’s productions there is truth weaved in his words and his emotions do break through the facade, but I think we would be remiss to take everything they say at face value. These are two known liars who put on a whole staged finale after all. And the contrast between some of the things they say there versus the stream where they are alone is telling to me. By themselves they have no reason to lie or be facetious, but in front of their enemies it makes lot of sense to put on a production. So, what they say in that stream by themselves, what they say when they meet up after prison, what they say in the stream where Tommy comes to distract them, those are more truthful to me than the whole power hungry nonsense.

Regardless, Tommy and Dream finally airing their grievances was so satisfying to me. I can’t think of any other ending that would have been as pleasing. Again, I’m not sure what they wanted, did they really want them to kill eachother again. Because like that seems boring to me, we’ve been there, done that. Dream says it himself of how the cycle of Tommy and Tubbo vs Dream is just the same thing over and over again. (This is actually one of my issues with the Supernatural finale as well.) I am of the opinion that if a finale could happen at any other point in the story, then it is not a good finale. If the finale could happen in stream one, why would I watch the rest? Where is the pay off? The finale should be the difference, the highlight of the circumstances that got them there and how they’ve changed over this whole story. In many ways it should be the unexpected of the character (not to the point of like doing something that doesn’t make sense, like still gotta be character consistent - this is why neither apologized in the finale for example), finally growing and overcoming the flaw they’ve battled all along. That is what makes it satisfying - wow look how far they’ve come, look at how the circumstances of the story have made this happen. That is what makes a good ending.

As far as Dream apologists go, there are quite a few different viewpoints in the community. Not all of us have the same understanding. (I actually recently had to stop reading a fic because the take on Dream frustrated me so much.) Some see Dream as evil but love him anyways or even for that. Some see Dream as the problem but prison was his path to a redemption of sorts. Some see Dream as attachment-less and cruel. Some see Dream as insane. Some see Dream as innocent. I think there are some that even think he deserved prison… etc lots of different understandings of the character and so if the finale didn’t align with the viewpoint of Dream then I can see people not liking it or just not liking it because Dream didn’t get redemption, or forgiveness, or sympathy, or a happy ending.

Hope that shares some light on it and answers your question I guess. <3 <3 Sorry for the length… it’s inevitable at this point I think lol. And here I thought my first essay on the matter did a good job. ;D

[maybeamiles]

Fanfic WIP (chapter 1 pt. 1)

Okay so I had an idea a while ago that was kinda dumb. Basically, it went, “what if the hero of men from minish cap was actually a woman” and then I began brainstorming ideas for it and it accidentally turned into a big ol’ emotional story with like, ideas on trauma and love and courage and stuff.

So, uh, IDK how to tag this so I’m probably not going to do much, but basically here’s the plot: Link is a woman who is gay and traumatized and avoiding her destiny, and then through forming relationships with other people she’s able to gain the courage to face her destiny. 

It’s basically all original versions of zelda characters / original characters in the zelda universe, so uh, yeah. 

A version of Malon and Talon make an appearance, and this first part is narrated by a Nonbinary picori called Ezle. Have fun I guess???

Oh also Hyrule in this version is hella suspicious of magic and stuff because reasons

I’ll share more info as it becomes relevant I guess

A cursed woodland is home to many strange and unusual things, but the strangest things of all are the people who live there as though it is normal. A witch you could expect. Fairies and monsters flourish in cursed places. Even the mysterious Picori, with their strange magic and tendency for generosity, are normal guides for the few children that wander into their lands. But a Hylian who lived amongst the woods as though they were their home? That was strange.

And yet, that was Link. A Hylian woman who treated the cursed Minish Woods as though they were the coziest mansion to exist. She was a strange one, to be sure. Stranger than the witch who lived in the swamps to the north. Stranger than the fairies who fluttered about their fountains. Stranger than the monsters who stalked the forest at night. Stranger than even the Picori. 

There were many things that would make Link strange to a passerby, not the least of which was the way she dressed. Link rejected traditional Hylian womens-wear in favor of a comfortable green tunic. On her back, instead of a scarf or basket, she carried a sword and shield. Instead of sandals she wore boots, adorned with magical symbols. Her hair was long, straight, and pulled back in a high ponytail, a shocking style for more traditional Hylians. On her wrists were a pair of bracelets that seemed to boost her power. A bow and quiver of arrows hung from her belt, and at her hip was a bag far too small to carry even the simplest of tools necessary for woodland survival. 

But the strangest thing about Link wasn’t her clothes or her hair or her gear. It was her magic. Few Hylians have a natural magic about them. The little they do have is mostly that of a homely nature. The kind that makes a meal taste incredible or gets a song stuck in your head. The few Hylians who can wield magic in a traditional sense are members of the Royal Family, whose princesses can channel their divine ancestry into powerful weapons of light, so long as the tradition is not forgotten. 

Link’s magic was not like those of other Hylians. She did not have the impressive power of the royal family, nor the homely comfort common to other Hylians. It was everywhere about her, from the way she walked, to her speech, to the way she used a sword. It defined everything about her, down to the thoughts she had in her head.

And yet, despite her magic being so innate, not even her closest friends had seen her use it freely. 

Ezle the Picori had known Link since she had, years ago, wandered into the Minish woods by accident. It was Ezle who led a sobbing Link out of the woods and back to civilization. It was Ezle who first sensed Link’s innate magic. It was Ezle who began to teach a young Link all about her destiny, and it was Ezle who gave Link a home when no-one else would. 

Ezle was a master craftsperson and loremaster amongst the Picori. They were among the first to sense the growing darkness in the world, and they were the one who forged a way to stop it. When Ezle met Link, they crafted and enchanted two magical items. The first was a sword, which granted any Hylian the ability to shrink down to the size of a Picori. The second was a box, granted to the royal family. The sword and box were linked, somehow, but Ezle refused to say how.

“The time will come,” they answered when asked by a young Link, “The time will come when you will wield that sword against evil, and your destiny will be fulfilled.”

Only now, Ezle feared that time would never come. 

“Put more spin into your spin attack,” they said as Link swung her sword in a  slow, wide arc for the third time in a row, “The attack is built on momentum, without it you leave yourself vulnerable to enemies.” And you need to put your magic into it.

Link glared at Ezle and put down her sword. Ezle was training her in the Minish woods, a moment of quiet from the bustling everyday that was their home in Picori Town. She was nearly eighteen years old now, and had been avoiding her destiny for years.

“I don’t see the point to this,” She said, “I’ve been practicing the spin attack all day. Isn’t there anything else I can do?” Ezle shook their head.

“You need to master the spin attack,” they scolded, “It’s crucial to facing your destiny!” 

Link sighed.

“I know, I know! But like, maybe if we worked more on my agility or-”

“No!” Ezle answered sharply, “A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage. Courage is crucial to your destiny!”

Link rolled her eyes. “I know I know, it’s just- I don’t understand. Isn’t facing monsters and temples courageous enough?” “Courage is not the lack of fear, but continuing despite it,” Ezle reminded her. And you are more unmoving than Death Mountain.

With an angry sigh, Link went back to practicing her swings. Ezle watched her, concerned for their protege. What is blocking your magic? They wondered as Link completed another, lackluster attack, What are you so afraid of?

Ezle’s ears pricked up at the sound of horse hooves. In these woods? They listened harder. Yep, definitely horses. Without a word to Link, they scurried through several bushes to an old, abandoned road. There, they saw a Hylian cart, pulled by a young, strong horse, and leading an old milk cow. Driving the cart was a young redheaded woman with a determined face, and in the back was a young man who could easily have been her twin brother. They were carrying a bunch of crates, bundles, and boxes, as well as several pieces of what looked to be furniture or farm equipment.

However, Ezle’s observations were distracted by Link’s appearance in Picori form. 

“What is it?” Link asked, before noticing the cart and frowning in disgust, “What are they doing here?”

“They, as you put it so disgustingly, are your kind. You’re supposed to be saving them,” Ezle scolded. Link glared at him.

“I know that,” She answered, “But they’re not supposed to come in these woods either, are they?” Link looked back at the cart, and her gaze drifted up to the people driving it. As Link looked, Ezle noticed a change in her expression. Her disgust softened and the faintest hint of a smile grew on her face. As Ezle pondered the change in their pupil, they noticed a faint glow in Link’s eyes. They were, just barely, brighter, more alive, more free. Magic!

A grin spread across Ezle’s face as they recognized the change. Then, their grin widened, as an idea came into their head.

“Come on,” they said, hopping down onto the road the cart was travelling on, “Let’s see what they’re up to.”

Link hesitated, and the magic began to fade from her eyes as fear took hold of her face.

“I- I don’t know,” she said, “I don’t- wouldn’t it be-”

“They don’t have to see us,” Ezle reassured her, recognizing the source of Link’s fear, “Nobody but a child would be able to see you in this form. Besides-” and here Ezle felt the need to fib, “-there are a few settlements of town Picori I’ve been meaning to catch up on. This will give us a chance to do that.” There were no “settlements” of town Picori, as Ezle knew well, but the lie seemed to give Link the motivation she needed to join Ezle on the road.

“Alright,” she said, “Just to see what they’re up to.” 

Ezle smiled, and after some difficulty with catching the moving cart, the two were on their way through the forest and into the wider world of Hyrule.

[connan-l]

All right, so now that I finally digested the final a little I have some random messy thoughts about Fruits Basket 2019. It got really long lol, but this has been stuck in my head for a while so I needed to get it out!

Honestly, it was a very good adaptation and I’m still in awe I was able able to see the whole manga animated. Fruits Basket is pretty important to me, as I read it for the first time when I was around twelve and it was definitely one of the series that impacted me the most — the way it tackles themes of cycle of abuse, loneliness, grief and moving forward still feel very special to me even now (I briefly wrote a post about it months ago after rereading the manga), so of course I was delighted upon hearing the reboot announced and for the most part, it didn’t disappoint. I’d never truly thought I’d be able to see characters like Rin or Machi actually move on screen in my lifetime so in a way it still feel surreal lmao (RIP to Komaki though). It was really refreshing to revisit the story in that way, especially given amusingly enough I am myself in the middle of some big changes in my life where I have to leave things behind so it felt sort of... well, I won’t say empowering per se, but quite encouraging and satisfying to watch Furuba, and especially its final, at this timing, in a way. It wasn’t perfect, there are certainly a lot of flawed directive choices that I question and unfortunately quite some important cut contents — but even at its lowest it stayed all in all good. I’m genuinely a bit stunned there are people who thinks the entire thing is worthless or a failure, because man, I have seen what a bad anime adaptation looks like, and Fruits Basket 2019 definitely isn’t one. Natsuki Takaya herself was clearly very invested and satisfied in that adaptation — I mean, just the fact she drew arts for every single episodes or for the season 3 ending really shows that I think. And while there’s a part of me who will always have a soft spot for the 2001 anime, there’s no contest that the 2019 one is the superior one and more representative of the original manga as a whole.

I believe some people really don’t realize how... uncommon it is to get such a consistently good-looking and complete anime adaptation for a shojo manga? Shojo really aren’t lucky in that prospect usually; they rarely get animated, and when they do they’re usually very bland or outright bad, or they get one short season of like 13 episodes that never receive any follow-ups — even shojo considered like classics tend to get poor treatment, unless they’re Sailor Moon of course or a long-running magical girls franchise like Precure (and even then we could have a discussion about the way Sailor Moon’s treated compared to say Dragon Ball for example, but that’s another topic entirely). So yeah it is quite awesome we were able to get this kind of anime adaptation that covers the full manga with good quality from start to finish, and I am so, so glad it exists and that it managed to revive and makes the series so popular again. (Hopefully its success means we’ll be able to get more good anime adaptation of shojo manga from now on!)

But yeah, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t problems with it and I also understand why some of the manga fans had issues. We were kind of hyped with the fact this would be a complete adaptation and in the end we only got a... sort-of-complete one lol. The art and animation stayed fine during the run (there certainly were some episodes that were uhhh, lacking in that sense, but that’s just how it is sometimes with productions and budget), but I admit I was a bit letdown regarding the direction, where it often seemed… a bit uncreative or heavy-handed. There was some very beautiful and smart shots here and there, but on the whole I really had an issue with the adaptation failing to actually take more ambitious decisions on its visual aspect, especially compared to the pretty pannelling of the manga — and when it did take these decisions it just was… kind of obnoxious and in-your-face, like the show is trying to hold the watcher’s hand (with unnecessary things like Kyo’s father record player derailing or the whole big ropes symbolizing the curse that often slapped you all over the screen, which usually just made me want to roll my eyes because of how annoying it felt.) Multiple people also pointed out the overdramatization of some scenes like the Kyo and Tohru’s confrontation at the end of season 1 or Akito and Ren’s fight which was, indeed, not very good and a weird choice. Fruits Basket is already a pretty dramatic show and these scenes are already intense, there was no need for such over-the-top theatrical display of emotions that only made them comes off as comedic. I’m probably nitpicking here but it also bothered me some characters’ expressions didn’t feel properly retranscribed (Shigure especially, whose characterization depends a lot on that, really suffered from this), or that odd habit of making some big panorama plans instead of focusing on the faces and bodies, which particularly sucks during emotional scenes (like the backgrounds were pretty I guess, but that’s not what was important here lmao).

Also that might be just a personal thing, but can I point out that the openings were pretty disappointing to me... They're not bad, but they all looked so... bland. The songs are fine but the rest feel so uninspired and it's kind of sad... I dunno, I wasn't asking for much but I just think they could've done more than just scrolling each character looking vaguely melancholic or making them walk randomly one after another :/ The endings have at least pretty illustrations and I'm okay with them (I liked what they did with Kyoko’s photo in season 3 too), but the OPs kind of feel as if they ran out of budget and ideas for them or something. I kind of feel the same with the OST as well, where they’re generally fine but were a bit lackluster, and sometimes… they were kind of played at bad times? I remember the Rin episode in season 2 were the music felt a bit out of place and took me out of the immersion, which is a shame cause it was otherwise a pretty good episode. But that might just be a me-thing here lol. The voice actors were awesome though! (The Japanese ones, at least, I didn’t watch any other dubs). I’ve said it before but special kudos to Maaya Sakamoto cause damn she’s so perfect as Akito, and Shimazaki as Yuki and Toyosaki as Rin truly delivered too. I didn’t know Manaka Iwami at all but I was really impressed by her Tohru, especially in season 3 — she really was good at capturing her character’s subtle emotional turmoils (I think she makes a better Tohru than Yui Horie too, although I admit I missed Horie a little lol.)

Anyway, on the topic of lack of ambition, that might be an unpopular opinion but there’s also the fact that I’m sad they didn’t actually... try to change or add more original scenes. By which I mean, obviously we had some changes, but not ones that were really interesting (when they’re not actively detrimental to the story). For example, I was really hoping that we’d be able to get at least one original episode focused on Ritsu (and Mitsuru too why not) in season 2 or 3, or on Kagura or Kisa; I dunno, it would’ve been a good occasion to give something more to the characters that got sidelined in the original manga, or add some moments that would’ve been nice to develop like about Akito post-cliff confrontation, but we never got that. And well, that makes sense now that we know they seemingly had an episode restriction (at least on season 3), but, yeah, that’s still a shame. Honestly in the end Ritsu’s character made even less sense in the anime, because like, it was nice they tried to adapt his introduction episode so that it feels less “you have to adapt to gender norms to feel better about yourself,” (the gender non-confirmity is definitely one of the bits that aged the less well in FB) but then they still made him cut off his hair and give his feminine clothes to Kagura at the end so why lol. (And speaking of his episode introduction, I dislike that they cut off his conversation with Tohru after the suicide attempt, not only for Ritsu but also for Tohru cause it is one of the small instances bringing up her issues that is set up early on and that is crucial to her, but I’ll come back to this later.)

And now about the biggest problem to me being, the cut content and episodes rearangement. So, just so we’re clear, I definitely don’t think an anime adaptation needs to be a page-by-page adaptation of the manga to be good. Every decent adaptation needs to have changes, and the ones that tries to just follow the source material without any heart often tend to get pretty bad. So changes are good! Cut content are needed sometimes. But in Furuba 19, it really... wasn’t the case.

And the most unfortunate thing being that the one suffering the most from this is the show’s main character herself, Tohru.

So, obviously other characters also got done dirty by this; Yuki and Machi’s relationship was so incredibly shifted in the background and rushed it’s almost funny. I’m one of the people who thinks that, while I do think they’re cute, I definitely agree on the fact their relationship was a bit underdeveloped in the manga — and that Machi’s character especially suffered as a result by being a bit reduced to just "Yuki’s love interest" when she was a character with so much more to offer (and as a whole I also tend to agree with the fact that Yuki probably didn’t need a romance at all and that his arc is more meaningful while focusing on his platonic relationships, but that’s another topic entirely) — but man, if the manga already underdevelopped them, then ohhh boy, the anime just completely dropped the ball. It feels very odd because to me it seemed like season 2 was taking their time with setting them up, so if they knew they had only 13 episodes for season 3 then they should’ve started the changes there; instead we got 1 nice Yuki/Machi/Kakeru episode, and then it’s like "Yep, they’re in love, just trust me." (It does makes me wonder if season 3 wasn’t originally supposed to be longer but then got restrained because of budget or covid or something…) Kakeru also very much suffered because of them cutting off his girlfriend and his complicated relationship with Tohru… Now, to be honest, I’ve always found the Kakeru/Komaki/Tohru subplot pretty... contrived and useless, and Komaki’s not so much a character more than a device for Kakeru’s development, but it does have some good moments relevant to the story’s themes (I like the ‘‘you can’t play suffering olympics with people’s pain’’morale) and it is important to his character (and Komaki is cute, I admit), so it was still sad they shafted it entirely. (Also I kind of like the tense relationship between Tohru and Kakeru. The fact they both seem to not appreciate each other even afterwards feel sort of refreshing even if it’s never explored unfortunately orz.) I was still surprised they didn’t actually try to make a Komaki cameo at the end? Cause I think it would’ve fitted and Kakeru’s girlfriend had already been mentioned in season 2 but... for some reason they... didn’t. (Mayyybe we’ll get an OAV like with Kyoko and Katsuya? Who knows.)

One scene that was skipped/rearranged that I’m very bitter over is the whole Tohru/Kagura confrontation and Kagura/Rin scene — it might not seem like much, but the moment of Tohru refusing to forgive Kagura is very important, and I was pretty annoyed they turned Rin’s trauma response to Kagura’s violence and her subsequent apology/hug to a gag, it legit felt tasteless. The Tohrin scene they removed at the very end too was frustating; it was great they managed to fit in the "Rin doesn’t want to forgive Akito" bit at least (I was afraid they’d cut it off entirely), but it was so essential for her to say to Tohru, not to Haru and Momiji (plus the way they put it in felt very random and awkwardly placed there, when they were initially talking about Tohru before orz). OH AND the Akito/Hana friendship too! Yeah I know it’s not a Big deal but I absolutely love the little glimpses of their friendship and it’s very important to me so I’m disappointed over them not including the ‘Ah-chan’ scene… (It was kind of weird that the show sort-of implied Hana and Kazuma got together too cause that’s… not the vibe at all from the manga… oh well.)

Most people I’ve seen generally only bring up season 3 regarding the cuts/rearangement because it’s the most obvious and the biggest offender, but I personally think there were already problems with season 2 and 1. At first glance I didn’t have much issue with some of the rearrangement, because early Furuba can indeed be pretty episodic, but thinking back on it as a whole I think it might’ve been better to leave some stuff, like Hana and Uo’s episodes for example, to season 2 (I do wonder if they did this specifically so the reboot would offer original content and differ from 2001 early on...) and cut off other not-so-important things from S1 & S2 — because as a result season 2 kind of suffer a bit by being The Yuki Season, which, for as much as I love Yuki, did end up being a bit annoying and made his development feel less natural and gradual, as well as the fact it sidelined the other characters a little and left them with not much conclusion in its final. So this added to how much they ended up cutting in season 3, it makes the show as a whole feels really unequal. I think they did overall a good job in season 3 with what they had, and they really nailed some of the dramatic and Kyoru moments (the sheets scene, cliff confrontation and post-hospital confession were practically perfect), but it is a shame that it ended up as an extremely marathoned emotional roller-caster rather than a more well-paced watch that we would’ve had if it had been 20 or so episodes. (I know others argued that season 3 was what it was because there wasn’t enough content left to cover for 22 or 24 episodes, but I disagree and even if there weren’t, it would’ve been the perfect occasion to add original episodes then. But I think it was more of a budget and Covid issue personally.)

But anyway, all of this isn’t actually what I’m the most annoyed with (and YES that’s a already a lot lmao), those are stuff I can live with, but like I said earlier the most problematic is what they cut off from Tohru’s character. And that indeed includes her parents’ backstory.

So, just so I get this out of the way; yes, I do understand why people were relieved to not see Kyoko and Katsuya’s relationship play out on screen, and yes the age gap and teacher-student thing is creepy and I do kind of wish it hadn’t been written that way. (Though I was a bit amused by people who thought we didn’t get the backstory because of the questionable age gap when, uh... you know I very much doubt the anime industry has an issue with that. Like, to start with, we wouldn’t have had Uo and Kureno’s romance if that was the case (even if Uo and Kureno is less problematic, it’s still the same basis of a underage high school girl/20+ adult man relationship), and second there was a literal romcom anime about a high school girl and an adult man that was broadcasted at the same time as Furuba season 3 lmao. So nah, it wasn’t there the problem to them, it was just time and episode restriction, which was pretty much confirmed with the announcement of the OAV focused on them.)

So, Kyoko and Katsuya is definitely Problematic and I agree on their relationship being uncomfortable; however, I’m a bit baffled that people were literally cheering on not having that part in the show, because it is... it is not just like a small bit of family trivia, it is Extremely important and actively essential to Tohru’s character and Fruits Basket’s themes and narrative as a whole. It’s very important to understand Kyoko’s character, of course; to humanize her and finally present her as a very flawed person and not just the idealized mother that Tohru project upon her, and it is extremely important simply to understand Tohru herself as well; to understand where her way of thinking, her trauma and attitude stems from, and this in a way that just isn’t possible to see with the little fragments of that flashback we got or the bits of Kyo and Kyoko’s interactions.

See, Tohru’s character is principally constructed around two things; her grief over her mother and her almost-pathological selflesness and people-pleaser needs that comes from her abandonment issues and loneliness, and her arc is very much about letting go of both of these things and finally moving forward and letting her life change. There’s this perception of Tohru I see sometimes that she’s not a very interesting character especially compared to others like Yuki or Kyo, or that she ‘‘stays the same kindhearted, naive girl from start to finish,’’ and while I deeply disagree with this I know where it comes from. The thing with Tohru is that she is firstly an extremely emotionally repressed character, and so a lot of her depth and development is made through small, gradual details scattered throughout the manga. It’s done in such a way that except for some obvious scenes those small, apparently insignificant moments are easy to miss or disregarded, and unfortunately it is a lot of these details that the 2019 anime cut, or rearanged in a way that feel less impactful or makes less sense; such as, like I pointed out earlier, her conversation with Ritsu after his suicide attempt. As I’ve seen others point out, this result in altering Tohru’s portrayal and rendering her character mostly about her romance, undercutting and downplaying all of her small, subtle character moments and developments, and miss a bit the second part of the story where the narrative actively challenge the ‘savior/therapist/mom’ that other characters and Tohru herself projected upon her.

And as a result it also means undermining things like her parallel and relationship to Akito, which idealistically should’ve been slowly built up throughout the last season but because of how rushed season 3 was in the end felt a little flat. (Akito’s character in general had some issues also because of the unequal pacing and rearranged scenes, though admittedly I think this was also an issue present in the original manga.) Kyo’s character and his romance with Tohru is the one element that managed to get out of this mostly unscathed (although Kyo also does suffer a bit from it), but because of what was removed from Tohru’s character it still inevitably impacted them by making their characters as individuals lacking. It’s not like it is a complete failure, mind you; I think the anime at least did a decent job at showing Tohru is Not Okay even at the beginning in season 1 (they certainly did a better job at it than the 2001 one lol) and managed to roughly portray her issues well enough overall, but it is just… lacking in the subtlety and nuances that, to me, makes her character and writing really special and unique.

(This post explains what I’ve tried to say here in a much more eloquent and better way that I ever could, and this all put into perspective what I basically love so much about Tohru and Fruits Basket in general.)

And, you know, it would’ve been sad but comprehensible with any other character, but here we’re talking about the story’s literal protagonist, which is why it is the part of the adaptation that makes me feel the most bitter. Tohru and her story is truly amazing and well-written, the thing I was looking forward to the most with this reboot — and while I do understand the episode restriction and I do believe they still did their best with what they had — her arc still deserved to receive a full proper adaptation, not a kind-of-half one.

So, yes, I am at least glad they’ll adapt Kyoko and Katsuya’s story in OAV, but the fact that it will never be included in the actual main narrative is still actively detrimental to it, and it will never have the same effect that if it had been played out before the Kyoru sheets scene where it should’ve been. (I hope they also won’t cut the fact that their story is narrated by Kyo, because that is also a very important detail for both Kyo and the story, but I have the feeling they will…)

Welp, that was quite a long, messy rambling. Not sure if anyone will actually read all of it but if you did then congrats lol. I feel in the end I’ve been really harsh and negative with the reboot… I do love it a lot! If someone asked me I would wholeheartedly recommend it (though I guess I would still argue to read the manga first if you really want to experience the story in all its nuances). I think they truly did an impressive job — even with season 3, which a lot of its episodes were beautifully done and did make me tear up a few times lol. I’m just sad it couldn’t actually offer a better, more nuanced delivery of the story’s depths and of one of my favorite manga protagonists that means a lot to me. But that’s an adaptation that so many fans wanted for years and I’m happy and grateful it’s here cause Fruits Basket deserved at least that much!

[courtneystriker]

My Thoughts on the HG Prequel

I just finished reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and I got to say, my feelings are mixed. Below I have an entire review  for the story which included how I felt, the expectations, the biases I had going into the new book, and how I felt after reading. Please note there will be spoilers. Also this review isn’t meant to hurt anyone and if you absolutely love the book so far...good! Enjoy it fully! As an aspiring writer myself and someone who studied in college/loves creative writing I’m well aware that people just have different takes on writing. Glad you are enjoying it :)

Anyways, here it goes…

The Expectations

As the Hunger Games series is one of my favorites of all time, I had a strong bias to like this book. Since it was first announced, without knowing any details, I was extremely excited and optimistic. I re-read the entire Hunger Games series twice beforehand in preparation; once with my fiancé and once on my own. The only thing I really wanted, knowing that it took place during the tenth hunger games, was that the arena reflected how new the hunger games were. Then, when we learned what the series was about, people started voicing some concerns or were disappointed by the plot, instead wanting it to be something like Finnick’s arena, Haymitch’s, Mags’, etc. etc. I was not among this group. However, I understand where they were coming from, because I always thought the idea of the first Quarter Quell (the one where the districts voted for the tributes) was an extremely interesting concept. 

Yet I think these things are best left explored in fanfiction as they add nothing to the series and Suzanne Collins did an excellent job just giving us enough information to get the idea. At that point it’d just be a book on details, which could fall short or be a gimmicky, cheap way to keep people reading the series and keep her name relevant. And wasn’t that part of the message in her series, the thing Katniss so heavily criticized that gave a great irony to the books? Who would watch children killing each other for entertainment? Meanwhile, we as the reader are reading these books as a form of entertainment. Plus, Suzanne Collins so skillfully painted the illusion of knowing but not fully knowing their stories that it’s haunting, and I think that is one of the many reasons (along with the battle royale trope being naturally compelling, liking the characters, etc.) that a lot of us are more drawn towards these stories rather than (at least for me)  a book on Snow. 

That being said, I was not against the idea of a book on Snow because I find villain characters, especially grey ones, to be very interesting to read about, and I was pretty certain Suzanne was going to handle this beautifully, especially since you could already feel this atmosphere coming off of Snow in the Hunger Games series. I know some were really concerned about a Snow redemption arc, but to me it felt very obvious that it couldn’t be and it would be more of him sliding into evil.

I did have other concerns when I read the description for the first time. I could not believe they went with the whole tribute from District Twelve thing again. I loved Katniss and District Twelve, but I did not want Katniss 2.0. I said right from the beginning to my fiancé that she’d have to make the tribute from District Twelve extremely different for me to get on board (though I was holding on faith that Collins would). It just felt cheap and gimmicky to rehash the District Twelve thing, it sort of made me feel the same way I would have if she had written about one of the games I mentioned above. Sure, it’d sell, but it wouldn’t add anything to the series. I was thinking she better not hunt, sing, or have any qualities resembling Katniss really.  

Another thing I worried about was the love story they hinted at in the description. It just didn’t make sense to me. Because how was Snow going to ever support the games if from an earlier age he fell in love with a tribute and vowed to protect her? Then later he’s all like pro-hunger games? Just this itself could weaken the entire series if done poorly, because it would weaken the main antagonist’s motives for not only the prequel but also the Hunger Games series as well. I kept thinking either the girl has to die in the arena betraying Snow somehow (which is what I was hoping for), Snow will have to betray her, or perhaps he would have been faking love for her for some sort of personal gain I couldn’t imagine. Either way, I thought it weakened the story's appeal to me. Yet overall I was still excited, desperately waiting for the book’s release. 

And now that I have read it, I have to say it felt forced at a lot of parts and lackluster overall…

*Spoilers start here*

My Review:

Suszanne Collins’ writing style is one I’ve always loved and has consistently appealed to me. Even though this book is written in 3rd person (which some may like less if you don’t particularly like third person) it holds up well against the original series. So I really had no complaints in this regard besides the excessive use of songs (felt like fanfiction a bit). I think if you liked the original series and don’t mind third person you’ll feel right at home with her style.

The concerns others had about Snow’s redemption are completely dismissed in this book. Like I had predicted, she writes about his fall into evil, and although it’s not black and white evil (as I don’t like anyways) you can very much tell he’s a bad guy and that the hardships he faced in life only further pushed him towards obtaining status and power. Overall, he feels true to the character when we end up seeing him in the Hunger Games series, and his journey to power fits the images Finnick painted in Mockingjay. He is very well characterized in the book and perfectly unlikable while maintaining an intriguing internal dialogue (although it does occasionally feel tedious, but not enough to bother me; others may feel differently).

 The way he is written is very much in line with Collin’s great characterization, one of the reasons I always loved The Hunger Games. All the characters felt like real people. They all had an extreme depth to them and I felt they all resembled people I had actually met in real life. There were little to no characters that relied solely on gimmicky personalities to get by. Even very minor characters that seemed depthless and swallow at first--like Katniss’s prep team--had more to them. So I thought going into this book I had nothing to worry about in that regard. I didn’t even really spare it a thought, but boy was I wrong. 

I think Snow and Lucy Grey were the only characters that had (at least partly) the depth that the original Hunger Games cast had. I’ll discuss Lucy Grey later but first let me talk about some side characters. Where to even begin really? There’s a LOT of characters in this book. Frankly, way too many, which I think contributes heavily to the lack of depth in the characters. Honestly there’s so many that the names of characters were hard to keep track of while listening to the audiobook (my hard copy of the book was still in the mail and I didn’t want to wait). Things got a bit clustered in my mind quickly. There were twenty-four tributes, twenty-four mentors,  Snow’s family, The Dean and Drs at the university, Snow’s Peacekeeper crew, and the Covey, and those are just the groups that I can cluster together. At least, the ones I remember having names and getting introduced, but I think that’s everyone really important. There was no real time to develop or get to know them really, which made the tributes’ deaths more meaningless as I could barely recall their names. It caused impactful scenes to weaken significantly overall and it made characters serve only to characterize and amplify Snow’s fall into evil. 

Here’s what I mean by that. The head Gamemaker, Dr. Gaul, really was the character I hated the most while reading this. She was just evil without reason (one of the weakest villain types with little to no personality besides being evil). She even made creepy rhymes as if she was in some sort of horror movie, and the entire point of her character was to contribute a lot to some of the forced plot points driving Snow’s moral decline. For example, there were all her tests, which seemed contrived and all directly connected to getting Snow to think the Hunger Games was a good idea. She was seemingly supposed to be a Dr. Mengele type character, as this book has a lot of Holocaust-esqe imagery. I’m fine with irredeemably evil villains, but instead of getting the depth that a Dr. Mengele character could offer (as some may know, many children that were part of his experiments actually said he was kind and gave them candy, and I find that deeply haunting to this day.) She is a flat, one-dimensional character whose entire personality could be described with one word: sociopath. Evil people are master manipulators, which is how they get away with evil things. I think at one of the funerals she puts on a good public face, and she seems to have power, money and influence. Yet the book doesn’t show this seemingly present quality nearly enough to make her a haunting character. Instead we get nursery rhythms and clearly driven lessons towards evil at are contrived. Like “Write about what you most liked about the war” or the assignment to improve the hunger games? Like what class is this? Why are they taking it? And why are the young kids of the influential deciding this instead of the influential people themselves?

Another character I feel was just there for Snow’s development and to represent an opposite viewpoint but lacked Collin’s usual depth is Sejanus Plinth. As a District 2 citizen whose family got rich off the war and moved to the Capitol, he is the main opposing viewpoint of the book, presenting Snow with a chance to do the right thing. I’ve seen people say he’s a Peeta-like character, but I completely reject that idea. He lacks in the charm Peeta has, relishes in self-pity (although he’s completely justified in his sadness and has a right to be upset), and while he has a heart like Peeta, he ultimately doesn’t know how to use it. Instead of working within his position to get influence like Peeta so masterfully does, he’s hot-headed and continuously makes poor decisions that ultimately don’t help anyone. It’s like he wants to help but doesn’t know how as he’s driven completely by emotion without reason. He too contributes to some forced scenes, particularly my least favorite in the book; when they sneak into the arena. Overall, he just falls flat for me. Again, I feel I don’t know anything about him beyond what he contributes to Snow’s story line and he doesn’t come across as realistic. It’s like Collins just wrote how someone would normally react to the hunger games, slapped a district number on him and went on her merry way. 

I just wasn’t prepared for these sort of characters when the Hunger Games series made even the smallest of characters stand out dramatically. I feel neutral to annoyed by most characters in this novel. I could expand this portion, and maybe if people inquire I’ll elaborate on some of the other characters as I have strong opinions on them, but this post is already getting long, so I’ll move on to Lucy Grey.

Lucy Grey is by far my favorite character even though she is bordering towards being a character from a fanfiction. Not quite a Mary Sue in my opinion but there is a certain connection to fanfiction I made with her. You may have guessed some issues I had with her by reading my expectations earlier in the post, but that has not displaced my love for her. Her personality is very different from Katniss’s, or even Peeta’s or Haymitch’s. She had a different type of charm than all of them, is a natural performer, and seemed more extroverted. Also, the whole idea of the Covey and her “not really” being district was intriguing. It really highlighted the displacement that war can cause and how people can just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. (Although I was confused on how much mobility between the districts there were….and did District Twelve have a fence or no?) It really emphasizes one of the main themes of the book, extreme prejudice against both Capitol and District. Her spot sort of in between really drives home the point that there's literally no difference except extreme poverty, and even then there was poverty in the Capitol, only better hidden. Her bright mood (and clothes), her poised attitude, and her optimism made her endearing. She was confident in her skin yet still held the fear of a sixteen year old going into the hunger games.

There were only two main things that bothered me about her, which was of course the direct connections made to Katniss (which I’ll elaborate on) and the forced “love” story between her and Snow. I suppose that has less to do with her and rather more to do with my dislike of that subplot. And I'm a sucker for some good romantic subplots, but yikes!

I think having one strong connection to Katniss was all that was really needed in this book. I really liked the idea of that connection being the Hanging Tree Song, as I can only imagine how it made Snow feel watching “The Mockingjay” sing it in the propo. Despite me not liking that fact that Lucy Grey is also an enchanting singer as that felt like directly stepping in Katniss’s territory, I did enjoy the little twist of Lucy Grey writing the song. Yet the connections between the two when the plot took us to District Twelve went too far. It felt like it took away all of Katniss’s special places and things. The lake, her katniss roots, her gift towards music, her fondness for the meadow, sneaking into the woods, etc. I think one solid connection would have solidified their bond beautifully. Having so many seemed like it was really trying to force the reader to make the connection when it was already painfully clear I guess? Plus, having Lucy stand out at her reaping ( the whole song part read like a bad, contrived fanfiction bit to me) and having people care about her in the Capitol while moral questions of the hunger games were still surfacing made me start to think...isn’t this how the rebellion for Katniss got started? At least partly. I get it’s a different time. Too close to the war. It just felt way too similar. I guess Collins was going for the idea of a lost rebellion that in a way Lucy Grey started that Katniss later revives. Yet it feels like that invalidates the specialness of what Katniss does in the original series as it’s already happened; it just got erased. I guess history repeats itself, but I really just didn’t like it. I could see the appeal to some extent, and it could be a beautiful connection, but it just wasn’t for me.

Now on to the plot, which is the last thing I’ll talk about as this post is getting ridiculously long. A lot of the plot felt very forced or contrived, which was another shocker coming from Collins because her pacing and plot was done really well in the original series. Of course, a lot of this was driven by Dr. Gaul and Sejanus Plinth as the entire plot hinged on the moral debate of the hunger games these two represent. Other plot points just hinged on what happened to establish the games. I mean the rebel bomb explosion seemingly only happened to change the terrain so Dr. Gaul can then bring up the idea of the different arena and how that made the tributes act differently, thus creating the crazy arenas we see later in the series. I do have some praise for how Collins established the disparities between the earlier hunger games and the ones we see in Katniss day. From the way they lock the tributes up, don’t feed them, the spotty coverage of the arena, etc. All of that was exceptionally well done. The only complaint I have was that so many tributes died before they even got to the arena (though not because I wanted to see them fight). I had been expecting one to escape or something to further establish that this was new territory and was waiting to see how they handled it in earlier times, but I wasn’t expecting that many to die before the arena got started. It just seemed like a huge Capitol failure that they advertised loudly. I really wasn’t expecting that level of incompetence, just an escaped tribute that threatened to embarrass or harm the fragile beginnings of post-war Panem. Instead, most of the pre-arena stuff felt disastrous. A lot of the mentors' deaths felt forced, and it was weird that the academy never really came under fire at all from all the rich and powerful parents whose children were getting killed because of the mentor experiment. Like it seemed there should have been some interaction there, but there wasn’t. Maybe some was passively mentioned but still, it could have been a whole subplot that further established the debate of the hunger games.

While the pre-arena up to the break-in to the arena felt like the most forced part of the book and certainly I felt it needed more workshopping plot wise, it also harbored some great and powerful scenes, like Arachne pulling the sandwich away from the tribute while she was starving and laughing about it. Basically, all those interactions of poverty and captivity meeting the citizens of the Capitol were done well, but nothing spectacular (unlike the scene of Katniss screaming at Buttercup at the end of Mockingjay which is heart wrenching.)

The last plot point I’ll talk about is the “love” story. I wasn’t a fan, but it was sort of what a lot of the plot hinged on and led to the great scene at the lake between Snow and Lucy Grey. How easy it was for him to betray his “love” for status. This led to some of the most interesting and evil internal monologue Snow had in the entire book. I honestly feel the ending scene, the interaction Snow had with the jabberjays and Mockingjays in District Twelve, and the lynching scenes were among the strongest and most memorable.

The love story again felt forced (sorry I’m using that word so much it’s just so accurate) into the story. This hindered the book from having a strong plot in the same way the weaker characters caused forced interactions and plot points to move things along. Yet at the same time the kind of abusive and lackluster nature of their relationship throughout the book fit perfectly with the ending. Unfortunately, it didn’t really make it very compelling for the reader. Luckily Lucy’s  personality kept my interested during these parts. I wouldn’t say their relationship was poorly written at all; in fact the way it was written makes perfect sense. I just think the plot relied too heavily on their “love”, which was gross because of the way Snow is, and the reader knew it had to inevitably end in some kind of betrayal or reveal that there was no love at all. This creates tension for the reader, but I kept wondering: if the love plot had been ditched could we have gotten a stronger plot altogether?

So overall, like I’ve said I’m really conflicted. I know I focused heavily on things I didn’t like, but honestly the book was well written in some regards, plot bouncing between really compelling and a little contrived, the two main characters being written well enough but other characters not so much. Some connections between Lucy Grey and Katniss made at the end were powerful, I loved the Covey, Collins still excelled at writing a lot of the social issues/scenes in the book, and honestly the idea of Lucy Grey being completely forgotten in the Districts that hurts my soul a little. Nothing compared to the feelings I got in any of the Hunger Games books but there’s still something there.

I really hope someone made it through this long ass post. The book was entertaining. I mean I listened to all 16 hours of the audiobook in like a day. I can’t wait until my hardcover comes so I can look through it. Maybe once I know what I’m getting into I can enjoy the book a little more than I did, because right now it’s sitting at very average for me. Maybe I went in with my expectations too high? I certainly like the Hunger Games a lot more and probably always will. Honestly, I love new content, but I’m also the type that likes firm, planned endings to stories (even though it hurts to let things end and the fandoms can suffer from lack of content). I think fans can oftentimes get caught up in what they want and pressure the writer into writing more, which ends up a disappointment since it wasn’t originally planned in the series from the beginning. While I don’t think this is by any means the case with Suzanna Collins or that Lionsgate even pressured her to write this book (I don’t like conspiracies of that sort of thing as a writer myself that plans to have a series in which a book comes out many years after the original part of the series is released), I do wonder if this is the end of the Hunger Games for good. I sure hope so, especially if she would be writing about the other victors. I love them too much and really don’t want to feel similarly about their books, and like I said at the beginning, it wouldn’t add to the series just to my guilty pleasure lol.

Hope you all have enjoyed your reading of the book more than I did :) Again sorry if I wrote anything to upset you! Please if you loved this book ENJOY IT! I’m actually kind of jealous if you did. Feels like missing out on something special.

[thefilmsnob]

The New Mutants: *** out of 5

Has there ever been a movie as destined to fail as The New Mutants? The latest superhero film from 20th Century Fox is based on an X-Men comic book spin-off launched in 1983, not well known by the general public. Even if ‘X-Men’ were added to the film title, it still would be associated with a dwindling movie franchise whose assets have just been absorbed by Disney. The film’s suffered from a lackluster marketing campaign and poor reviews, and oh, we’re also in the midst of a pandemic; folks aren’t exactly rushing to theaters and if they do muster the courage, they’re surely seeing Tenet or the third Bill and Ted adventure.

True, it’s hard to shed many tears over the misfortune of a big studio production or pretend it’s some sort of game-changer…but, it’s actually not terrible. That is to say, considering everything going on in the world right now, it’ll do.

Don’t expect to see any A-listers that you’ve come to know and love like Wolverine, Storm or Professor X. Here, we’re introduced to an entirely new batch of young mutants navigating puberty along with the angst and superpowers that accompany that crucial life stage. You won’t find the typical Marvel template here either, at least with respect to tone. Instead of a light action-adventure with heroes battling villains for the fate of the world, writer-director Josh Boone and co-writer Knate Lee have gambled on a horror story set in a confined space where our heroes battle (mostly) internal demons.  

Danielle ‘Dani’ Moonstar (Blu Hunt) acts as our surrogate for this pocket of the Marvel Universe. We’re introduced to the young Cheyenne Native American as she flees the destruction of her reservation to find shelter during a tornado. After being knocked unconscious, she awakens in an eerie hospital run by Dr. Cecilia Reyes (Alice Braga, an odd choice for an even odder character adaptation) who informs Dani that she’s a mutant and suggests she stay put until she discovers and controls her power. The doctor also introduces her to the other young mutants who have been brought to the hospital with similar baggage.

This all sound familiar? I did say it was an X-Men spin-off; the patients even think they’re being trained as the next generation of the iconic team. Well, they’re not and although Dr. Reyes tells them they’re to remain in the facility for the protection of themselves and others, she may be omitting some important details. That’s where the narrative diverges from the typical X-Men film. So, besides the appeal of a superhero tale mixed with horror elements, the other major selling point is the idea of a group of impressionable young mutants being discovered by actors much less benevolent than the great Charles Xavier.

The filmmakers are on to something here, but the short 94-minute run time and all-but-certain interference from studio execs don’t leave the artists much room to juggle a horror film, superhero film and coming-of-age story all at once. There are moments throughout when the various genre elements do work—alone or in conjunction—but they never coalesce into something that transcends their potential. It’s not scary enough, the action is sparce and the character arcs are unremarkable. It’s a shame; the X-Men franchise has always worked as an allegory for the anxieties and struggles that accompany puberty and the additional horror element could’ve really amplified this idea had the film dared to dig deeper.

It’s not as if the movie’s devoid of interesting characters with which to explore these issues. In fact, the core mutants and their interactions arguably are more compelling than those in the original X-Men from 2000, where some iconic superheroes like Cyclops and Storm felt like afterthoughts.

That said, the quality of character and performance on display is still inconsistent. Maisie Williams gives the best performance as the earnest Rahne Sinclair whose power of lycanthropy is at odds with her religion. This kind soul quickly befriends the alienated Dani. Anya Taylor-Joy and Charlie Heaton are fine as Illyana Rasputin and Sam Guthrie; the former can summon magical swords, armour and portals while the latter blasts through the air like a cannonball, becoming invulnerable mid-flight. They’re skilled actors but lay it on a bit thick with her Russian accent and his southern drawl; though, you have to respect Taylor-Joy’s charisma and her amusingly hostile attitude toward Dani. Henry Zaga plays Roberto da Costa, the typical cocky playboy who can manipulate solar energy. He has his moments.  

Unfortunately, Hunt gives the weakest performance as Dani whose powers are as hard to pin down here as they are in the comics (something about creating illusions based on emotions). She’s the one with whom you’re supposed to empathise the most, but it’s challenging when the pain and vulnerability on display rarely feel authentic. 

Kudos to the production team, though, for following the lead of comic book icon Chris Claremont and including several females and people of colour in the film while adding a same-sex relationship. Kudos to them, as well, for staying faithful to the mutants’ cool powers from the comics despite them being exhibited so sparingly. It would’ve been nice to see Sam blasting around a bit more or Rahne in full ‘beast mode’. This goes for the action in general. It’s refreshing to see a superhero film that doesn’t bombard our senses for 2.5 hours, but in The New Mutants, the pendulum swings too far the other way. The final battle practically ends before it begins, but at least a certain purple creature makes a most welcome appearance.

It’s hard being too critical toward a comic book film with a relatively small budget whose creators really tried to do something different. You almost feel bad that it’ll be lost amidst Disney’s acquisition of Fox and their incorporation of the X-Men properties into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Honestly, the restructure is for the best; the famously inconsistent franchise could use the MCU makeover. And, yet, when the credits started rolling and I realized I might not see these five individuals again, imperfections and all…I felt a little bummed out. That’s gotta count for something, right?

[julystorms]

I think we can all agree Isayama’s intent on most things has fallen fairly short. Levi and Erwin’s relationship culminating into what it did during RtS was so lackluster compared to what it could have been. There was a severe lack of build up when it came to Levi confronting Erwin on his dream, a lack of backbone in the scene where Levi saw Erwin’s expression post-Clash (the anime clearly tried to remedy this, and I think Levi’s line at the very end of their conversation was (c)

You got your point across really well! There are probably a few people in this fandom that wouldn’t change anything about SnK as it exists right now (except, you know, more chapters ;P). The rest of us would have loved for there to be more depth to a lot of relationships. I feel like he’s so used to killing off characters shortly after they appear/are relevant that he’s gotten really good at giving us the basic core of a character and even hints of their relationships, but struggles a bit when it comes to long-term sustained character relationships/development. 

None of this is edited and it’s all stream of consciousness written by someone whose EYES KEEP TRYING TO CLOSE, so I’m sorry if this reads poorly.

Considering Eren’s role as a giant plot device, I think Isayama’s done pretty well with him. Marlowe? Also fairly well done if we set aside my complaints about his death. And like, the only reason Marlowe turned out so well is 1) he died, and 2) he only really had two character relationships from the start of the series…the first being Annie, the second being Hitch–and we know Annie didn’t stay very relevant to him personally, so his primary relationship throughout the series was just with Hitch. That made it easier for Isayama to work with. Marlowe interacted with other characters (Eren, Connie, Armin) but the bigger focus was on or through Hitch.

The veterans are where it gets hard, I guess. Look, even if you just look at… Let’s say Gelgar, since he’s given a PoV chapter and some actual lines. He functions primarily as a narrative plot device, okay. Nobody’s in denial of this. But we get a little bit of his thought process and a little bit of his interaction with his team before they all die. He calls Mike “Mike-san” (compare this to Nanaba just calling him “Mike”), he seems to have wordless communication with Lynne down to an art, and he jokes around a bit with Nanaba in an almost morbid sort of way several times (even shortly before his death). And hey, before he gives up the ghost…he apologizes to Nanaba for the fact that he’s about to die on her. That’s great. It’s not a lot but it’s enough. There’s some good material there. But…if Gelgar had lived he couldn’t just be left like that. He’d have to become more of a character, more three-dimensional. And therein lies the problem, because a huge part of his characterization kind of needs to come from…interaction with other people, and I don’t just mean his own team. Of course he’s good at working with his permanent team? But what is his relationship to Hange like? What about Moblit? Nifa? Petra? What does he think of Auruo? Erwin?

I think what I’m trying to say is that Isayama slips up the most when characters stick around too long, because you can excuse the redshirts for being kind of bland or not having a fully fleshed out personality, but it gets much harder to do that with characters who are around for most of the story and never have room to do anything.

I rag on the way Isayama killed Mike only because Mike’s “special skill” was such a bizarre asspull that it feels more ridiculous to take it back out of the story again than it would have to just…keep it around. Mike’s team was all right, though–except Henning, who may as well not have even been there. (Sorry, Henning.) Gelgar, Lynne, and Nanaba all felt…connected enough that their deaths came with a little impact at least…even though they were barely in the story at all.

Marlowe was around a long time but in keeping with a tight relationship focus, Isayama managed to make/keep him fairly decent. I think part of Marlowe’s success as a character also stems from the fact that he wasn’t in every scene, or even every chapter/every other chapter. He didn’t appear unless something was going to happen and usually that something utilized his skills in some way. His fight with Hitch was a little silly but it was nice in that it gave Isayama a choice in tone. Marlowe could live and come home (in one piece or not) and be reunited with this person who obviously cares for him, or Marlowe can die out there and it’s all a huge tragedy. Well, we know the route Isayama picked, but he tried to make Marlowe’s feelings toward Hitch known at the very end. He wasn’t mad at her, he didn’t hate her. In fact, his last thoughts are thoughtful and gentle and calm. “Why am I thinking of her…at a time like this…?” Boom, he’s dead. And you’d think…well it’s still a tragedy, and you’re right about that. It is. But when we see Hitch again she’s not consumed with this sorrow that Marlowe died mad at her–at least…not outwardly. So maybe before he left, they patched things up. Or maybe she just knew he didn’t really mean what he said. It’s okay that it’s left vague; we don’t need to know the specifics. (That’s what fanfic is for anyway, right?)

But then we have to look at characters like Connie and Sasha who were in the background for a lot of chapters, had a very short character arc (of like, a chapter each), and have since been stuck in the background acting as comedic relief at moments that are honestly completely asinine. 

I mean, you expect Eren to be well developed. He’s the main character. But Sasha and Connie have been around almost as long and pretty much exist uselessly in the background for huge swaths of time doing very little and saying very little. Isayama clearly didn’t know what to do with them. :/

Now I’m the one rambling and I know I’m not making much sense. I guess what I wanted to say is that I agree with you, and I think a lot of the fandom does too. “It could have been so much better” rings true. And like, you see where he’s done a good job and you kind of just wish it was all that good. But in the end it boils down to publishing something as you go being way more difficult than it probably sounds to non-writers, and a lack of time to really focus on the little things. I get the feeling if Isayama could show us nice little day to day interactions and stuff, he would, but he has a plot to finish and he’s had that from the start (and has been on deadlines to get that plot moving)…so I won’t hold it against him too much. I also like that the anime is kinda trying to add in small things to boost/support what happens later in the series. A lot of these changes were great imo.

(Clap your hands if this made any sense at all!!! I’m so tired!)

[implexadyth]

How the PLL Finale Retroactively Ruined the Show

This was honestly the most baffling series finale I have ever seen, and that includes (yes, really) the finale to How I Met Your Mother. Let me break it down for you, and explain exactly why it is so mind-bogglingly terrible.

 ~From opening credits to the 40-minute mark: random filler dream sequences, pointless cameos, and fan-fiction lip service smut, the latter of which might have made sense if they hadn’t inserted about fifty sex scenes into the previous two episodes as well. 

Then came what was arguably the best scene of the episode, Twincer mimicking Spencer as she wakes up in her high-tech underground bunker, complete with fake atmosphere and nature, built in a year under the entire town of Rosewood via a single entrance below a private house by contractors who didn’t care about bylaws, zoning restrictions, or the need to provide silent heavy machinery that can be condensed into the size of a doorframe to be reconstructed inside Toby’s house in order to complete their job. Awesome! I thought that was a neat way to introduce the twincer concept, with the mirror imaging. My optimism for the episode rises slightly.

The Spencer-twin theory was the one I was predicting would be brought to the table, so I was gratified to be correct. I’d seen interviews with I. Marlene King where she said she’d read correct theories online, and I’ve read (and constructed!) some very complex ones that would have tied together most of the series, so at this point, my impatience brought on by the complete waste of my time creating a 2-hour finale was dissolving.

Oh man, was I in for it! BLIMEY!

               I’m entirely baffled by the rest of the finale, save for Mona’s ending, which was hilarious if not completely logical (let’s be honest, we all suspend our logic somewhat when watching this show. We have to.) But the A.D. reveal? The only explanation for the way they built Alex Drake’s backstory is that somehow they deliberately conceived of a character whose existence could create an explanation for 90% of the plotholes of the entire 7 seasons, give the show a deeper meaning, and give reason to the fact that multiple random people seem to want to torture a specific handful of (admittedly thoughtless and sometimes downright idiotic) suburban highschoolers-turned-grownups in a game of Pass The Torture Baton ….and then said, hey, fuck it! That’d be too easy; let’s actually go to MORE effort to give her a backstory that not only has raging plotholes of its own, but retroactively ruins the CeCe reveal (which was culturally insensitive in and of itself, but let’s not even go there).

How does this retroactively ruin the CeCe reveal, you ask? Not sure why you would, but let’s indulge. If CeCe was having this sisterly relationship with Alex since she left for France, which was canonically taking place after the girls killed Shana in New York, then why was CeCe’s obsession with Alison? Alison, homecoming queen, must reconcile with my sister Alison! Pictures of Alison all over my lairs, and the dollhouse is so I can bring a homecoming for my sister Alison, and I’m going to leave lots of clues about my origins with the DiLaurentis family. Except I already found a true sister in Europe, and my other actual biological sister is Spencer, but fuck her, because for some reason, the Hastings are TERRIBLE PEOPLE, Alex, just trust me (*cough cough* pot, kettle, black *cough cough*).

Aside from the fact that I don’t understand why Charlotte would have a particular vendetta against Spencer, at least enough to tell Alex that she needs to stay away from her, the timeline also makes no sense. If, as Alex says, Wren and Melissa were already broken up by the time she met him, which was obviously before she met Charlotte, since he introduced them, then the scene with Hanna and Melissa in London makes no sense. How could Hanna run into Melissa in London DURING the five-year time jump, with them conversing about how Melissa and Wren recently broke up, if they were already broken up for good before the dollhouse episodes occurred?

Of course, this is only one of many, many gaping holes (phrasing) in this incredibly condensed half-finale reveal. Many people have said, “it’s Pretty Little Liars! Stop thinking it through so much.” And I’m like, “yes, hello 2017, I realize that suspending disbelief and lowering your standards below ground level are basically a necessity for this brave new world, but somehow I still manage to press on with it.”

The reason that these lackluster explanations are so infuriating is two-fold. First, the show has historically managed to weave complex concepts and suspenseful plotlines, while dropping hints that are obscure and yet indicate the potential that the overall conclusion of the show could redeem the many failings it has. Second, and most importantly, it actually quite literally would have been EASIER to use the twin theory to retroactively explain the overall arc of the show in a satisfying way. At the moment that Alex says goodbye to Charlotte as she returns to the US and says she never saw her alive again, my friend and I paused the show (thank god I downloaded this illegally, I can’t imagine how I would have felt if I’d paid to watch that episode), and looked at each other in disbelief. Don’t worry, past self! It’ll only get more horrifyingly, entertainingly bad.

With the exception of episode 7x19, the entire seventh season was filler, and not even good filler. I convinced myself that it was because they were building up to a dramatic, shocking and satisfying finale. I also told myself I wasn’t going to be too optimistic, but clearly I was in serious, life-threatening denial. After suffering through an entire year consisting of 9 filler episodes and a lot of waiting, the entire deductive process of the main characters discovering A.D.’s identity can be summed up in two lines of dialogue (paraphrased): 

Toby: “you guys! A horse and Jenna told me Spencer isn’t herself! Also she gave me a book! She’s a twin, she’s evil! We have to get her!” 

Everyone else: “uhhh hang on we were engaging in illegal and grossly inappropriate investigation of our friends’ credit card statements and GPS tracking because he was mean and left our other friend at the altar! P.S. I still don’t understand why people always want to torture us! A twin, you say? TWINS RUN IN THEIR FAMILY! Say no more! Let’s hurry and get there before we run out of time in this finale, I swear there was a reason it was two hours long.”

I actually calculated the time that this scene took, and it was exactly one minute. From Toby arriving and spewing nonsense about Spencer’s book when they were asking about Ezra’s whereabouts, to them just accepting what wasn’t even presented as a theory, but a statement of fact based on the testimony of one of their sworn enemies, and a horse (this is so ridiculous, it bears repeating). Literally 60 effing seconds. I’m so glad they stayed true to the fans by indulging in their enjoyment of the process, of the deduction and clues that led to their discovery of villains or potential villains over the years.

Still not convinced? This isn’t enough lead-up? Don’t change the channel! Just wait! There’s more! We’ve got the most exhausted TV trope in history, the “which twin is the evil twin? Let’s ask a question only the REAL Spencer Hastings would know! Better hope the twin never read the book that she knew her doppelganger loved so much, despite the fact that she clearly spent months or years studying her as to effectively mimic her and be able to regurgitate specific bits of knowledge from her life or memories by rote, and also knew to give you the book in the first place. But oh wait, she didn’t even bother to make sure her copy looked like the original, so somehow she is omniscient and yet also lacks a keen eye for detail simultaneously.”

Mona’s ending was clever and satisfying, aside from the fact that they painted Mary Drake as an insane-yet-still-protective mother to Spencer, but then we were supposed to be happy about her eternal torture and misery at the hands of another mentally ill person. Aside from all the incredibly offensive lessons we’ve been taught by PLL about mental health issues, the Mona ending was somewhat fulfilling, and had they ended the finale there, I might have upgraded my evaluation of this episode from 0.0003/10 to 0.0005/10. But no, they had a group of the most awkward and untalented pre-teens regurgitate the exact script from the beginning of the pilot, a move so bewilderingly stupid, I don’t even understand how the executives gave this thing the green light. Who are these people, and why are they getting paid exponentially higher salaries than I am? What is most confusing about this is that I watched an interview with I. Marlene King where she was bursting with pride about this “full-circle moment” and couldn’t wait to reveal it to the fans. Did she actually watch the final edit of this thing? The only part of this that feels full-circle is the way it resembles a dog chasing its tail. Pointless, self-serving, and humorous in the most ridiculous way.

The most entertaining part of this entire experience is that they spent 7 years teaching their fans how to use social media and technology to harass people who have wronged them, and then completed their run by creating an ending that would instil the same emotions into those people. Good luck with that! (N.B.: I do not endorse this in any way. I mean that truly; you deserve better than to waste any more time or effort on this show, or anyone who had a hand in crafting that ending).

               Personally, I’ll end this with my relatively simplistic alternate explanation/ending that would have circumvented all of this bullshit, then sigh a breath of relief at the catharsis that is walking away from all those wasted hours of my life. As an aside, I hope Troian Bellisario goes on to bigger and better things – her accent wasn’t great, but her acting was fantastic. You were the sole saving grace of this episode. In the meantime, I recommend to anyone who hasn’t watched the finale yet: pretend that 7x19 is the last episode, for your own sake. It has a decent ending, and while it doesn’t answer most of your questions, it doesn’t retroactively ruin the entire 7 seasons preceding it, either.

How it Actually Should Have Ended

-          “I’m your twin! Alex Drake!” *Spencer gasps in shock*.

-          “How is this possible?” The fans ask.

-          She tells her story:

-          I was adopted from Radley, but given back because by the time I could form memories, I was already too much of a rascal! I was raised in Radley under the name Bethany Young, and Alison lured me from the Sanitarium with the intention to kill me out of jealousy. I can make plans too, though! I convinced another patient with blond hair to come with me, and put her in the clothes Jessica gave me. She was buried by Melissa, who thought she was Alison. The same person who switched Alison’s dental records did the same for me, and also I found out my real name is Alex Drake. From then on, I was obsessed with getting revenge with not only Alison for plotting to kill me, but also the girls who let her get away with being such an abysmal person. As a bonus, one of them is my twin sister who had the luck of being born a minute before me, and therefore got a fabulously privileged life, while most of mine was spent in Radley. So I enlisted Mona and then Charlotte, whom I discovered to be my sister during my investigation of my family tree (and was lucky enough to be cooped up in Radley too! Double score on the background connections!) to help me get revenge on those I perceived to be the source of my own misery in life.

-          No? Too easy? I guess we’ll just have to insert a time-travelling paradox of a backstory to explain my existence, because otherwise our executive producer would have to actually re-watch some of the episodes before writing this finale. And that would be way, way too much work (considering the pittance I’m sure she’s paid) to create the ending to a show whose premise is the unraveling of a mystery. It’s okay, the show was insanely popular enough to give her more work in the future, no matter how badly she cratered the one episode that could have made the whole thing brilliant.