#I feel like the homonculus in the flask that's how I feel. and it is devastating

[tare-anime]

Fullmetal Alchemist

Welp, finally I read this manga.

So very late, yes I know, but this and that happened and I've finally able to binge read this amazing 10 years work (2001-2010) in a little more than a week.

Tbh, the first book was mostly world building and kind of slow paced, but starting from the last half of second book.... I can't stop reading.

Wow. Just wow.

As a reader who usually has to wait a week or two between each chapter, being able to read a series from start to finish in a week is quite a different experience, tbh 🤣🤣 I need two days to take a breath and comprehend the story. There must be details that I missed that I need to reread.

Overall, the highlight of this series is the impecabble characterizations and the growth of each character, and character dynamics.

And not only Ed and Al as protagonists, or Winry, Roy, Izumi as the closest support characters but also the people around them up until the minorest characters. I love Scar, Barry the Chopper, the Homonculus, and even the main antagonist Shadow in the flask.

All of them get their moments to shine. All of them got their share of development, and most important, all of them got to do something in the plot!

The world building and plot also been done amazingly. From the current timeline, up until events in the past, and all loose ends being tied up in the end that give me the most satisfactory endings. It is still an open ending, but at the same time the epilogue feels enough.

And of course, this manga contains so many amazing female characters, and each one of them is so badass. They have their strength and weakness and impact to the people around them.

My favorites mommies.... Izumi Curtiz and Olivier Armstrong.

OmG!!!! Especially in these badass moments??? 🛐🛐🛐🛐 My Queeeennn!

Of course, I will always love black haired beauty with knives. LanFan my beloved 💖💖💖💖

And last but not least, Granny Pinnako!

I mean, this person has been there, and will always be there through sweet moments and sorrows. Supporting Trisha and Hohenheim, Ed and Al, Winry. She stands strong for them. She is there when these people needs some strong hands to steady their wobbly legs. And pushes them to carry on with their life.

That is.... one amazing woman right there!!

As far as pairing ships, being a TwiYor fan I am, I've always been bombarded with Royai fanarts (and I'm not complaining). Yes, I noticed the tragic pasts, the relationship, and how supportive Royai can be (and it is quite similar to TwiYor in a way), but I think for FMA, I lean more to Ed and Winry ship.

Don't get me wrong, I love both ships.

But seeing Ed and Winry grow from little boy and girls, do their share of hardships, realize their feelings, and finally voice their awkward proposal. Auugghhh!!!! 🥰🥰🥰🥰

My favorite moments for these ships are:

Yes yes, I will still love angst and hurt/comfort whenever I go 🤣🤣🤣

Oh, other ships that I like: LanFan and Lin, Izumi and Sig, May and Alphonse, Mr and Mrs. Hughes.

All in all, what an amazing series. I'm glad I finally able to read this 🥰🥰🥰🥰 and will do a reread while waiting for the next spy x family chapter.

[yvningshowers]

disability amirite

[animebw]

Binge-Watching: Mo Dao Zu Shi, Episodes 13-15

In which I ruminate on the complexity of flashback storytelling, Wei Wuxian crosses to the dark side, and past finally bleeds into present.

With Broad Pen

The first season of Mo Dao Zu Shi is a prologue first and foremost. I know that seems kinda redundant to talk about; of course it’s a prologue, the whole thing takes place in the past. But it was only approaching the end of this season that I really started to appreciate what that meant in terms of how the story was being told. See, I took a glance through the MAL message boards for this anime a couple days ago, and I saw someone say that the original manhua is actually a two-track story, following the backstory of these characters alongside their present adventures. Apparently, it doesn’t just start by getting all the past stuff out of the way like the adaptation does, but instead follows these characters in the present and treats the past stuff more as flashbacks. Anyone who’s actually read the manhua can tell me if I’m wrong, but that would actually make a lot of sense if that’s true. Considering how much anime loves using flashbacks, I’ve realized over time that there’s a subtle difference in the cinematic language commonly used for flashbacks in comparison to basic story progression. And  looking back on the season as a whole, it does feel more like the epic backstory to a greater tale than a complete tale in its own right.

See, a story’s core plot is all about itself; as it moves forward, it builds on itself and adds new details to flesh out ideas and characters and plot points it’s previously touched on. But a flashback, in contrast, isn’t about itself; instead, it’s also about fleshing out the core plot by providing information on the events that inform its status quo. Thus, while the present story is relatively free to explore its world and characters however it wants, flashbacks tend to be a lot more... hyper-specific in what they choose to focus on. After all, since their primary goal is to reinforce the present story, they’re better off focusing on events that have relevance to that present story. Which means that on average, flashbacks don’t have as much room to develop their own unique status quo rich in lived-in detail and the freedom to explore whatever corners it so wishes. Which is fine, because most of the time, flashbacks don’t need to be a whole other story all on their own, they just need to support the one currently being told. Consider in FMA Brotherhood, we don’t ever really get a complete sense of the culture and people of Xerxes in the Dwarf in the Flask episode, because we don’t need to put the focus there; we just need the important moments leading to the homonculus’ bond with Hohenheim and the catastrophic fallout of the same, because that’s the stuff that actually matters to Ed and Al’s adventure in the present. It’s subtle, to be sure, but the texture of the storytelling is definitely different.

All that is a rounabout way to say that Mo Dao Zu Shi’s first season very much feels like it was compiled from flashbacks of the present narrative as opposed to being written in the present tense as the first act of the story. That’s not necessarily a criticism, to be clear, just an observation of where its priorities lie. It explains why we skip over big chunks of battle and huge upsets of power in the actual war; because this prologue isn’t trying to tell the complete story of what happened in the before time. It’s trying to focus on the snapshots that actually have relevance to the "main story”, and trusting we can fill in the gaps ourselves since this isn’t the core of the story we’re following. Of course, since this adaptation doesn’t run the present and past stories side by side, this extended flashback is the “main story” for the time being, but it’s still written as the mythic flavor text it was initially designed as. Which is where you run into issues like skipping over the fall of the Cloud Recesses and the overly broad female characters, which might be more forgivable if these were presented as just important snapshots of the past instead of the lived-in present. Thankfully, it still excels at the kind of broad, sweeping emotions these kinds of epic flashbacks are designed for. That scene on Lao Zhan’s brother rallying the clans to war with the weight of an army behind him? Fucking awesome. Jiang Cheng returning his parents’ remains to his sister as they finally reunite after years apart? God, that really got me. This season is epic poetry first and foremost, and whenever it’s just letting its pen paint in broad strokes, it’s truly something to behold.

Hallow’s Eve

And nowhere is that epic scope more palpable than in the darkness that arises as Wei Wuxian finally becomes a master of dark energy to destroy the Wen scourge. Sweet buttery Jesus, folks, Evil Wei is insane. Even just the creepy way the dark hands caress him when he’s first swallowed up is stomach-turning, but once he’s actually on the prowl as a full-on angel of vengeance, it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before. He is epic in his darkness, mythic in the devastation he wreaks. The scene where we first see him unleash his powers on Wen Chao’s concubine is the most colossally fucked entrance a newborn devil could possible wish for. The wind whipping in shrieks, the chaotic trills of the flute, the twisting camera angles, the satanic red glow of the corrupted talismans swirling like an infernal hurricane... Beelzebub himself would be proud of that display. And then when he finally shows up to bring death to Wen Chao himself, the fires burning noxious green, the savagery with which he tears the Wen armies apart is dizzying. You can tell how deliciously he’s enjoying himself, how much he’s enjoying ripping the scumbags who wronged him apart piece by piece by piece, reveling in every scream and twisted limb and shambling corpse. It’s like witnessing the birth of an elder god, monstrous and unfathomable and legendary. Welcome at last, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. Thank you for the most suitably stunning entrance I could ask for.

Back to the Present

Sadly, that’s where we’ll have to leave Wei Wuxian’s goth phase for the moment, because at last, the story has returned to the present! It’s a hell of a contrast, going from Wei’s darkest hour to the first moment of peace he’s had in twenty years of not-quite-life. When he last saw Lan Zhan in the past, they found themselves on such opposite sides of a great divide that they started using each other’s courtesy names once more. Even Wei, who dropped the Wangji from Lan Zhan’s name almost immediately after meeting him, draws it back up as a barrier to tear them apart. But now, they’ve found each other once more, a reunion marked by soft winds and a scattering of cherry blossoms in the rebuilt sanctuary that was burned to ash twenty years ago. And Lan Zhan clearly hasn’t forgotten the impact Wei Wuxian has on him. He’s even started hiding casks of wine for himself, the very thing he once admonished Wei for! The man he’s become is a far cry from the man he used to be, and no one deserves more thanks for that than the mischievous imp who sprung into his life and turned it upside-down. I have no idea what will become of them from now on, what journeys they have yet to undergo, but I’m eager to find out. And with the weight of the past firmly behind us now, I can’t wait to see what this story looks like when it finally starts moving forward.

Odds and Ends

-So is the “cut off a hand” punishment a common thing in Ancient China, or that a specific threat Wei Wuxian carried with him? Because I remember him threatening those bullies in the present with losing their hands...

-Those spirit-talker river spirit glob things are super pretty.

-”We have always been healers.” Sister Ning continues to be the best.

-”As long as he can kill the damn Wens, who cares if he’s a heretic or demon?” Hoo boy, Jiang Cheng, I hope you don’t end up eating those words.

-Christ, he plucked so much his fingers got cut. Massive guitar mood.

-God, poor Shijie. She deserves the world after bearing witness to so much sorrow.

And holy crap, that’s season 1 complete. Expect my season reflection later tonight!

[peyvatelle]

clIMBS BACK IN, YOU BET YOUR ASS I WAS SCREAMING

first of all, spoilers ahead i feel like that’s a given  so actual first of all, greed saying “you gave me all i ever wanted” hello???????????? who’S THAT ON THE GROUND???? IT’S THIS BITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT’S THIS BITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

second the whole fuckin von hohenheim montage shit they did got my ass in tears, do you know how many times i’ve cried in the past two hours? i got that after cry headache i wanna take an after cry nap this is bs like on a scale of 1-10 i didn’t as k fo r thishfkdg yOU KNOW WHAT REALLY GOT ME FUCKED UP THO??????? is fuckin trisha bending down to give her hand in the opening that i totally thought was for ed/al but in the montage you realize it was actually for hohenheim and you got me in goddamn tears bye

i’m so happy that scar’s found some semblance of peace like holy shit you can just tell how much l o v e hiromu arakawa put into her characters and i’m on the goddamn floor fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood on a scale of 1-10? the scale doesn’t exist it’s gotta be in the 20s there is no scale also the dwarf in the flask i wondered up until episode 63 why his hair was a different blond when he was a copy of hohenheim and it’s bc he’s just a “pale imitation” of the humanity he wanted to understand, the humanity and the God he wanted to become good fucking night can i get an absolute hoi fuckin ya for alphonse and edward standing on the roof next to each other bc i’m crying, look at my boys i love them so fucking much also ling becoming emperor lIKE THAT’S MY BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT’S MY BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it didn’t even occur to my ass that shalim was still a homonculus until lit was pointed out like, does he outlive everyone else? at what point does he stop growing? cLAPS MY HANDS TOGETHER BEAUTIFUL PERFORMANCE BY PRIDE EVERYONE I will never forget his eyes goodnight winry “i’ll just give you my whole ass life” rockbell everybody, i’m crying god i love my boys so much, i’m so glad alphonse gets to eat and sleep again aLSO WINRY HAD AN APPLE PIE READY I’M ON THE FUCKING FLOOR, and she had a huge ass basket of apples like she’s been preparing and practicing every day like?? i’m crying???

i’m fINALLY rewatching fma:b and ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh my fucking god it’s so absolutely fucking good, it was my first anime like 8 fucking years ago so like, i’ve highkey been like damn i should rewatch it but also let me like, Wait a bit so i forget some shit and skjdhjfgjkds boy did i forget some shit, i remembered like most everything that happened up until the north and then it’s literally just been like a couple of scenes. But oh my fucking god, a masterpiece, hOW DO YOU HAVE A CLIMAX GO OFF FOR LIKE AN ENTIRE ASS SEASON, THE PACING IS JUST S O FUCKING GOOD HOLY SHIT, IT’S LIKE HIGH TENSION ALL THE GODDAMN TIME BUT WITHOUT BEING TIRING, and i just got to the ep where ********* dies (those asterisks are not the right amount) and it was like hhhh, i’m mentally exhausted I want a pause from all the action bUT THEN THE ENDING ON THAT EP GOT ME FUCKIN HYPED TOO