#I have some additional gripes about this season but I will maybe take them into another post | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

rosiehunterwolf · 3 years ago

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Why Skybound's Ending Works

And why it was actually, to contrary belief of some of the fandom, a good season.

So I read this book a while ago. It was a good book, an enjoyable read, but I remember being really disappointed in the ending. Today I was looking through my bookshelf and I found it again, which made me start thinking about why, exactly, I didn't like it.

While there were a few different gripes I had with it, the main point came down to the fact that at the end of the book, after the climax had been resolved, the main character still wasn't happy, and she found a way to reverse time so that the whole incident never happened.

Sounds familiar, right?

I've never been a big fan of stories that basically undo everything at the end. I feel like it's a cheap ending and gets the main character out of learning his or her lesson, and often leaves me as a reader (or viewer in the case of a show/movie) with a sense of unfulfillment. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, as this is the biggest complaint I've seen about Skybound in the fandom.

So, if this is true, why don't I feel the same kind of dissatisfaction with Skybound that I do with this book?

My first thoughts were maybe that because the book is a standalone part. Ninjago is a long show, now spanning 15 seasons (12 at the time I first was watching Skybound) and having one season that was a dud wouldn't upset me that much because there were so many. But if this were true, I would feel disappointment when I thought about Skybound in particular, not Ninjago as a whole, right? But I didn't. I still genuinely enjoyed the season, and I didn't feel scammed by the ending at all.

Upon further depth, I realized that it was the execution of this time-reverse.

The way the book I read worked, was that the main conflict had already been resolved, and peace had been declared, but the main character wasn't happy in her situation. She realized this wasn't what she wanted, and then time was reversed. Most media which undoes the plot goes something along this route, in my experience.

As a writer and reader, let me tell you that having another conflict after the main conflict just doesn't work. The main climax is supposed to build tension, put the consumers on the edge of their seats, and then have a short resolution period at the end to satisfy the consumers, but not stretch it out for any longer than necessary, because the climax was what we were all here for. Having another plot afterwards, even if it is internal, like this one was, takes away from the main climax, and suddenly it doesn't feel very engaging anymore. Everything throughout the book/show/movie is building up to the climax, and once that is over, it's time for the story to be done. Additional plots following the climax are what sequels are for.

Skybound doesn't do this. Instead of having more plot after the conclusion (which usually leads into the time reverse), it makes the time reverse INTO the climax.

The plot is building as Jay and the others prepare to kill Nadakhan. But when the plan goes awry, and now Nya is hit with the poison too, Jay's focus switches to her. This isn't a new climax, it's just a switch of focus as suddenly there are larger priorities to fix. A shift of focus, done right, can make things even more intense because now there are two threats- in this case, stopping Nadakhan, and saving Nya from death.

Jay's wish is all he has left. As soon as the venom wears off, Nadakhan will be all-powerful again. They are running out of resources, of ways to fight him. Jay has to end him now, or they lose against Nadakhan, possibly forever.

But he's not going to sacrifice Nya for this either. As we know, Nadakhan twists the wishes in anyway he can to benefit him, so Jay needs to make his wish as simple and straightforward as possible. He can't save Nya and stop Nadakhan.

That is, unless he prevents this whole mess from happening in the first place.

This is wonderfully executed, because Jay isn't actively seeking to do this out of his own selfish wants, or because he wants to fix something he did in the past. He does it out of necessity, because it's the only way he can think of where everyone on his side gets out alive. Like I said before, I feel like reversing time usually makes it so that a character is getting a cheap solution to their problem, one where they override all the lessons they learned throughout the story. But this is not the case with Jay. It's not a cheap ending, it's just an abrupt one, because Jay realized that this was a threat he wasn't strong enough to face. It takes humility, it takes courage- and it greatly improved him as a character.

One of the other main gripes about time-reversal plot is that there's no consequences. The characters spent all this time fighting to defeat some conflict, only for all of that to be undone and putting them right back at square one.

While this is somewhat true for Skybound, they handle it in a way so that the characters still get something out of it. Most people don't remember, but Jay and Nya still do. Those memories are still very much real for them. Skybound technically did happen, it was just reversed. It's not like it never existed. For Jay and Nya, who still remember, those experiences and traumas are still very much real.

I think the main prospect might be Nadakhan's teapot, though. Let's recount the exact wording of Jay's final wish:

"I wish you had taken my hand, and no one ever found that teapot in the first place."

Jay's wish is in past tense. "I wish you HAD," "no one ever FOUND" (instead of finds). Jay didn't wish that no one would find the teapot ever, just that they wouldn't have found it in the past. This means, while, it would fix the past, the future is still uncertain. Nadakhan could still potentially return, because Jay's wish wasn't specific enough.

While I am not super confident that he actually will, just the potential for it makes this a much better ending. Skybound, while erased, still is very much real, and so is Nadakhan. Jay's original plan was to kill him, but now he's just dormant in the teapot.

Skybound's ending wasn't cheap. It was a way for Jay to realize that he wasn't always going to win, and that no mistake could ever be completely erased.

#ninjago #ns6 #ninjago skybound #rosie rants #ninjago discussions #ninjago analysis #ninjago jay #ninjago nya #ninjago nadakhan

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gatheringfiki · 3 years ago

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The following ficlet was written by @legolaslovely based on this photoset.

Fili/Kili, Teen. Modern AU.

You might also be able to read this story on AO3.

If you’ve enjoyed this story, please leave a comment either in replies or on AO3. :)

Fancy Shmancy

—

“We always do this,” Kíli said as he stuffed another decadent, layered invitation into its thick envelope. He placed it on top of the towering stack between him and Fíli.

“I thought you didn’t like addressing them,” Fíli said, pausing his pen. “We can switch if you want, but you’ll have to write legibly-”

“No, no,” Kíli said, sitting back in his chair. “I mean all of it. It happens every year. Thorin gets overwhelmed with the big Durin Christmas Party and when we take pity on him and offer to help out a LITTLE, he gives us lists and lists of tasks! It’s not fair!”

Fíli chuckled. “It’s our yearly tradition, Kee.”

“It shouldn’t be!” Kíli cried. “This was the year we were supposed to be free from this! We finally get out of the corporation- both of us- and we’re still stuck planning this stupid party.”

“I’m sorry,” Fíli said sarcastically, “were you going to be the one to say no to Ma’s pleading eyes?”

Kíli paused, waving an empty envelope in his hands and slapping it against his other fingers as he thought.

“Hm?” Fíli pushed.

“Well, you were supposed to say no first! Then she wouldn’t have even come to me.”

“Yeah, right. You’d crumble either way.”

Fíli continued addressing the invitation in front of him and with a huff, Kíli returned to his task as well. Kíli was sick of this job. Of course these invitations had to have scalloped edges that were next to impossible to get into the envelopes. If he pushed too hard, they’d bend and the envelope would curl and the invitee wouldn’t come to the party, completely offended by the careless stuffing job that was done and Kíli wouldn’t hear the end of it from Uncle all year long-

“Next year we’re doing email invites,” Kíli said.

Fíli looked up. He pushed Kíli’s hair back behind his ear and let his thumb roll over Kíli’s cheek. “Next year I think we should go away for a few weeks before Christmas. Just the two of us.”

Kíli kissed him. “Deal.”

Kíli stood, hands on hips, in the middle of the room. He stared upwards and after a moment, tilted his head to the left. Eventually, some part of him gave in and he rocked his head back the other way. He sighed.

It was then that a strong pair of very familiar arms snaked around his waist and a light kiss was planted on the back of his shoulder.

“Everything looks perfect. Downright magical, Kee.”

Though Kíli griped about the way he was guilted into being a ‘volunteer’ decorator each year, even he could admit that this was his favorite part about the Christmas season. There was something so endearing about unboxing various ornaments and trying to remember where he’d put everything the year before- what shelf each candle holder went on, where certain decorative plates went. How he ever managed to find a place for every star and every angel, he’ll never know, but it always worked out. Maybe it was the magic of the season.

Kíli had a special soft spot for string lights and made it his goal to buy an additional package each year and find somewhere to put them up. This year all the windows were lit from corner to corner, every shelf was glowing and there had to be thousands of lights on the Christmas tree- the largest he’d found yet, he may add.

Fíli’s favorite decorations, on the other hand, were wreaths and garlands. And, boy, did Kíli know it. There was green everywhere- on every rail and mantle and countertop. A big, leafy wreath donned every door and there were at least three on every wall. If there was more than two feet of blank space, something green had been hung there. The rich smell of it all circled around Fíli and made him hug Kíli closer so they could share in it together. He pressed the side of his cheek to the back of Kíli’s shoulder and breathed in the comfort of both his love and the season’s tidings.

“It’s not even.”

“Hm?” Fíli asked, gleefully fuzzy.

“The garland on the stairs. Do you think it’s even? Look.” Kíli squatted a bit so Fíli could see over his shoulder, making Fíli chuckle and give Kíli’s belly a slap.

Above the gargantuan fireplace that was filled with a neat stack of dried wood, and the brick mantle flooded with garland and an array of candles, was an arching staircase where each guest would make their grand entrance and Thorin, his semi-grand speech. A thick and elegantly accessorized strip of garland curled along every inch of the golden railing from the bottom stair to the top. Twinkle lights included.

“That has to be one hundred feet of garland,” Fíli said in awe.

“Yes, but is it even? Is it too bunched up at the top?”

Fíli stared upwards and after a moment, tilted his head to the left. After rocking back the other way, he shook his head, convinced.

“No. It’s even. It looks gorgeous, Kee.”

That’s why Kíli loved Fíli. Generous patience and acceptance. And that’s why Kíli spent most of his morning untangling hundreds of feet of garland and lights and wrapping it around an obnoxious golden staircase for a shindig he didn’t even want to be a part of. He knew it would bring Fíli some joy. Those shining blue eyes and deep set dimples made it all worth it.

“I’m glad you like it,” Kíli said.

Fíli rose to his toes and kissed Kíli’s cheek. “I have another favor to ask of you.”

He dove into the bag he’d left on the floor and lifted out a pair of ice skates. They belonged to Kíli now, but they had previously been their father’s. Kíli had worn them since his feet were barely big enough to fit into them, even with layers of heavy winter socks. But so far, Kíli had yet to use them this year.

“I know your heart lies with the decorations,” Fíli said, “but I’d be very grateful if you could test out the rink by the back entrance. Have to make sure everything’s smooth enough for the guests, you know.”

“What rink?” Kíli asked.

Fíli just smiled and bobbed his head toward the southern window.

Kíli’s eyes went wide as he ran across the room. He’d been so distracted by the lights and garland and ornaments this morning, that he hadn’t seen the man-made ice rink that had been set up behind the pine trees just outside the building. The ice was fresh, smooth and beautiful as it reflected the afternoon sun, as if only waiting for Kíli to carve his neat rings on its surface.

Kíli whirled. “We have an ice rink?”

“We do until Sunday.”

Kíli rushed to him, grabbed the skates from his hands and kissed his lips before rushing out the door and into the cold, taking Fíli along with him.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Kíli looked at his watch as he bounced down the garland-garnished staircase. There wasn’t much time until the fancy shmancy, wine-swigging, gossip-singing guests would arrive and he still had a small (ever growing) list of things to do before the doors to the party opened. As he descended into a rather dark banquet room, he noticed something was off and skidded to a stop on the last stair. His head spun on a swivel.

“None of the candles are lit?” he said to himself.

He searched every drawer and basket in sight until he found a pocket lighter. He’d have to move from table to table and then onto the shelves, lighting each candle one by one, which meant the rest of his tasks would never get done. However, just after he began to curse the Durin name and right before he could burn the skin off his thumb, the screech of a microphone blasted through some nearby speakers, making Kíli jump out of his skin and drop the lighter on the table.

“Sorry!”

The band was set up on the opposite side of the room. Kíli watched Fíli jump up from where he’d been kneeling on the floor in front of one of the monitors. He grinned as he talked to one of the musicians, and as he nodded his head, a rogue wave of glittering blond hair bounced out from behind his ear and waggled along his freshly trimmed beard. Kíli loved how whenever Fíli tried to braid his stubborn hair into a bun at the nape of his neck, he still had several curls that put up a fight. One of Kíli’s favorite things to do was to wrap them around his finger and turn them into ringlets that he knew would tickle Fíli’s cheek torturously by the end of the night. But he couldn’t help it, really.

Like he couldn’t help staring at his brother as he stood there under the Christmas lights. Fíli was always stunning, but tonight, he looked… simply beautiful. He was glowing with accomplishment and pride as he stood for the Durin name. The love and joy of the season was emanating from him even more than the towering Christmas tree in the corner. And of course, all of it was wrapped up tight like a present in a close-fit maroon dress shirt that threatened to make Kíli drool if he looked at those few undone buttons by Fíli’s neck for too long.

“That should do it,” Fíli said to the musician as he brushed off his hands and left the make-shift stage. “You should be all set for your sound check now.”

Once he saw Kíli, Fíli crossed the room to him. His face went soft, as did his tense shoulders, and the smile he sent gave Kíli butterflies, as if Kíli hadn’t seen it a million times before.

“You look amazing,” Fíli said, putting a hand on Kíli’s hip and kissing his cheek.

“So do you,” Kíli said. And boy, did he mean it.

As the musicians checked their sound equipment, saying all kinds of numbers and words into the microphones, Fíli inched closer to Kíli, running his fingers over the collar of Kíli’s dark green dress shirt and then letting his palms caress his little brother’s chest.

“I love this shirt on you.”

Kíli knew. That’s why he wore it. Fíli had bought the shirt for him, telling Kíli the color brought out his eyes and looked so nice against his hair. Kíli also didn’t fail to notice how Fíli got quite handsy whenever he wore it. Whenever he put this specific shirt on, it never stayed on for long.

It was only the sound check that pulled Kíli from his brother’s intense gaze. The band started to play one of their most requested Christmas songs each year- one with a slow, jazz beat.

“Dance with me?” Kíli asked, holding out his hand.

“Now?”

Kíli didn’t want to wait any longer. “Yes.”

He felt something warm travel up his spine when Fíli took his hand. He gave his brother a spin that made him beam before he pulled Fíli in close and wrapped his arm around and along Fíli’s back. A laugh bubbled up in his chest when Fíli rested his fingers on his bicep and gave the muscle a squeeze.

“Easy now, we have a bit of an audience,” Kíli said.

“Nothing wrong with that,” Fíli rumbled into his ear.

As Kíli led Fíli along to the easy music, matching his steps to the soft brushing of the jazz drum, he let his head fall forward until he could press his cheek to Fíli’s. For the first time that week, Kíli felt a wave of calm envelop him thanks to his brother. Holding Fíli, feeling his breath and his body, made Kíli slow down and enjoy the present moment while he had it.

Kíli nuzzled his nose into the little valley of Fíli’s neck just under his ear.

“Don’t forget about our audience, love,” Fíli said, even as he tilted his head to give Kíli more skin to make contact with.

Kíli straightened with a smirk. It was only then, when he saw the yellow light reflecting in Fíli’s round eyes, that Kíli noticed a couple of the server’s had lit all the candles in the banquet room while they were dancing. Between the glow of the fire, the decorative lights, and now the candles, the room had an air of magic and hope. The glasses and ornaments shimmered and reflected in the large windows and with all the garland and wreaths, it felt like he’d stepped into the depths of a forest. It all looked just like Kíli hoped it would.

Kíli’s gaze returned to his radiant brother before him and he squeezed Fíli’s hand.

“Let’s go upstairs.”

Fíli chuckled. “Kee, the guests aren’t even here yet. There are last minute things-”

Kíli kissed him. Really kissed him, holding him close and feeling the weight of Fíli’s body in his hands, tasting the fruit juice on his tongue from testing the special holiday drink from the bar. He thought of all the time they’d spent organizing catering companies and menu choices and invitation colors and guests lists. They’d hardly had any time to themselves and here it was, almost Christmas. Kíli wouldn’t waste another moment.

“Come upstairs with me,” Kíli said again, nodding in the direction of the room that had been reserved for them in exchange for their hard work. “We’ve done our part. You’ve made everything perfect. Now I just want you.”

Fíli led the way.

The two heard the beat of the band long into the night, but it was only soft accompaniment compared to the music they created themselves. They had their own little slice of Christmas magic in their room, complete with garland on the shelves, lights on the windows and candles that lit every smile and every kiss.

“I love you,” Kíli said, tangling his fingers in Fíli’s.

“I love you too, Kee.”

#submission #Gathering 12 Days 2021 #Fili/Kili #FiKi #Durincest #the Hobbit

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mystery-reblogs-cool-things · 6 months ago

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This is a very mixed bag for me, though I tend to lean towards nah.

My opinions under cut for those who don’t want spoilers:

Pros:

I do like the characterizations of everyone, and it does a good job of portraying all the characters as well as they can given the short amount of screen time and the large cast of characters.

Some episodes really do hit hard. I loved the visualization of the girls’ traumas and how they do it in the abstract PMMM style. Mami’s mental breakdown is done beautifully and really coincides with what we know of her from the original series. Also Yachiyo and Mifuyu’s fight scene is SO good at conveying their conflicting feelings and emotions.

The show does a better job of explaining the consequences of the purification system to the magical girls. In the app game, it was only noted through the doppel pages how the use of them negatively impacted the magical girls, so it’s awesome to see it not being such a “perfect” system.

Cons:

The execution I find to be pretty sloppy, just in general. Season 1 had two major problems in this area: one, it glossed over witch fights, which to me was something I was REALLY looking forward to seeing. I wanna get to see the girls use their magic! Two, it had this REALLY bad issue of dropping key info AFTER the credits, when most people have stopped watching. This would lead to a heck of a lot of confusion in following episodes when events seemingly spring out of nowhere, but we’re actually explained post-credits (I have no idea why they chose to do this).

Season 2 brings with it more action, but I find that the action scenes are trying so hard to be fancy that it’s near impossible for the viewer to focus on what’s even happening. There should always be a focal point in attacks that helps the viewer to process the information and what’s most important, but yeah, really unfocused.

Maybe these next few gripes are more personal, but I hate the fact that Nemu is not on board with the Magius plan, knows the truth about what’s going on, and was guiding Iroha to her the whole time. Having Touka and Nemu being this power duo in the OG was such a cool thing to me. Two super geniuses who could not be swayed by emotional arguments made for very formidable foes, especially when you know that the magic system they utilize relies heavily on emotions. Not only that, but they were always one step ahead of the cast, always planning ahead, and is how things got to be as catastrophic as they were in the climax. Having Nemu no longer being that strong antagonist really makes the threat feel less impactful.

In the OG, I really liked how conniving Mifuyu was. She was always trying to manipulate others with a friendly facade, even pulling the girls away from each other to plant seeds of doubt in their minds. In the show, she just comes off as a rude B. I hated that the anime had her talk down Yachiyo in front of the others. It makes it way too easy for the cast to be like “no she was wrong, don’t listen to her Yachiyo!” Instead of Mifuyu pulling her to the side, then having the girls wonder what she said to Yachiyo to get her to suddenly become so distant.

Lastly, while I do like the addition of Kuroe and her personal struggles, I felt she was taking too much attention away from Iroha and the group. The struggles felt much more about her and Kuroe’s friendship than it did Iroha and Yachiyo’s friendship (Keep in mind I didn’t finish season 3, so take this part for what you will).

I’ll get off my soap box now, but those are my main thoughts about the Magia Record anime. I personally would recommend the manga over the anime, as it’s a much more faithful adaptation, but I wouldn’t classify the anime as horrible or anything. It’s just not as great as I was hoping it would be. There are certain episodes/scenes I might rewatch from time to time, but I wouldn’t really find myself sitting down to watch the whole show again.

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cc-tinslebee · 3 years ago

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[steps up to the mic] Listen, this might just be me, but if you’re going to have a large cast of “main” characters, you should probably give those characters opportunities to display their skills and foils instead of handing it off to the “real” main character.

Obviously, this could probably speak to a lot of fandoms, but I’m just gonna talk about The Mighty Ducks for a second because that’s what inspired this train of thought.

A bit of a rant (analysis?) below the cut:

When we look at the movies, I think the original, as well as D2, handled their large cast pretty well. Sure, it was kind of strange not seeing Karp, Peter, Terry, and Tammy/Tommy in the D2 cast, but they seemed to fill their absence decently with the new additions. (Of course, that’s just my own opinion.)

D3’s where my real gripe is, and while I have yet to rewatch it, there are still a few issues about the large cast that come to mind. Going from giving Adam good arcs in 1-2 to side-lining him when there was a perfect opportunity right in front of them, setting up a conflict between Guy and Connie with seemingly little payoff, and completely cutting Jesse (an original and arguably very important Duck) out with, as far as I know, little explanation.

I’d like to clarify before I get into this next part that I actually like Linda as a character; she seemed to have a lot of heart and I really admire that. I don’t, however, appreciate the writers creating a female character for the sole purpose of being the love interest to the lead. I really do believe that they could have made a much more compelling coming-of-age story for Charlie had they not implemented that romance, which didn’t seem to add anything to the plot. It really wasn’t Linda who got Charlie to turn around and realise his kinda self-destructive behaviour, but Fulton and Bombay.

They really would have used their time better focusing on solely telling the story of the Ducks’; Charlie’s refusal to change, actually giving us a vague understanding of Connie and Guy’s lovers quarrel, Adam’s feelings of separation from the Ducks. They really did the Ducks dirty with this one, and, hell, they did Linda dirty too. (And, yes, I do understand that D3 was mainly there to wrap up the story, so naturally things were a little messy.)

Which brings me to Game Changers.

Look, I’m not going to subject you all to me nitpicking this show. I will, however, say this: I hope they give the Don’t Bothers/reclaimed Ducks other than Evan a chance to shine. Even Sofi and Nick, despite them arguably being the “second/third” main (younger) characters. Sam, Logan, Maya, Lauren, Koob — even the Capek brothers! — are listed as main characters, but they’re often not as focused on as Evan. I’ve seen someone argue that Sam was set up to be a really interesting character this first season and they didn’t really do much with him other than in Pond Hockey, which was kind of disappointing, and I think that’s an extremely valid point.

I can only really speak for myself when I talk about things I’d like to see if we get a season 2. Like, if they manage to get Joshua Jackson, I’d be pretty happy with a new-captain-meets-the-old-captain moment, but I would much rather see Charlie bond with Logan over absentee parents over Evan. Logan clearly has some unaddressed issues with his mom, clearly more self-aware that what his mom did was unfair to him, and it just furthers his already established arc (but I’ve spoken about that already). I’d like to see Sam’s character get explored more, and maybe see Bombay help him harness his X-factor! I’d like to see Lauren and Maya’s relationship grow, and the Capeks’ gradual journey learning English! Hey, maybe even see the Reddicks join the new Ducks and bond a bit with Evan like Stephanie and Alex did.

That’s what I, personally, would like to see, not Evan getting handed all the potential arcs. Because he pretty much got everything; absent dad, team captain, love interest, choosing between what's good for him versus the team, getting Bombay back onto his feet, etc, etc. Other than maybe Sofi and Nick, everyone else on the team has 1-2 arcs at most, and I think there’s a pretty good argument out there that some get one to none.

And look, I’m not so naïve that I don’t understand that large casts are hard to juggle. It’s difficult to focus on everyone especially when a particular character speaks more to you and especially with a time limit. But take my Logan and Evan point for example; it’s not hard to assume that a bonding-with-Charlie-over-an-absent-parent moment would go to Evan. That’s probably what the GC writers might assume. But if you take a step back, look at the rest of your cast for a moment, you can see that he’s not the only option. It’s all about sharing the wealth of arcs evenly amongst your characters.

(Also, I wanted to quickly include — I believe — @k-romantic’s idea/joke that Julie should’ve been the one to romance Linda purely because I think it adds to my argument of arcs being forced onto the main character when they could’ve easily been better suited for another character. Obviously, since it was the late 1990s and Disney’s a bunch of cowards, maybe they wouldn’t have used Julie, but I think another Duck dating Linda would have done what the writers were going for just as well, maybe even better.)

#is this mostly incoherent? yeah probably #the amount of analysis I have retaining to TMD in my drafts is astounding-#welcome back to Tim’s Terrible Takes I guess-#the mighty ducks #the mighty ducks game changers

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guyinlovewitheremika · 4 years ago

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The new key visual looks awesome!! Finally getting more Final Season artwork is so satisfying and this is pretty great! The marley arc is probably my favorite in the manga and getting even more promotional art for it is really cool : D Since we’re still 3 months from the airdate I hope we’ll get another Warrior-centric one, with the new and old crew, but rn, especially with manga context, I love this, and I need to ramble about it.

First of all, Mikasa!!! Mikasa front and center!!! lets gooooo ahh I’m so happy about this! I don’t think she’s ever been this focused on in any of the promotional key visuals and it’s been about time! She looks gorgeous and absolutely ruthless, I’m here for it. It’s also relieving to see that the scarf did in fact stay red which wasn’t totally certain in the pv. I also think it’s interesting that both that shot of her in the pv, as well as her in this visual both kind of highlight her more badass/ruthless side--I’m all here for it cause like, look at her!!! But she also spends a good amount of time in marley being sad and distressed which I hope they’ll do justice to. Either way, she looks amazing and I can’t wait to see her finally in motion.

Levi I’m a little less sure on--his face looks a little odd? Maybe it’s the nose? I’m not really sure. To be fair, his design has probably been the least consistent across the whole anime, and he’s certainly looked worse! But yeah, I’m not 100% sold on his look yet. Also just as it was in the first key visual, his cape is green? Even tho its specifically dyed black in the manga? I’m sure why and I’m kinda sad about that cause I would’ve loved to see that all black look on him, it’s an odd change.

Connie, Jean and Sasha all look good to me (I’m glad we’re getting Sasha artwork before, you know), but Armin gets pushed to the side pretty hard kind of? Given his rather small role this arc, I think it makes sense, tho hopefully key visuals for the later arcs will improve on that. Also sidenote, his pose reminded me a lot of Jean in the S2 Group visual lol

Hange being a bit smaller, but also being centered and depicted as the leader fits well here, especially with her being closest to the airship since she never leaves it. It reminds me of Erwin in a few other posters, kind of continuing the commander position, in a way

That’s some solid continuity!!! (also, Hange :/)

One thing I also dig about this visual is the look of certain textures, specifically metallic objects, like the blades, thunderspears, even the airship.

It has this like..shiny glow? I can’t really express what I mean with it, but all these objects feel very tangible, very three dimensional, which is cool!

Unfortunately I don’t really feel the same way about all the textures present in this visual. See, non metallic textures, like clothing, skin, and the characters outlines in general have this kind of rough, or gritty look to them. The lines are clear and straight like they used to be, but it’s a little messier? The first key visual did the same thing, let me show you.

Compare it to something like this, where (even tho the resolution is a bit botched on tumblr) everything looks much smoother, cleaner, softer. Maybe it’s because I’m so used to Kyoji Asano’s style of drawing these key visuals for 6 years, but I think I prefer it over the approach of Tomohiro Kishi’s style. But this only is the start of seeing new artwork, maybe I’ll get used to it. It’s a bit odd as Wit’s animation style in the show was known for generally having thicker lines, and even tho they cut back on that in later seasons, it’s still not as thin as in the final season pv, yet its artwork has lines that feel thicker. It’s an odd back and forth.

My honestly biggest gripe with this key visual is it’s actual get up--having characters kind of float around in nothingness isn’t something I really love. I much prefer most of the older group visuals (like the recap movies or the S2 one) where characters at least seemed to stand on surfaces and physical space, and those who weren’t were either shown to be mid air, or obscured enough so you couldn’t see them stand in nothing. As a result, this reminds me a lot of the 3rd S3 visual

I wasn’t a huge fan of that one as it just reused and rearranged the Vol13 poses without really any effort. Like it just plants everyone there and I don’t think the result is really all that impressive. This one does this a lot better, as it has a bit more synergy going for it, there’s a bit of motion (the soldiers flying next to the ship looking like speedlines is a cool touch), and it just looks more interesting in my opinion. I also think it does the manga-ripoff better, as it clearly is meant to resemble vol 26 with the airship and the squad, but it doesnt just reuse the poses--they’re new here, and the overall positioning of everyone reminds me more of the Vol 25 alt cover, or the new 32 one. It feels true to the spirit of the manga without outright copying! I still don’t like the mid air floating, but other than that it’s a solid grouping!

One additional neat thing is that the new gear is drawn with so much detail! Just as in the PV. Which is awesome! Sometimes its a bit though to get a good look at all the specifics in the manga, but here it’s just---exciting. I never even realized that Mikasa has to swap to an entirely different set of 3DMG handle/trigger/grapple that’s attached to her gear as well--everyone else has only one set for either the gun+thunderspear combo or the swords, but Mikasa has both sets on her since she does switch to swords on 103. And its just fucking crazy just how much gear this girl has on her lmao (did you know a single thunder spear weighs 5kg? thats 20 on each hand! plus all the heavy gear that comes with it! she is too strong lmao)

Ultimately, I like this visual a lot. It’s not perfect and some things are gonna take a while to get used to, but overall, I’m so excited to see everyone’s different looks highlighted as the season goes on. And getting so much Marley arc promo atm is very much appreciated! Hopefully we get another one focused on the warriors soon, and, man, even tho it’s a spoiler, I would kill for one visual dedicated to Marley Eren specifically...like...please.

Bring on the Final Season!!

#I was not expecting to ramble this much about this visual but here we are #Im really excited man #attack on titan #snk #the final season #mikasa ackerman #levi ackerman #hange zoe

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that0negayslytherin · 4 years ago

Note

What would you change on Love Victor exactly? Asking as someone that likes S1 and wants to understand what are the problems some have with it.

OK buckle in because I have so many thoughts on how I would change S1. Granted, this is all based on personal preference so like if you disagree please feel free to do so!!

(As a disclaimer, I really love this show. I love the characters so much and I think the cast brings such life to them. Most of my problems are more on the writing/structural level when it comes down to it. Just want to make it very clear that I’m not trying to tear the show down. We should be critical of the things we enjoy!! Ok, so without further ado,)

Things I would change about Love Victor S1:

First of all, the timeline. There...isn’t one LMAO. This is a gripe more from the fanfic writer’s perspective as well, as it just makes it difficult to know where they’re situated in the school year, when important events happened, etc. Timeline is a mess! But also, how long were Victor and Mia together? How long was he at Creekwood before things started happening between them? We can speculate but it’s all very vague.

BENJI. We know hardly anything about him?? And he’s supposed to be like Victor’s gay awakening in some ways and the major love interest for Vic? And by trying to make him this like mysterious but magnetic beacon of gayness they lso sort of stripped him of a personality.

ALSO Victor never shows interest or attraction to literally any other male (my friends and I joke that maybe he’s not even gay he’s just Benji-sexual) and that’s something that could’ve been remedied so easily with like a single line of internal dialogue or something.

Which brings me to Derek, who I do think is an interesting character but also just sort of exists to act as a barrier between Victor and Benji, which is...unnecessary imo because Victor is already putting up barriers himself (dating Mia, namely) to avoid coming to terms with things. One thing I will say is that through his relationship with Derek we learn things about Benji, but I also think it’s a problem that a lot of what we know about Benji is only in relation to how he functions in his romantic relationship. Anyway I would’ve preferred just to learn more about Benji and cut the character of Derek altogether.

I understand this would cause issues for the birthday party episode and they would’ve had to change a lot of what happened there, but getting Victor to a point where he confronts his grandfather for being homophobic could’ve been done another way without making a weird example of Derek and Benji.

AND ANOTHER THING, Benji’s insistence on being super open about their gayness even though Victor tells him that his grandparents aren’t down with that is. Not realistic from my perspective LOL like most queer people would be like oh shit ok gotchu I would very much like to not be attacked for my identity today! That’s a more specific thing but yeah that didn’t make any sense to me.

Victor’s parents. GOD, I do NOT think we needed as much of their storyline as we got. I understand wanting to provide valid reasons for them to up and move in the middle of a school year, but I just think the season spent way too much time on it as a way to parallel Victor’s cheating, which just felt really extraneous to me.

Speaking of his family, I feel like we get almost ALL of their religiousness in the first episode or so and then it sort of gets dropped for most of the season? Which doesn’t make sense because that seems to be a pretty big factor in Victor struggling to accept his sexuality so I think that could have been more consistent.

This is more of a minor thing that comes down to personal taste, but some of the dialogue is...not great? Just a little cringey and trying too hard to be cool I think? But some of it IS good which sort of makes the bad dialogue feel worse like we know you can give us good dialogue so the awkward moments seem magnified I guess.

Ultimately, my biggest issue is that they structured the show as more of an ensemble show but then didn’t give it the space to actually be that. Ten 30-minute episodes was not enough time to cover all of the storylines and subplots they created, which is a shame because I really like a lot of the characters. For instance, I do sort of like Felix and Lake, but for a show that’s supposed to be about a person of color figuring out that he’s gay, there was way too much focus on a white cishet couple. I also thought that a lot of Mia’s storyline was really interesting but, again, there wasn’t enough space in the season to really do it justice. I really hope that season 2 is structured a little differently (longer episodes, maybe) because they’ve already revealed a SLEW of new characters, and while I love the idea of adding more queer characters and expanding on the world, I also worry that the main points (namely the fallout of Victor’s coming out and the start of his first gay relationship) will get a little bit lost in all of it.

At the end of the day, like I said, I really do love this show. Victor is such a relatable character for me and I think Michael does an incredible job playing him, and the whole cast really is just phenomenal. One of the reasons I enjoy the show is because of choices the actors have made, little moments that could be nothing but take on an extra life because of things like body language, inflection, etc (e.g. I personally think a lot [most?] of the Venji moments are only as good as they are because Michael and George have such great chemistry). Also, it’s a very cute show and it’s a lot of fun!!! My hope is that some of these issues are more or less remedied come season 2 <3

I also recognize that the switch from Disney+ to Hulu may have had some bearing on some of these issues so I don’t want to 100% fault the writers, but I do think that there’s just way too much going on in the first season relative to the collective runtime.

Finally, I’m going to take this opportunity to plug the LV Fic Lovers Discord server because we talk a LOT about our S2 wishlists, critiques and praise of the first season, and stuff about new cast information in addition to talking about fanfic, so if you’re into the show and want a space to talk with other people who enjoy it, I highly recommend checking it out!! :)

#anon #love victor

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handlewithkara · 4 years ago

Text

Thanks, I hate it

So, I was trying to rewatch season 3 again and wow, I remembered why I hate it (and particularly 3B) so much. Maybe hate is the wrong word. There is good things in there. Things I can appreciate.

But I feel like my biggest gripe with it, more than shipping, more than characterization is that it is really hard to watch a show when you very fundamentally disagree with a position the show takes.

And I think I knew that that was going to be the case I think from the moment Mon-El has his revealing conversation with J’onn in 3x13. J’onn is a character we are supposed to like, so it was pretty clear to me, that in this case, the position he took in this conversation was a position the show takes.

Here is goes: Supergirl Season 3 firmly takes the position that it is the morally right thing for Mon-El to do is to not tell Kara that he has feelings for her.

(the show also takes the position that it is honorable of Kara not to tell Lena her secret identity, situations that are paralleled on occasion. I think the situations are somewhat different, but still think that in both cases the position of the show is questionable or at least something I really disagree with)

First: What I think they were trying to achieve with this

1.) One of Mon-El's character flaws was arguably lack of restraint. Showing him holding back on telling Kara shows that he has matured.

In this area I feel like the biggest disagreement is likely one of taste. If one likes Mon-El, one might argue that yes, lack of restraint and consideration was a character trait and flaw of Mon-El's, but "curing" him of this flaw arguably makes him at lost less entertaining as a character.

The other problem is that Mon-El still has certain moments which the show itself characterizes as lack of consideration. Seems kind of late for him to still be learning this lesson on the fly? Rather than just struggling with it? Still, one can argue the fact that he was struggling with this issue on a relatively high level is a way of showing that he has changed a lot and is in a very different place.

2.) Telling Kara about his feelings while she is still hurting and confused especially when he is unsure himself, yes would arguably be shitty.

Now, this I partly get. When Mon-El comes back Kara is in a lot of emotional pain, she is distraught, she is confused, she is dealing with a lot.

If at this point Mon-El goes to her and tells her that he's still into her (but there is still a chance that he still wants to honor his commitment to Imra more) that would cause her a lot of additional pain.

Not that I think it would have changed a lot in how Kara would react or how much would have happened between them, but the same decisions would likely have caused her a lot of additional anguish. That would have been jerking her around and playing with her feelings by my defintion of things and in that case, I agree, he shouldn’t tell her.

Getting her hopes up just to leave again would so not be cool.

3.) Talking to Kara about how he is struggling too might hamper their ability to fight Reign.

Now granted, this is just my personal feelings, as this wasn't really a topic that the show brought up itself. Still, this is something I could at least picture being a concern for these characters, that they want to put their feelings aside till Reign is defeated. (and in a way... that is what happens on the show, Karamel start getting a lot shippier in the time when they mistakenly think Reign has been defeated)

Second: Why I think it's wrong

The show over and over goes over the concept that it is wrong to tell somebody the truth just to make yourself feel better. And I keep thinking... why?

I agree with the concept that it is morally wrong to cause pointless pain to Kara by telling her. The thing is ... is it really pointless?

I fully agree that if Mon-El had fessed up to her at some point late into the season, it would have temporarily made Kara's life more confusing... but .... wouldn't that be worth it? Simply in the interest of things being more honest between and the information being out there?

And why isn't "it would make Mon-El feel better and lift a weight off his shoulders" a totally legit and fair outcome? Why does that have to be cast as "that's selfish and so he should never do that"?

I can maybe get that in the beginning when Kara is still super raw and emotional, but later on? Kara is a strong person, with a great support system. And I get that it's immoral to draw her into messy marriage issues.

But I don't see how just telling Kara what his emotional state is does that. He could just tell her "I'm really struggling too, but I'm trying to hold it together. This is hard for me in particular because I’m dealing with a lot of additional political weight being placed on my shoulders".

And yes I can envision a world where that makes communication between them even harder and it makes fighting Reign harder. But I still think it would be worth it for the benefit of things being more honest between them. And I would have said that both characters are emotionally strong enough that they could handle it.

Third: Why I’m beginning to think that they genuinely believed that

You know, for the longest time I thought, okay, maybe they just disliked Mon-El and wanted to get rid of him, so maybe they gave him a shitty story and that's all there is too it.

But the longer things go on, the more I get the impression. OMG they were actually serious about that?

In season 3, they draw strong parallels between it being honorable of Mon-El not to tell Kara and it being honorable of Kara not to tell Lena her identity. This is most explicit in The Fanatical where Mon-El says exactly that in a traditional "he gives advice about Lena, but he's actually talking about himself" scene.

Well, if you tell [her] the truth, you'd be doing it to make yourself feel better, not her. So maybe, in this case, it's, uh... Not telling her the truth is the noble thing. It's a sacrifice you're making to protect her.

(Bless Chris Wood, I think he looks entirely unconvinced by his own dialogue here)

Fast forward to episode 100. The big anniversary episode. The one that celebrates Kara and her influence on people. And this episode is full of people assuring Kara that her motivations were noble AND it ends with Kara embracing this point of view and putting her foot down (and no, I don't think that the writers intend to take that back and portray that as Kara misunderstanding something when this is the big celebration episode)

Executing The Premise

Either way. The whole season consisted of people preaching to Mon-El that he shouldn't tell. So Mon-El tries to do the right thing and keep his feelings mostly close to his vest.

And then it just ends!!!!

I'm sorry, this just feels wrong. It feels like there is something missing. Like either Mon-El should be rewarded for holding back (either by him realizing that loves the future best anyway (instead ... the opposite of that happened) or him actually getting a better chance with Kara somewhere in the future when the circumstances are better). Or in lieu of that, a storyline that makes it explictly clear that Mon-El was being a dumbass, did exactly the wrong thing and that is what costs him his chance with Kara. Except that didn't happen either.

Instead he disappear uncommented into nothingness and the only other glimpse we see of him is till an episode that actually doubles down on the message of 3B.

Summation

So my deep, fundamental gripe with season 3 is that I just deeply, deeply disagree with the central thesis the season puts forth (keeping things from people is not just understandable and excusable, but actually morally good) THE SHOW DIDN'T EVEN DELIVER PROPERLY ON THE STAKES AND MORAL STANDARDS THEY BUILT UP.

That's why season 3 was frustrating and hard to get connected to on multiple levels when it comes to these central story tenants. You have these characters discussing and debating and going back and forth and here I’m sitting, watching them and going “Yes, but this moral conundrum is stupid” (I had this reaction during pretty much any Mon-El scenes in regards to telling the truth and during any of the Kara and Lena arguments). I think even if the show had told a "clean" story with their premise, I still would have been sour on it when I just so fundamentally disagree with the premise on a personal level.

And that is in addition to the entertainment level of "I just don't think that it's very entertaining to watch characters who are constantly holding back to be heroic and moral and honorable" (compared to holding back for personal reasons like insecurity, something that is way more interesting because that is compelling characterization a lot of the time and casts telling the truth as characters facing their fears or seeing things weren’t as bad as they imagined it).

I disliked that honorable holding back in Kara/James and I disliked it again in season 3. [yes I think it’s marginally better set up in season 3 simply because Karamel had an actual relationship as the basis rather than just the potential of a flirtation, Mimra were married and there was a political reason why it had to stay that way rather than Lucy in the end being just a nice girlfriend/boyfriend relationship ... but just because it is a slightly more solid version of that trope doesn’t change that that trope is bad and boring to me]

Look, this isn't about morals. This isn't about me thinking the show would have been better if Kara would have thrown herself at James in season 1. It's just that those stories are (to me) fundamentally boring to watch and there was a reason why I preferred the chaotic back and forth of season 2 Karamel. So in a way, I felt fundamentally betrayed by the story even without the ending, because to me the season betrayed a lot about what I liked about Karamel in season 2 and made them more like Kara/James whose story I often did not care for for a reason. I'm not claiming that season 3 was devoid of good things, outside of Karamel or within (and I will try to make posts on that), but in regards to Karamel, a lot of these things were new areas, new themes or side aspects compared to what their strongest threads were in season 2.(for what it’s worth, I think the normal, “soapy” way to tell this story would have been not that Mon-El tells, but that Mon-El keeps it quiet, but somebody else blabs out the truth and Kara finds out anyway and is initally mad at Mon-El. Would still have been a cop out compared to how I see this conflict, but it would have been a more normal story compared to “everybody tells Mon-El not to tell and he mostly doesn’t”)

But I can put my shipper values aside. I can try to appreciate a story for its craftsmanship or for what it is trying to do even if things don't go my way. But it's really hard to get invested in a show if you just don't see eye to eye with one of the core themes the show proposes.

And that’s why I have a lot of animosity left towards this aspect of season 3.

#supergirl #karamel #kara danvers #kara zor-el #mon-el

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callmeelle22 · 4 years ago

Text

Blue Dream III

Pairing: Iris West x Barry Alen

Rating: E

Chapter Word Count: 4, 559

Summary: A series of sporadic dates between Iris and Barry turn into something more, a story in its own making.

Chapter I: Primetime

Chapter II: It's Cool

Chapter III: Anything; It would make sense, she supposes, if looking at her also feels like this for him, like her heart beats in time with every breath he takes and like time slows or stalls or...like every minute here is infinitely longer and in these moments… in these moments, she thinks that the world must somehow tilt on its axis because she feels...i feel you comin' down like honey, do do you even know i'm alive?, do do you even know i, i... she feels… (Read below or on the AO3 link on the chapter title.)

Chapter IV: Comfortable

Chapter V: The Way

Chapter VI: Can't Take My Eyes Off of You

Chapter VII: I'm in Love with You

Chapter VIII: Blue Dream

Anything

Maybe I should kill my inhibition

Maybe I'll be perfect in a new dimension

On the Saturday the week after Barry’s impromptu visit, Iris finds herself down on Main Street about half an hour after 10 in the morning. Nearly the entire 8 blocks of the street are sectioned off, with a plethora of white tents set up on both sides of the street. She glances on as she makes her way down the sidewalk, as people set up books and jewelry and clothes; beer and wine and harder liquor; food and sweets and other treats.

It’s the setup for Central City’s Fall Fest, one of a multitude of fests in the city that Iris calls home. It’ll be open to the public in a few hours and, like usual, Iris will make her way up and down the blocks a few times, holding a beer in one hand and something fried on a stick in the other, a couple of bags filled with things she doesn’t need in the crook of her elbow.

Now, though, she steps into the alley that leads to the side door of Golden’s, an Asian and American fusion restaurant and bar owned by the parents of her best friend, Linda Park. She gives a heavy-handed couple of knocks and only moments later, Linda opens the door to let her in.

Iris first met the other women when they were in the 7th grade. Iris’s parents had divorced several months prior to a new school year and for reasons not then known to Iris, her dad had gotten full custody of her and six-year-old Wally. They’d moved into a new house on the other side of town and that had meant a new school for her. Linda had sat beside her in their homeroom/advisory class and the girl with beige skin and long dark brown hair was constantly scribbling something in a notebook. Iris had discovered that they’d been stories, usually with families as the starring characters. By then, Iris had begun to write in her own notebook—musings and wonderings about the neighbors she’d just met, about what it meant to be the oldest child of divorced parents. They’d bonded over their writing; well, that and being two of only a handful of girls at the school with skin darker than the pale and spray-tanned skin of their classmates.

For over a decade, it’s been Iris and Linda. Through the messy stages of puberty and their even messier interactions with high school boys; through late-night study binges and even worse interactions with college boys. Through the drug addiction that took Iris’s mom and the car crash that had put Linda’s older brother on life support until he’d succumbed to his own injuries, they’ve navigated it all together.

Now, life gets in the way. Linda, almost immediately after undergrad graduation, had begun shopping around a number of short stories and personal essays she had written until, finally, a publisher had bit and opted to publish them as an anthology. A few years and too many nights spent locked in a room later and Linda’s book is a New York Times bestseller. Iris’s own success story is pending. In addition to completing her graduate degree (which, at 26, she’d started late, after taking some time off and working at a local newspaper), she runs a blog, one she’d started by accident. Her middle school musings had become pointed interviews and, with the classes she’d taken in college, had gotten the necessary skills to begin writing up her own human interest stories. It’s amazing, she’s learned, what people will tell you when they can hide behind the face of someone else. What a Life You’ve Lived is growing in popularity, making some money too, and it’s starting to become more than just a hobby for Iris.

Neither Iris nor Linda is ever truly free; but in a concentrated effort to make time, they brunch at least twice a month. This morning, it’s at Golden’s (where Linda is working as a bartender while she writes her next book) because her parents want them to try out new menu items. When the door shuts behind them, Linda turns and gives Iris a hug, wrapping her arms around her neck. Iris returns it, smiling into her hair, her familiar lavender scent a warm comfort she didn’t know she needed.

“I’ve missed your beautiful face,” Linda says, squeezing her hard once before letting her go.

“Yeah?” Iris asks, mouth lifting in a smirk. “Is it because you’re tired of looking at Daniel’s beautiful face?”

Linda rolls her eyes. “Never, though I’d rather put my eye out before I tell him that.”

Linda has been dating her boyfriend Daniel Ngyuen, nerdy engineer and man ridiculously head over heels for her, for a few months, after they met at a book signing hosted by Linda’s parents.

“You’re ridiculous,” Iris tells her, and Linda preens in response.

Something in Iris tightens, a faint film of green clouding her view for all of a millisecond. She’s ashamed she even had the thought, that she feels anything but happiness at the light in her friend’s chocolate brown eyes or the glow in her cheeks. She’s not jealous of Linda, of course she’s not. But Iris can’t help but find some envy at the feeling of contentment that so obviously surrounds her friend and the juxtaposition of her own drifting existence.

It’s almost tangible, these differences, at least to her. Iris can see the confidence practically emanating from Linda’s dress-clad form, the long-sleeved maxi dress and tall sandals, her wavy shoulder-length hair, making her look a little like a goddess. But Iris imagines that’s what it must look like, to be at the start of a career you’ve always wanted, to have the love of a man you’re secure in, to just...know your place, your purpose.

And maybe Iris is being dramatic. She supposes she looks as put together as she’s always thought she needed to be in her light denim jeans, pale pink cropped sweater, and tan block-heeled sandals. She’s been wearing her natural hair out this week and the wavy curls are piled up in an artfully messy bun. Still, even if Iris can’t touch on why she feels so scattered, like all of the pieces that make up the whole of her are floating aimlessly around her body, she cannot deny that the feeling is there, taking up space in her head like the songs she latches on to keep focused, maybe I should pray a little harder, or work a little smarter.

They walk through the restaurant, bustling with the waitstaff preparing for the 11 am opening. Golden’s isn’t an overly large place, only able to fit about 50 people at a time, but Iris thinks it’s a part of the charm. It’s decorated in dark brown wood and bright white and gold light fixtures; the tables and booths are spread out in a way that allows for privacy, making customers feel as if they’re in their own little worlds.

Linda leads them to their usual table, one actually tucked into a little alcove where only the Parks and their guests are allowed to sit. At the table, there’s already a carafe of juice too close to red-pink to be orange juice, along with a bottle of champagne. Outside of the wine and marijuana Friday nights and the occasional party or club, Iris only really indulges in alcohol when she and Linda have these brunches. They slide into the booth and Linda immediately reaches for the champagne.

Over the next couple of hours, Iris is reminded of why, regardless of her own issues, she loves his woman. They laugh, sharing stories of Iris’s students and the customers who come into Golden’s. They get on each other’s nerves, making jokes and ribbing the other any chance they get. At one point, Linda’s parents come out, her honey-skinned Chinese mother Xuan and her dad Theo, Chinese and white with skin like baked sugar cookies, and Iris blinks adoringly up at the both of them, always lost in their beauty—both tall and elegant with ridiculous cheekbones.

“It’s sickening,” Linda mutters as she watches Iris watch them walk away, “how you look at them.”

“I’ve had a crush on your parents for as long as I’ve known them,” Iris replies. “If they ever want a thre-”

“Don’t you finish that fucking statement,” Linda gripes and Iris howls in laughter until Linda points out the attractiveness of Iris’s own father. “You know I’d always hop on the chance to be your stepmom.”

“And I’d happily sabotage your wedding day.”

“But it’d be worth it when I got to climb on top of Daddy West during the honeymoon.”

Iris throws a strawberry at her.

She hears him before she sees him. She’s been at Fall Fest for only about twenty minutes after leaving Golden’s, full and tipsy, walking through the steadily filling streets. Of all of the festivals in Central City, of which there are several (seasonal fests like the Fall and Spring fests; food fests like the Food Truck and Italian Food fests; cultural fests like the Juneteenth and Hispanic Heritage fests), the Fall Fest is one of her favorites. It’s during the best time of the year, when the sun is still blazing but the wind cuts through the heat. When the leaves have begun to drift off trees and dance onto the ground, changing into the shades of yellow and orange and red that only nature can paint. When the booths run the gamut in what they sell, from cooked and packaged foodstuffs, to clothes and jewelry, to dance or golf lessons. It’s the one festival, besides the Pan-African Celebration, that their entire family would attend, even for a few years after the divorce. Her parents would take off work and put aside their differences to spend time together--until Wally had felt too old and her dad had needed too many more work hours and her mom had gotten too lost; and then Iris had started coming with Linda and then, this year, alone.

But she doesn’t dwell—she tries not to dwell these days—and besides, she’s just heard him.

He doesn’t sound any different in the light of the day. In her head, she keeps hearing him as he is in the throes of passion, when his voice is more of a throaty curse, when it’s a rumble against her heated flesh. Here, out here with children screaming from their blocked-off sections and ladies laughing as they smell through candle selections and men arguing from the faux sports bars set up at random tents, he should sound like anyone else. He shouldn’t even be heard over the music coming from the speakers they can’t see—down for the ride, down for the ride; you could take me anywhere; do do do down for the ride, down for the ride; you could take me anywhere; i hope you will, I hope you will, I hope you will—or the sheer noise that’s true for events like this. But he is.

She looks up, ignoring the woman still trying to convince her to buy a bottle or three of perfume, and she sees him, right at the booth beside hers. He’s with two other men, one shorter with light brown skin and dark brown eyes and black hair pulled back in a ponytail; the other only a bit taller than the friend, with skin darker than Iris’s, glasses, and a short afro. Iris vaguely thinks that the three of them together are some sort of setup for a bar joke. They’re dressed similarly, in pants and t-shirts, though Iris’s eyes catch onto Barry’s hunter green chinos and white shirt, the beige pocket square matching his desert boots. All three of them have relatively full beers in their hands and Iris is looking at the cup in Barry’s hand (or rather, his fingers wrapped around the cup) for about three seconds before it jerks, beer spilling out. She looks up to find he’s looking back at her too, muttering “Iris,” in surprise.

She watches her hand and smiles back at him, a bit awkwardly, stepping away from the booth where the woman has already moved on to a new customer.

“Hi Barry,” she responds, walking over to them. She spares a glance at the other two, the Black man looking at her curiously, the Latino man a bit more humorously. “Fancy seeing you here.”

It’s not her smoothest line, but Iris thinks she might be in shock. When he’d left her, again, before she woke up on Saturday morning, she’d found his number written in tiny handwriting on the notepad on her desk, the unimaginative “call me” scribbled beneath it. She hadn’t. She’d thought about; oh had she.

On Monday, she’d debated calling him up to grab a coffee during her break. On Wednesday, she’d gotten an email about a new story and she’d wondered, for a moment, what he might think about it. But then she’d thought of his sweet mouth telling her “I wanted to know if it was as good as my memory,” and she had decided that he likely wouldn’t care about her days.

Now, he gives her a thorough once-over, probably remembering, and Iris feels a flush of heat run through her that she knows has very little to do with the warm late September sun.

“Iris,” he says again, his voice a touch higher than normal. His companions look at each other, eyebrows raised.

“Iris,” the long-haired one repeats, laughter coloring his tone. “I’m Cisco.”

“And I’m Chester,” says the one with dark skin, and they both stand there looking at her, grinning like loons until Barry cuts in.

“Alright, stop being weird.”

They don’t. Barry rolls his eyes and pushes past them to stand in front of her. Even with the heels she’s wearing, she has to stretch her neck a little to look up at him.

“Hey,” he says, this time lower, a soft breeze on her skin.

“Hi,” she repeats, just as softly.

The sounds of the carnival don’t disappear so much as they become muted, such as if she were submerged in water or if there was a rushing in her ears, because everything becomes background noise save for the concentrated sound of his voice.

“You didn’t call,” he says to her.

“I—” she starts, but she’s got nothing to say, not anything that won’t make her sound needy or desperate.

“Hey Barry,” Cisco calls.

“Yeah?” Barry answers, but he doesn’t turn away from her. No, he’s looking at her still, assessing her almost. He’s trying to figure something out, she decides, or at least that’s how it seems, what with the way he stares so intently, blue-green eyes pouring into her, bringing up images of them staring up at her from between her thighs, bringing out impressions that feel like more than lust, like more than just two people who’ve only ever bared their bodies to each other.

“We’re gonna go to another tent,” Chester says. “Catch up with you later.”

“Alright,” is the reply, those eyes glittering like the sea in the afternoon sun, still fixed on her. There’s a slight frown to his mouth, and when he speaks again, she can’t tell if he’s reached his conclusion or not.

“Walk with me?”

She nods before she even thinks about it. “Sure.”

They start back down the path. The booths are in abundance this year; it’s a bigger festival than she’s seen before. For a while, they don’t talk. They walk side by side, arms brushing every so often, stopping at booths that catch their attention. For him is a booth with a variety of multi-piece puzzles, some featuring landscapes and gardens, others of the solar system or space. For her, it’s one selling notebooks, beautiful leather-bound journals. She stops, enthralled, picking up one in coral-colored leather with rose-gold edging.

“We can also engrave the name,” the sun-tanned woman with pale blonde hair behind the tent says. “Or you can order custom colors.”

Iris nods, murmurs, “these are really nice,” and continues flipping through the heavy cream paper in the coral notebook. These days, much of her writing gets done on her overused Macbook; it’s just easier that way. But when she writes, for herself—little anecdotes about her day, her feelings spelled out in poetry—she does so in notebooks like these.

“You’re a writer,” Barry wonders and it’s a statement as much as it’s a question.

“Yeah.” She looks up at him and nods. “I’m actually getting my master’s in journalism.”

She puts the journal down once she notes the $40 price tag and thanks the woman as they walk off, Iris looking back at the notebook with longing.

“I also run a blog,” she tells him, and the words tumbling out of her mouth are a shock.

“Really?” he looks at her in surprise. “What’s the site? Is it popular?”

It’s not like she’s embarrassed of her blog or anything, but it feels different, to tell people she knows about her work. Because it’s one thing for strangers to read what she types out in earnest, and in tears and in vulnerability, but it’s something altogether different for people she knows to do the same. They aren’t her stories, not actually, but they are always her words, always her emotions she puts into them, and it feels too, too telling somehow.

“It’s growing in popularity,” she tells him, because she’s the one who opened this can of worms. “It’s called What a Life You’ve Lived.”

He hums, like that means something to him, but before she can ask what, two kids come barreling through the aisle. Iris tries to step out of the way and she slips, her heel catching in a small crack in the asphalt. Her knees buckle, but before she can hit the ground, Barry’s arms are around her. One of his large hands holds onto her, pressed against the bare skin of her belly, and then she’s pressed fully against him.

It’s absurd how much she likes the feel of him—the slim but corded muscles in his arms, the apparent strength in his fingers; and she likes the smell of him too, the faint hint of his laundry detergent mixed with the heat of the sun mixed with the citrus of his cologne. It’s another moment (™), which doesn’t make sense because he’s only just caught her from falling. But he’s looking at her like there is more in her gaze besides the brown of her irises, the flutter of her lashes. It would make sense, she supposes, if looking at her also feels like this for him, like her heart beats in time with every breath he takes and like time slows or stalls or...like every minute here is infinitely longer and in these moments… in these moments, she thinks that the world must somehow tilt on its axis because she feels...i feel you comin' down like honey, do do you even know i'm alive?, do do you even know i, i...she feels…

“Are you alright?”

Barry’s voice is quiet, too quiet for the energy they’re surrounded by. And maybe she doesn’t even hear it as she does read the movement of his pink mouth.

“Yeah, I am.”

He straightens, then, and gives her a half-smile. “You know, Iris, if you wanted to fall all over me, you could have just called.”

He likely had been trying for levity, but it’s pointed, right there at the end. She steps away from him and he lets her, his fingers sliding along the small of her back until they’re no longer on her skin. It leaves her cold

(only that can’t be true, because it’s far too warm out)

and she watches as he stuffs his hands into his pockets.

“I was waiting on your call, Iris.”

They've moved into a corner where the direction of the festival booths turn right. Straight ahead of them is a 21+ section; it features a stage where performances will begin around 5 as well as a number of makeshift bar stations. There’s a similar set-up with kid-friendly activities on the other side of the festival. Barry’s friends are standing at one of the bar stations talking to two women, both with chestnut-brown skin and long kinky hair. Iris’s eyes shift to take in the rest of her surroundings, to the sound of people laughing and the couples holding hands and the families who seem elated to be together on a day like today.

When she turns back, Barry is patiently watching her, head tilted to the side, expression thoughtful, like it always tends to be.

“Have dinner with me tonight,” Barry suggests “We can walk around some more. And once we get sun-tired, I can take you to this spot that I like nearby and we can talk. Maybe about why you didn’t call.”

She licks her lips, pulls the bottom one between her teeth. She hedges, long enough to tell herself that this would be a foolish endeavor, that she should just say no, that he’s nice and cute and what harm would it do. But, really, when he asks, those cyan eyes gleaming and his cheeks faintly pink and his face so goddamn hopeful it almost makes her look away, she really has no other choice.

“Okay, sure.”

She doesn’t tell him why she doesn’t call.

What she does is tell him about her dad and how she’s always been in awe of him, of his grace and his strength and the lessons he’d taught her. She tells him about Wally, who’s brilliant and searching, trying to figure out his way (not unlike her, though this she doesn’t say). She tells him about Linda, her sister in all of the ways that count, who’s always with her, even when she isn’t. And when he asks, because of course he does, she tells him about her mother who was beautiful and kind, all the way until sickness took her away.

She tells him this because he tells her first, about a larger-than-life father whose proximity to wrong-doing bureaucrats had landed him in prison, and an easy-going mother whose life had ended because someone else had been desperate for the money in her purse.

They do indeed walk around ‘til they’re tired, until around 6. Then Barry takes her to a little American bistro where they pride themselves on grass-fed meats and homegrown vegetables. They devour burgers the size of their heads and a mountain of fries that deserve their own table. He stuffs her with food and a piece of pie after, and he asks her some questions. He wants to know her favorite color and the television show she’s currently watching and if she’s always wanted to be a writer: yellow and Bridgerton and only since her parents’ divorce, when she’d needed to know that hers was only a unique story—or maybe she had needed confirmation that it wasn’t. She wonders about his dream job, his favorite hobby, the one thing he wishes he could do: forensic scientist, which he is, amateur theater, and getting his dad out of prison. That opens up a space for more convolution than should be allowed on a first date, and so she asks him more about amateur theater.

After, he walks her back to where her car is parked past Golden’s. When they get there, he listens for the sound of her car alarm, and then he turns her around, pressing her back against her car door. He walks closer, a hand at her waist, the other reaching up to cup the back of her neck, thumb circling lightly around her throat.

“Thank you for dinner,” she whispers. “I had a really nice time.”

“Yeah?” His mouth ticks up, that half-smile that is somehow both charming and a little bit maddening. “Enough that I might get a kiss?”

She tilts her head as if in thought, even as she gives in to her desire to touch him too, reaching up to finger at the faint moles dotting her cheeks. She only barely nods her acquiescence when he closes whatever distance is left and kisses her. Iris is always surprised by how warm his mouth is, by how sweet he tastes. He tastes like the apple pie they had earlier, but also like early sunset coffee on cool fall mornings and like how slow sex in the middle of the night feels.

He’s gentle in some ways, his mouth moving slow against hers, his tongue licking into her mouth like he’s trying to find life inside of her. But he’s a little rough too, squeezing at her waist so he won’t fondle her in the middle of the street, tightening his hold on her throat, only a little, but enough that Iris begins to feel the action in the throb of her sex. They kiss, eyes closed, her own fingers scratching at the nape of his neck, her hips thrusting against his in time to the flick of his tongue across her bottom lip, until she feels the swell of his dick against her belly and her loud moan tears him away from her.

“Fuck Iris,” he all but growls, licking his lips as he looks her over, a little wrecked. She hadn’t even realized she was doing it, playing with the soft strands of his hair, until she notices it’s all messy, matching the state of his swollen mouth, his wrinkled skirt, the heavy dent in the center of his pants. She wonders what she looks like.

“Get in the car, baby.”

Wide-eyed at the endearment outside of sex, Iris does as he tells her to, sliding in and buckling up before he closes the door. When the purr of her engine starts, he motions for her to roll her window down. She does, waiting as he plants his elbow on top of the car, bending his lean frame down so that his face is level with her.

He smiles softly at her. “Go out with me next Sunday.”

She bites at her lip, if only to give herself another moment to breathe. Because this date would be moving beyond a two-night stand, beyond an impromptu date, far beyond kissing on the side of the street.

“What time on Sunday?”

“Early afternoon,” he says and leans in even closer. “I’ll pick you up.”

She nods before she can talk herself out of it, even if she knows that she should. Barry motions for her with a crook of one of his long fingers, and it makes her think of what’s been playing in her head, of down for the ride, down for the ride; you can take me anywhere, and when she comes to, he places a sweet kiss on her mouth.

“I’ll see you next week,” he says, pulling away slowly.

And then Iris watches him—his strong and assured walk, his compelling and commanding aura—until she can’t see him anymore.

Do do do down for the ride, down for the ride

You could take me anywhere

I hope you will, I hope you will, I hope you will

#westallen fanfiction #strangers to lovers #iris west #barry allen

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atlas-the-worldbuilder · 4 years ago

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Final thoughts on Pokemon Sword/Shield

So in case you weren’t aware (which is most of you, I’m sure), a few months ago I started a Pokemon Shield blind Nuzlocke Run. And recently, I completed the main portion of the Nuzlocke by defeating the Champion. Having played through the game, though, I thought I’d give my final thoughts on it as a Pokemon fan, a gamer, and as a storyteller.

The Story & Characters

In all honesty, I rather enjoyed the main story of this game. The Pokemon League has always been presented like a professional sport (at least in the anime/cartoon), so it’s fun to see the games taking that perspective and rolling with it. It felt like an actual tournament/championship, to compete for the title in an officially organized manner, rather than just running a gauntlet of preset combatants.

In addition, I liked how they incorporated both the gym leaders and our rivals into the league story as not only combatants, but also as individuals with their own lives and aspirations. Marnie and Team Yell are adorable, Hop is... mostly tolerable, thus far, but by far my favorite rival character has been Bede, the Psychic/Fairy trainer. His haughty and prideful demeanor make him a delight to defeat, and his arc is a wonderful story to see unfold. I’m really curious to see what he gets up to in the after-story! The Gym Leaders are also fun to meet and battle; the Pokemon games as a whole have been gradually attempting to give more and more character to each of the Gym Leaders you meet, beyond just trials to overcome on your journey to victory. And while I always have a soft spot for the Hoenn & Sinnoh gyms, I like that they opted to have the Gym Leaders return in place of having more Elite Four members to fight I only wish I could get more opportunities to get to know them better, cuz there’s some standout leaders from this batch which I truly enjoy!

My biggest complaint with Sword/Shield’s story, though, has been the “Heroic Quest” plotline which has become increasingly common these days. I like the character of Sonia the researcher, and Oleana is satisfying to watch lose, my biggest complaint has been the pacing of the plot; the first 2/3rd’s of the story are us teaming with Sonia to gradually get the backstory revealed to us, and then in the last half hour, right as the Tournament’s getting underway, all the villains suddenly crawl from beneath the floorboards and run amok while you have to chase them down! There didn’t feel like there was a proper buildup explaining why the villain wanted to summon the legendary Pokémon, especially one which we heard next to nothing about! This brings about an interesting idea, however... what if instead, they had completely forgone any Legendary-Summoning stories until after the league? Honestly, I was way more invested challenging the gyms and fighting the champion than I was stopping the literal POKEMON APOCALYPSE from happening... so what if for future games, they saved those for after you became champion? As a sort of test of your skills, to prove your worth to bear the mantle you have taken! Maybe it wouldn’t have meshed well, maybe they needed to show of the game mascot more, I dunno... it’s just my thoughts.

The GamePlay

THEY FINALLY LET US TURN OF THE GODS-FORSAKENED TUTORIALS!!! PRAISE THE ALL-FATHER!!!

Ahem... In all honesty, I think I’d grown a bit too used to the 2nd screen of the DS-series games, but after a couple days of getting used to the mono-screen style again, I am pleased to say I found it very easy to settle back into. Though there are still some features I wish would make a return (the HM moves as opposed to public transportation, poison’s effect while walking, wild double battles, etc.), there are alot of fun mechanics introduced and remedies to older problems that have been introduced!

I think one feature which hasn’t had much said about it is the introduction of the Poke-Jobs system; this system allows you to send your Pokémon out on timed “away missions” to gain both experience and items. In the old days, if you wanted to passively level your pokemon, the only real option you had without introducing a second player was the Daycare center, and they could only raise two pokemon at once... and you had to pay for it. With Poke-Jobs, though, I can send anywhere from 5-10 teammates out for whatever amount of time I want them to be out for, and then come back later to see them lively and with goodies to show for their work! At first, I didn’t think I’d get much use out of this system; I, like many players out there I’m sure, prefer to guide my pokemon’s training personally, honing their movesets and guiding their levelling and points the way I want from them. But as I progressed further in my Nuzlocke, and as my daily life became busier and busier, I found myself sending my backup teammates out on jobs to keep them on par with my main team. Given that the Move Deleter/Tutor and Name Rater are now services that have been rolled into the Pokemon Center, yet another good thing this series has done, I found it much easier to keep my reserve Pokemon prepared in case I needed a substitution. Some Nuzlocke “Purists” may call that taking the easy way out, but... frankly, I don’t have the willpower to do that much grinding. I’m here to play a game and have fun doing it, dammit.

The Wild Area is another thing I’ve wanted to see from Pokemon for a long time - taking more steps to make the regions seem like an open world, with vast sprawling environments full of pokemon and secrets to uncover. I’ll admit, though, the execution is... not entirely perfect. While open expanses are fun to explore, the Wild Area did seem a bit... flat to traverse. And while the weather mechanics translating into battle are fun to deal with, the same sets of wild pokemon appearing did start to wear me down. I think what the Wild Area really needed, in the long run, was a system similar to how Black/White/Black2/White2 did - having seasonal progression ingame, where different pokemon would show up during different seasons, making the different places unique and novel all over again throughout the year. And for the record, many of my gripes with the Wild Area were addressed in the Isle of Armor’s expansion island. VASTLY superior, and much more fun to navigate and traverse.

...I’ll openly admit this: I was not a fan of Mega Evolution when it was first introduced in X/Y. I felt it was fine enough to see Pokemon battling without power boosts or “digi-volving” or whatever you wanna call it. When Sun/Moon Introduced Z-Moves, it felt like a step in the right direction, but at the same time, I ended up not using it very often. If I had to have a power boost to my pokemon, I would want it something that couldn’t be used as a crutch when the going gets tough - something that has a limited usability, and offers benefits specific to the time it’s being used. I say this because I initially approached Dynamax the same way: as just another power boost to level the playing field and shake up the battle meta which I don’t keep track of. However, after barely surviving all 8 gym leaders without using a single dynamax pokemon, I decided to give it a chance: after having completed the Isle of Armor’s subplot and gaining access to the Max Soup, I fed it to my Toxtricity Spike, and started running dynamax raids. As I started using it more and more, I started gaining a certain appreciation for it that I hadn’t before; this was something written in to being a unique cultural effect! This literally is imagining Pokemon as Kaiju! And for the most part, it works! While I still feel mega-lvl-power-boosts in pokemon are a huge waste, at the very least I can say Dynamax didn’t leave me with too bad a taste in my mouth. I do hope, however, that Dynamax stays a Sword/Shield exclusive power; given it’s cultural importance in Galar, and how Mega-Evolution was in the previous generation, I think having power boosts specific to regions works better than having the same stuff used across the board for every meta onwards,

What Do I hope for the Future?

I can’t say for sure if they’ll release a sequel game for Sword/Shield, but if they do... I would want them to make these minor changes:

Hold off the Heroic plot for after the League plot; devote the main first half of the game to just the gyms and league story like was done here, and then save meeting uber-god-tier Pokémon for after you’ve claimed the title of Champion.

Having said that, fix the pacing of how the Eternatus/Darkest Day subplot feels as it’s being played out. Offer us more insight into Rose and Oleana’s mindsets as they go about their business, and give us more coherent exposition from our field trips with Prof. Sonia.

Fix how the Wild Area looks - give it more variations for each sub-region and offer more varieties of habitats, like in the Isle of Armor. Or, alternatively, try to implement a seasonal mechanic to make the same areas change over the year, opening new paths and new avenues to explore!

Let Bede defeat Oleana. Give my boy some closure.

Allow us to see and interact with the Gym Leaders outside of the gyms more. I had, like, barely 2 lines of dialogue with Nessa, and even less for Milo. Not asking for a whole lot, just a bit more to tie us into who they are as people. Piers is best big brother. <3

That’s all I had written for now. If y’all want a biography of my champion team for my Shield Nuzlocke, let me know, and I’ll scrap a post together! <3

#Pokemon #Pokemon Sword Shield #Demotivated Review #Video Game #Atlas the Worldbuilder #nobody's gonna care about this #but that's ok

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ranma-rewatch · 4 years ago

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Episode 1-The Strange Stranger from China/Enter Ranma

Alright, time to really start this thing off with the first episode, “The Strange Stranger from China”. I...don’t remember that being the name of the episode, but it has been about a decade since I last saw the series.

I feel like I remember what happens in this episode pretty well, it should just be an introduction to (some) of the main cast and kick of the dynamic between the two leads, but I could be wrong. Let’s see after the break, once I have rewatched the episode!

Okay first things first, the Opening. Musically, this song has always sat in a weird spot for me. It’s really freaking catchy and memorable, but it’s also kind of annoying? Like, there is a fine line between a great ear worm and a song you actually want out of your head, and “Don’t Make Me Wild Like You” by Etsuki Nishio is like right on that line. There are parts of it I think are adorably entertaining, like the whistle, and other parts where I kind of cringe. It’s not my favorite opening song of the series, but it’s not bad either.

Visually, it is Okay with a capital O. There is a reason Mother’s Basement has never done a feature on it. It is mostly just the cast running in place over pastel backgrounds, and some of them have the coloring that’s very different from what would end up being used later on once they appeared. That said, I have to give infinite props to Akane’s little snapping dance, because it is freaking adorable and I love ever frame of it.

Also, the title. What I said it was earlier, “The Strange Stranger from China”, was what Hulu has it listed as, and from what I can tell that was what it was listed as on DVD. From what I can tell from my expert translator, Mr. Google Translate, it’s kind of similar to the Japanese title, which says it is “He's from China!! A little weird!!”. But in the episode, the dub says the episode is “Here’s Ranma” which is what I remember it being. So...yeah. Apparently at some point they wanted to retcon the english title of the episode, but never changed the dub track to match.

So, what’s the episode about? Hell, what is this show even about? Well, the episode starts with a feminine person with red hair fighting a panda in the street, arguing about being betrothed to someone against their will, while onlookers watch in confusion. Then the panda knocks them out, and carries them away. Cut to the Tendo family estate, where Soun Tendo has received news that Ranma Saotome and his father Genma will soon be coming, and gathers his three daughters to explain the situation.

You see, in addition to being fairly well off in general, Soun is the owner of a dojo for the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, and his best friend and fellow practitioner of the same art, Genma, made an agreement years ago to bind their families in marriage. Thus, Ranma will marry one of Soun’s three daughters. From oldest to youngest, they’re Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane, who is the only one of the three to practice martial arts herself. When Soun reveals he has never met Ranma and has no idea what he’s like, his daughters are kind of pissed that their dad promised one of them would have to marry him, which is pretty fair.

Instead of the middle-aged man and teenage boy they expected, the red-head from before is dragged in by the panda, and they explain they are Ranma Saotome, to everyone’s confusion. Based on their body, everyone assumes Ranma is a girl, and Ranma and Akane actually become fast friends, sparring in the dojo. But after Akane has a surprise bathroom encounter with a very masculine Ranma that involves him seeing her naked, and vice versa, they learn the truth.

See, Ranma and his dad were in China training when they visited Jusenkyo, a seeming hot spring tourist trap, only to each fall in a different spring while practicing fighting there. Turns out all the water there is cursed because things kept drowning in the springs a long time ago. Now they’re both cursed. They each transform when cold water is poured on their heads, into a feminine body for Ranma and a panda’s body for Genma, and turned back with hot water.

Once that’s all out in the open, everyone except Ranma and Akane thinks that, since Akane doesn’t like guys, she would be the perfect fiance for Ranma since he is ‘half girl’. Akane is still upset with Ranma, both because she has a lot of issues with men and feels betrayed that Ranma never said he was really a guy, and also because he saw her naked. Ranma claims it isn’t a problem because he can look at himself anytime and he’s more stacked, and the dynamic of Akane hitting Ranma for the asshole-ish things he says is born.

So, lots of stuff to talk about for an analysis. I think I’ll go with a compliment sandwich, bundling up what was rough for me around what I liked or thought was particularly interesting. To start with, aside from a few places where there was clear corner-cutting of reusing animation and kind of needless flashbacks, I liked the animation. The original mangka, Rumiko Takahashi, has really great character designs, and I love seeing her personal art style brought to life by the animation of Studio DEEN, a group I am not super used to complimenting.

In terms of plot, I think it’s a pretty strong opener. It introduces a lot of the main cast, even if some of them are depicted fairly broadly and not shown as the characters they’d one day become. This might sound odd, but I also really appreciate how female nudity is handled. Maybe it’s just because, if anything, the way most anime handle ‘fanservice’ has just gotten more and more over-the-top as the years go by, but the way Ranma 1/2 handled it feels like a breath of breath air.

See, in most modern anime, full blown nudity of either sex is never shown. Instead, feminine characters’ bodies are incredibly sexualized, with lots of emphasis put on the breasts and other body parts, without ever giving the full game away. By contrast, this episode contained several example of the feminine form shown completely nude, but it wasn’t treated like some mind-blowingly sexy thing, it was just kinda shown without much fanfare. I’ve currently watching the original Mobile Suit Gundam, which came out around the same time, and it actually does the same thing a few times. It feels more similar to how nudity is treated in, say, paintings or sculpture, more tasteful, and I just kind of think it’s neat.

What is definitely less neat...is the music. If I had to throw out right away my biggest gripe with the show, it is the OST. Not all of it, there are a few bits near the end of the episode that are actually really good, they’re the kind of music I remember being in the show. But the more silly, goofy tracks more common in the first half of the episode really don’t work for me. They remind me of the generic ‘Silly Person’ theme songs from the Ace Attorney games, and maybe it’s just me, but those kind of background music always take me out of the experience and grate on my nerves. That’s actually my only big issue so far, but it did make both times watching this episode genuinely hard to get through at points, it annoys me that much.

Now, I will say right now that I will be referring to Ranma using male pronouns regardless of whether he’s in his cursed form or not, and I won’t call him a ‘girl’ or a ‘woman’. If you didn’t know, sex and gender are not actually the same thing, so even if his physical sex is changed to fit someone who would be Assigned Female at Birth, his internal gender doesn’t change. No matter how Ranma looks, he thinks of himself as a man.

Corollary to that, it was this time going through this episode that I realized something that I’d never thought of before: Ranma’s experience in this episode, and in some ways throughout the series, is actually a lot like that of a transgender man’s. Ranma shows up at the Tendo’s estate and they all see him as a girl because of how he looks, only for him to reveal his actual gender. When he’s hanging out with Akane, and she thinks he is actually a girl, and they’re getting along, there’s a part where she tells Ranma that she’s so happy he turned out not to be a boy, and you can see Ranma’s facial expression, he doesn’t want to hear that. Clearly, yes, you can read that as Ranma wincing at the fact that she’s in for a rude awakening later on, but it also gives off the same kind of vibes closeted trans people experience when they’re misgendered by people they know.

In fact, when you think about how his curse really affects Ranma, when he’s in his cursed form, he effectively is a trans man. He still identifies as a guy, but his body has been changed so that it no longer represents who he sees himself as inside. It just felt like an interesting real life parallel in this episode, and I’m interested to see if I feel it shows up more later on. But for now, let’s move on to character spotlight.

For the first spotlight, I thought I should center on the titular Ranma Saotome. Obviously this won’t be the only time I focus on him, he’ll get more spotlight pieces as the series develops, so right now I’ll try to focus on the Ranma we see in just this one episode.

To start with, who plays him? Well, that’s a funny story, actually. Not only does Ranma, due to his curse, have different voice actors in each language for his cursed and non-cursed forms, but in the English Dub they recast his masculine body’s voice actor after three seasons. I’ll talk about that voice actor, Richard Ian Cox, once we get to when he actually becomes Ranma’s voice actor, so let’s start with the masculine form’s VA’s.

Now, the Ranma I first met when I was a teenager was Sarah Strange, a Canadian Voice Actress who is not known for much else. Her Ranma has mostly been the one I think of in my head when I think of the character. A little nasaly, her take on the character is very average joe, very ordinary high schooler. There’s some brashness to it, sure, but it’s actually kind of a subdued version of Ranma. Looking at it now, I actually feel like both of Ranma’s masculine form’s voice actors don’t quite fit the character, but for opposite reasons. Sarah Strange’s voice is so normal sounding that it dampens the more extreme parts of his character, Ranma at his most arrogant and egotistical. Like I said, I’ll cover Richard Ian Cox when he takes over the role, but I’ll say in brief here that his version of Ranma is the polar opposite, too over-the-top and aggressive.

In contrast, his original Japanese voice actor, Kappei Yamaguchi, feels a lot better to me, at least so far. Again, this is basically my first time seeing the series subbed, so I’ve only heard him for one episode as opposed to the 3 seasons I had with Sarah Strange. Still, Kappei’s take on Ranma is just as normal sounding as Sarah’s, but I felt like I could already hear a little more of the more emotional side of the character I felt Sarah never quite managed to capture properly.

As for Ranma’s cursed form, I was kind of confused, because the voice I was hearing in the episode wasn’t the one I remembered. For a while, I thought she must have just grown into the role over time, but it turns out that is not the case. For the first six episodes of the show, he was played by Brigitta Dau, who was then replaced with Venus Terzo. Now, I did not know this until literally right now, as I am typing this, so I feel like I don’t actually have much to say about Brigitta. Her performance felt a little off to me, but not bad. Venus, though, really owns the role once she takes over. Her performance as red-headed Ranma has always felt perfect for me, selling the idea that this is a teenage guy in a feminine body, and she’s really good at selling Ranma at his most dickish.

In Japanese, this form of Ranma is played by Megumi Hayashibara. Now, I would never ever say she did a bad job, but from what I saw of her in this episode, I don’t know how much I actually like her as Ranma. Maybe it’s just the pitch of her voice, but she doesn’t sound quite to me like a guy in a feminine body, but just like a very emotional teenage girl. Of course, I do not speak Japanese and it’s a lot harder to really judge acting in a language you don’t understand, so I could be spouting utter nonsense, but that’s my thoughts on her as of this episode.

In terms of Ranma’s character, they don’t really give much away with this first episode. We know he’s a good fighter, has a difficult relationship with his father, doesn’t like his curse and wants to get rid of it, and has enough stubbornness to butt heads with Akane and stand his ground. I also felt like they did a good job telegraphing Ranma’s general fighting style during his sparring match with Akane. He spent the entire time dodging her attacks with incredible ease, which emphasizes his speed. Generally speaking, I’d describe Ranma as a very agile, thinking-on-his feet kind of fighter, but that’s something we’ll see more of in later episodes. I was going to do a big thing about his personality, but I feel like anything more than what I’ve said hasn’t really borne out in what we have, so I’ll wait for another time to do that.

Like I said in my Introduction post, I will be ranking each episode as they appear, and as this is the only one I’ve seen in the rewatch, it is both the best one and the worst one so far. The real question is how it will stand up next time, when I’ll be able to compare it to the second episode, “School is No Place for Horsing Around”. See you then!

#episode 1 #here's ranma #the strange stranger from china #ranma 1/2 #ranma saotome #akane tendo #lgbtq #anime analysis #anime rewatch

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