#LOOK AT BOTH OP’s GORGEOUS ART

[sol-dial]

╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

me & @olivtr33 had a whiteboardfox and... these.. were the results. Here's the best doodles!!

the greatest captain america drawing of all time (by yours truly)

aa stony kisses <3

the brainrot:tm:

mcu steve NOOO

the stupid

he

mv!stevetony (minevengers!stevetony) doodles SDSJFJS

aa stony canon

mv!tony doodle

baby girl!!

the husband <3

apron 616 tony dkfkdsfgsd

cw!steve when ults steve

the gays

more brainrot

pretty princess aa tony!

mcu steve is dumb i think

aa stony sjdsjfas [ that's all you guys!!! this has so many versions of steve and tony i've decided to tag them all, go say hi to oliver for me :D, likes and reblogd are GREATLY APPRECIATED XD ]

[jelloapocalypse]

First off, incredible video, it was extremely Jibun-wo to see digimon make the cut! That being said, I gotta know, would Dandadan have made top 10 if it hadn't come out past the cut off point? It feels like such a slam dunk

Aha okay I am happy someone asked me about this.

So. If I am being dead honest with you? If I am being a trillion percent real? Even if it came out three years ago, Dandadan would probably not make the list, and if it was on it it'd be pretty low. Like high 90s maybe.

I did a temperature check with Amy just to see if I was crazy after watching it a few times and she came to the came conclusion I did: The Creepy Nuts song absolutely slaps and is insanely catchy. No surprise there, it's Creepy Nuts, they're awesome and you should check out their stuff.

Watch this little clip of them in real time. The way their bodies flow as they perform (see 0:37) is mesmerizing. I love it.

That being said, I think Dandadan's visuals are just Pretty Good™.

Most of the shots are flat pop art colors with A Weird Creature on them and big text. It's not bad, but it's also not exceptional and it doesn't tell me a lot about the series. Speaking as someone who hasn't watched Dandadan and doesn't know what it's about, I'm still not really sure! Seems like the glasses boy... can transform into a Creature? And they fight... aliens? So it's like Kaiju No. 8, maybe? Looks like a shonen. That's all I got. Speaking as an outsider, it doesn't really have any kind of thematic hook or solid show pitch.

BRIGHT COLOR + BIG TEXT is a current trend in, like, Netflix openings that I'm not a huge fan of. It's a lot of POP but not a lot of substance, if that makes sense.

There are some shots where the stylization hits harder than others. Big fan of the song credit in this one. It's creepy and weird in a hypnotizing sort of way.

The rest of the shots in this style with monsters just make me think "Oh, ok. There's monsters? What makes these monsters cool or unique?" And the opening doesn't really answer that question, which I think is an issue when a solid third of your OP is just shots of the monsters.

I should say, I loooove that slow part in the middle of the song. But I mostly like it because of the song, the visuals aren't really doing anything for me.

It doesn't help my opinion of the OP that this shot with the girl wiggling her hand around is the one that shows up in all the Top 100 lists and New Anime OP quizzes. I think this motion is a few frames short of looking good, tbh.

If I had to guess, this is because this show is made by Science Saru. They make lots of cool weird shit like Lu Over the Wall and The Night is Short, Walk On Girl and their style is a mixture of high-effort anime with wild, almost rubberhosey western animation influences. They also did Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, which I think looks gorgeous. I also think you can absolutely tell it's the same studio if you watch both OPs side by side.

Oh hey, look at that. A Netflix OP with big thick text over bright pop art colors with traditional media textures overlaid on top of it.

Science Saru is an incredibly talented studio and they're much more artistically daring than most of their colleagues, but I think they're at their best when they get to work with a very unique artstyle, like the ones you see in Walk on Girl and Scott Pilgrim. The Dandadan characters being closer to "regular" anime proportions doesn't work as well with their slightly more staggered style (i.e. the money shot of the girl moving her arm with a low frame count).

If you ask me? I think these OPs are pretty close in quality to each other. Both quite good, neither quite exceptional. Dandadan is better though, mostly because the Creepy Nuts song is so good.

I think that's where most of the hype for this opening is coming from. Creepy Nuts is at the height of their popularity in the anime community right now. Anime fans got a taste of them with Call of the Night, a series named after one of their songs, and people loved that opening but it didn't "pop off". Then Mashle came and it went megaviral. Everyone loves the second Mashle opening because everything about it slaps. It's so good. It also shows you a lot about the character of the protagonist and the show itself. The way Muscle Mob stays unflappable no matter what happens and the way his friends react to his antics show off the show's gimmick (One Punch Man at Hogwarts) very well, and it shows the dynamic he has with the rest of the cast. He doesn't give a shit. It looks kinda funny. Plus the way they use the character face tattoos to accent different shots is inspired. Very cool!

I've heard pretty universally that Mashle is kind of a bad show. But do you know how many people I know were tricked into trying it because of that opening? Its like seven of them. That's some wild advertising power. Sure, Mashle doesn't have a lot going on, but the opening pitches what it does have so well that you can't help be a little bit interested in checking it out.

Dandadan just doesn't really do that for me. I look at it and I think "Oh, okay. Cool Creepy Nuts song."

I think a large amount of Dandadan's popularity as an opening is just that people are excited for more Creepy Nuts. They were relatively unknown (at least in the west) by the time Call of the Night came out and lots of artists only do one anime opening and never touch the medium again. Mashle was a sidewinder. It came out of nowhere and proved that Creepy Nuts were not only willing to do more openings, but they were willing to crush it every time. Both of the shows they did songs for have GOAT openings.

Then it was announced fuckin' Science Saru was adapting Dandadan and the NUT BOYS were gonna be returning to do the opening? Everyone was so hyped for it. And guess what! It was really cool! They did it, yet another cool opening. They set expectations and met them pretty well while they were directly in the middle of the public eye, and I'm so happy for Creepy Nuts, I hope they make fuckin' millions off this because they deserve it.

But! I don't think the Dandadan OP has the spice the other two openings they worked on do.

Call of the Night is an incredible opening. Cool dynamic between the main two characters with evocative visuals from start to finish. The psychic vampire bite? The film-making language and clackerboard? So much fun. Diagetic lyrics. A fake-out pause in the middle of the song. Half the shots are upside down and they did it on purpose. It's a great execution of a cool artistic vision. Legit one of the strongest OPs ever made.

Mashle season two comes out. Incredible opening. Sick urban street punk rapper flare to it. The characters walk in front of graffiti, the protagonist raps about how his haters have nothing on him and he can kick everyone's ass just because he's the best. Animation that far outstrips the stuff present in the actual show. Cool artistic vision, hella execution.

Dandadan is like a pretty cool 2020s opening that happens to have a Creepy Nuts song, and you get the sense the studio was told "Hey, Mashle's second opening has like 80 million views on YouTube. We got Creepy Nuts. Do that, please." And they did! It's a similar mix of bright colors, rap, and mixed media. Mashle has grafitti, Dandadan has the texture of spray paint stencils. Looks cool! Kinda looks like Mashle, but weirder and more abstract. And that's fine! Is it list material? Ehhhh. Is it Top 10 material like some comments are claiming? Abso-lutely not. Absolutely creepy nots.

In terms of VMCTJ, the Dandadan opening has S-tier music and above-average visuals and credits. I think the theming is middle-of-the-road and there honestly aren't any Jennies for me at all. Amy and I have sort of trained ourselves so that any OP where the music does most of the heavy lifting kind of gets put on the backfoot right away, because nothing shoots an opening to popularity like a fuck jam and you need to be wary of that when judging them all on the same criteria.

So anyways, yeah! Dandadan is pretty good. I'd hesitate to lock it in anywhere in the Top 100, but I think my gut would place it somewhere between like... 160-140. That's still REALLY good, but I do have to think at least some of the comments asking about it on Patreon and YouTube are fueled at least in part by a love for Creepy Nuts and more than a bit of recency bias.

Hope that answers your question, lmao

[rebornofstars]

MY FAVOURITE PARTS OF THE UPDATE

BECAUSE THIS HAS BEEN MY FAVOURITE UPDATE EVER

all comic panels from crescent flame by @linkeduniverse. readmore bc its LONG

can we start with the gorgeous lighting please . like this has to be one of the absolute prettiest palettes i dont know how the colour wheel works but PLEASE im dying over this peach coloured light. and the camera angles??? absolute fire

and we already knew he had it but as far as i can remember this is the first time we've actually seen legend using his lantern????

somoene will have to help me (SOS 😭🙏) because ive lost the spreadsheet matching each item in the december art with its name & game of origin so FORGIVE ME IF IM WRONG BUT ISNT THIS THE SAME LAMP FROM LINK'S HOUSE AT THE BEGINNING OF ALTTP??? legend you sentimental freak (deeply affectionate). hes everything.

and!!!! rulie with the candle. i dont know why im going crazy about a candle but i AM. the fact that rulie uses a light method less modern than legend's old lamp is speaking to me and the inevitable conversation about legend's legacy and the gulf between their eras. this is canon and we've been talking about it for years but seeing them together in direct comparison like this is really hammering it into my skull. and of course jojo's attention to detail is once again UNPARALLELED

also the architecture in this dungeon is just gorgeous. jojo can u design my house pls??? ���🥺 i'm in love with all these zoomed out shots as well like holy shit. so effective in creating an atmosphere

PLEASE the fact that hyrule holds his candle right over it to look but then backs off a bit when legend comes over so he can light it with the lamp?????? WORDLESSLY??? i dont know if its just because he knew the lamp would do a better job but the TEAMWORK??? THE COOPERATION??? I LOVE THEM???? i used to think that downfall duo was mostly a fanon invention cause legend and hyrule didnt spend much one-on-one time in the comic but FUCK THAT I BELIEVE!!!! I SEE THE LGIHT!!!!! legend's little grin is telling me everything i need to know

his face im wheezing 😂😂😂😂 rule please how did u survive this long 😭😭😭

and then it doesnt even attack them it just runs away!!!!! accurate!!!! dfd (downfall duo? is this an acceptable acronym?) are TOO OP

im actually fucking dying over this panel u dont understand. strong contender for one of the panels of all time. four has STRUCK UP A POSE. nobody walks down stairs with their hands behind their head that boy is RECLINING DRAMATICALLY.

and WIND DOING HIS LITTLE LEAP. ITS TOTALLY UNECCESSARY. IM SO GLAD IT EXISTS. and time descending in the middle of the stairs staring straight ahead 😭😭😭 equally theatric in his own stupid way im wheezing this is too much. the drama kids. old man & the Youngsters

THE ARGUING ABOUT WHO GETS A TURN AT WHAT. SOOOO SIBLINGS CODED. IM DEAD ON THE FLOOR

wiat wait wait fuck. wait fuck HOW OLD IS FOUR. theyre thinking so furiously theyre gonna hurt their brains. recontextualising every single conversation theyve ever had with the smithy!! im actually sooo sooo happy abt this panel because cheekily mysterious four (especially about completely unecessary things like his AGE) is my kryptonite & i feel like this couldve come straight out of a crackfic. the chaos is unmatched. jojo is on our WAVELENGTH ‼️‼️‼️

they are soooo sooo comfortable with each other. hyrule sasses everyone its true BUT LEGEND IS TAKING HIS SASS AND RESPONDING TO IT. theyre having a debate. legend is expressing all his grumpy opinions and hyrule is like lmao ok i see ur point. ahgsjdbgsj

the way the games are baked into every panel and plot point of this comic.. im actually deceased. also legend's stance is cracking me up

ADORE the way this is framed. love love love

the MISCHIEF AND GLEE ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️ WHAT IS A LINK IF NOT A DESTROYER OF POTS‼️‼️‼️ this whole page im obsessed with i read it like 3 times cause i couldnt believe my eyes. they ARE besties they ARE. theyre both being so playful & theyre both in their element & pairing them up was a gorgeous fantastic idea and i am SO here for it

in conclusion every update is getting better and better i am LIVING for this dungeon arc and i adore this comic to pieces. thank u for coming to my ted talk

[noodledrawsandstuff]

(Tag dump/long post warning) Appreciation Post !!! Big ups to my gang

Felt like being nice today >:) This year hasn't been all that good to me, but these wonderful people have been a great help! (Even if I don't talk to/interact much with some of them) They're all sweethearts and if you like me for whatever reason then you should follow them if you don't already! (Sorry if I get repetitive but hehe + sorry if I forget someone... there's a shit load to go through here, I might need two posts-)

Of course I have to start with my all my fellas: cotton_candylover (watch-through buddy!), bara_kid_pirates (helped make my strawpage!) and purple_rainfrog (my co-writer in the dark ages...), you lot are great and I love watching through anime and being little shithead weirdos with you :3 why don't you have tumblr 😠 I'm going to skin you

@drago-is-me You are my lil guy and I want to grab and throttle you, also I love your art I want to kiss you platonically and then fight you to the death

@fortheloveofkiller I love your art sm!!!! You are greatness, and I will always respect a fellow Killer lover

@wyvernslovecake Shriek is my daughter and I love her dearly, you're very silly and I love you for it, also your writing is 👌

@perhapsrampancy Lovely friend of the worm (FOTW!!!) I want to give you a nice hug and a head pat and a big platonic kiss :3

@lxshoxk Your op bulls are yummy yummy and you are magnificent, you deserve all the best things you could want (and you're a FOTW for bonus points)

@d-angel00 Good FOTW and a very talented artist!! I adore you sm I wanna give you the biggest hug I can muster

@schwazombie Another lovely FOTW I adore you ty for the beautiful Killer on my straw page I love him

@baby-xemnas Peak lawbepo/luzo/kidkiller, incredible artist I want to kiss your art mwah it gives me life

@mekachu04 Incredible amazing showstopping artist, and a FOTW!!!

@shipshinablog Your art is absolutely delicious, I adore how you draw Heat and Wire they are just so beautiful I want to kiss them

@thamaris Another incredible artist!!! I adore your art, especially your gorgeous Wire he is yum

@a-killer-obsession Another one!!!!!!! Your art is adorable and your fics are just ough 5-star meals + fellow Killer enjoyer >:)

@nethhiri I adore your art/fics too ough I wanna devour it!!! (I'm repeating myself a lot but trust me I mean it! You're wonderful and very talented!!!)

@don-mellow Hehehe your art is scrumptious I love your big juicy muscular big titty men especially your Wire he is so fine

@magnuspirate I absolutely adore your art, your Heat is magnificent ty for showing him the love he deserves, plus your designs for the crew are so peak ough *eats* (ty for grey haired Wire I want to kiss him he's so pretty)

@toonsparks Your art is so fun and cute and ough I love it sm I need it more than oxygen bc its just so mmm it makes me joyous

@gratefulcheeses Your art makes me so feral, the way you draw my favourite beautiful boys is so ough delicious I will devour it

@moedesparta Another incredible artist, your art is so scrumptious I want it injected into my veins

@lfypj Your art is so fucking good oml I am in love with how you draw Kid and Killer they look so damn fine

@swampstew-stories (I cant tag your main lol-) I am feral for your writing ough it is just immaculate (personal shoutout to the Kid OnlyFans AU and Killer Tiktok AU they both give me life in very different ways)

@misaneeragoni FOTW!!! Your art is wonderful it makes me all giddy, also you are wonderful too!

Alright I think that's it.... unless I make a part 2 then it isn't- Either way, ty for sticking around if you got this far! You're a real trooper (insert name here.) Go follow the people above they're all wonderful and they deserve the world! All their art and fics and beautifulness has helped me at a time where I felt like the water in the Thames, this post doesn't even begin to describe how much I appreciate them and love what they do but I hope its at least something!

[colealexart]

story time! i met the cr cast this past weekend at mcm london and they were the kindest people imaginable, but my interaction with laura and marisha was just. incomprehensibly sweet and the best thing to ever happen to me.

first up was laura. my friends izzy (@wvearp) and abby (@overnighttosunflowers) went before me in the queue and they got my art signed by her. when they did, she said “oh, best art” and they told her that they were here with the artist. she immediately was like “what?! where?!” and started looking around frantically. i was standing just to the side and i waved awkwardly and she was like “NO WAY! YOU!! i favourite this shit on twitter ALL THE TIME!” which i find hilarious because yeah, i freak out a little every time she does.

when it got to my turn, i said hello and asked her how she was doing. she did not answer my question and instead said “cole, are you kidding me? these are gorgeous” about the two prints i handed to her. (the one pictured and a different one i got signed.) she said she remembers seeing this after the episode aired and i was like “yeah, it airs at 3am here so i drew this in a frantic, sleep deprived stupor at 7am” and she said “you did it so fast, i remember! i sent it to marisha! people are SO QUICK with the fanart, you guys are insane.”

after she signed the print, she held onto it for a moment and just sat and admired it, before looking at me with the BIGGEST smile and saying “you are seriously the best. thank you.” and i don’t know how to handle sincerity so i handed her the dice i got for her. she was so excited about them and immediately rolled the d20 and got a 10 (edit: i misremembered, she got a 3 lol). i then asked if we could play rollies and she beat me. i got a 5 and laura got a 7. i said i’m sorry they’re not rolling well and she was like “it’s fine, they just need charging up!”

i also got a selfie too, but the guy helping her at the table took the photo for us instead of me trying to take it because i suck at taking selfies. she gave me a really tight side hug and when it was done, she thanked me again with the biggest smile.

i also didnt realize until afterwards but instead of writing a character quote, laura wrote “you are everything” on my autograph 😭

next was the group photo op. as we walked up i said hi again to laura and she immediately recognized me from before. she grabbed onto my shoulders and literally spun me around to marisha and was frantically saying “marisha marisha, this is the person that does the amazing imodna art!” but there was a lot going on and marisha was looking at me with the most bewildered expression, until she eventually understood what laura was saying but we had to rush to take the photo. laura held onto my arm and marisha leaned against me and i didn’t realize until afterwards but liam and tal also had their hands on my shoulders lol. it was A Lot. i told marisha i would probably be heading to her autograph queue next so i’d see her there and she was like “awesome, i cant wait!”

so after that, i met marisha. i was probably the most nervous to meet her because she’s just so cool and intimidating but in reality she is just so warm and has such a calming presence about her. she was like “cole, good to see you again!” and i handed her the same imodna print that i had laura sign. she said “ohh, aww this is amazing! this is what laura was talking about, i was so confused!”

then we talked a bit about the live show because her voice was hoarse and i asked her how she was feeling. she said it was just her voice that was gone, but we agreed that it was absolutely worth it because the live show was incredible. i also congratulated her on the how do you wanna do this, then gave her the dice i got for her and we played rollies too. we both got an 18 at first and when we rerolled, she beat me with another 18 to my 16. then she was like “oh these roll really well, i’m definitely gonna use these!”

we took our photo together and afterwards she said “thank you for your art and everything. seriously, you’re so talented” while rubbing my shoulder, and then i headed off to join ashley’s queue.

i’m probably gonna make a separate post about meeting ashley and sam. i just wanted to write this down mostly to immortalize on my blog. i expected them to be kind but i did NOT expect to feel so loved and appreciated. laura was about as excited as i was, and made me feel so special. (this is also a pretty small thing but i dont think i pass very well, so the fact that laura said ‘person’ and didn’t misgender me meant a hell of a lot too.)

i did bring extra prints to give to them as a gift but was overwhelmed and forgot lol

anyway, that’s it! for anyone wondering if the critical role cast are as kind in person as they seem online, they absolutely are and then some. i’ll never forget this past week.

[keyofjetwolf]

Now that it's been a couple of days, do you have any structured commentary about the Sailor Moon Live, or is it still just (excited screaming)?

CAN SCREAMING FOREVER WORK AS A RESPONSE

That doesn't pass for structure, huh? Fair. Okay well let's spew some word-based vomit all over things. That's The Jet Wolf Way.

Spoilers for the Sailor Moon Super Live 2025 North American (read: JUST U.S. SORRY CANADA YOU'RE A PENGUIN TO US NOW) under the cut.

By which I mean specific production details, because it's the fucking Dark Kingdom plot AGAIN so like how realistically spoiled can you possibly be on that by this point.

So first and foremost let me say that I am so out of the loop that I had no idea there was a new Sailor Moon musical production AT ALL, let alone that it was coming to the States. States to which I could reasonably have access! When Doc dropped this on me, approximately three hours I think before I was going to be sitting there in a seat all of my very own, I was absolutely 100% without a single word for I think a good minute.

Life necessitated a massive shift in my day-to-day focus of course, but matters of the heart give far fewer shits. My girls are still my motherfucking girls, and while the last few years have left me with far less time and energy to scream, the desire to do so remains strong and vibrant. Midge knows each of the Inners by name, because she sees them constantly on my computer wallpapers, art on my refrigerator, the blanket that's now functionally hers. "Who's the best character in Sailor Moon?" is met, with about 95% unprompted success, with a resounding "REI HINO!!", because she's my medically perfect genius baby (and also perhaps coached on this not infrequently).

My heart is and continues to be a kaleidoscope, is what I'm trying to say. And this was something I've wanted to do, to see a production live and in person, and NEVER thought I'd have the opportunity to do. Then suddenly, not only did I learn it was happening, right here, right now, but I WOULD BE THERE. I'm not sure I can properly articulate the sudden unexpected magnitude of feelings. I have no idea what my fucking face looked like, but I hope for Doc's sake, it was pretty great.

I actually continued in a weird place of disbelief up until the very moment it began. Despite the ticket, despite the marquee, despite the incredibly thoughtful and gorgeous and wonderful Mars sweater Doc fucking MADE ME. Despite the flow of other nerds around us, despite the photo op, despite the literally unbelievable merchandise line (the shit was up with that my GOD), despite the set, despite the light, despite the literal stage with the literal signage that literally said "Sailor Moon".

LOOK AT THAT FAKE FUCKING NEWS, I apparently thought to myself.

It wasn't until the house lights went down and the Usagi body double popped her giant moon did it slam into me. It's happening, AND I AM HERE TO SEE IT.

I absolutely 100000% did not tear up a little when Rei came out, and that non-existent moistening in no way increased as she proceeded to give Usagi shit for the entire duration of her intro. No sir no ma'am, I'm both a rock and an island, you know.

The story itself, I mean -- like I said, it's the Dark Kingdom. AGAIN. But it's amazing how actually being there, being part of the whole thing? It didn't matter. It was almost ... Like, I will always always always be team "Give me something new jesus fucking wept I am begging you" for this franchise. But the fact that I knew every single beat of this tired out overplayed thing and so too did 2500 of my closest friends ... It freed me from demands. It wasn't going to be different, so it also wouldn't let me down in new and exciting ways GLARING AT YOU FOREVER CRYSTAL.

I think if this were a regular thing, this going to watch the musical LIVE and IN PERSON, then yeah, moving exactly nowhere in 30+ years would feel pale and stagnant. But we're not there, nowhere near, and so it wasn't that at all. It wasn't dull. It was home.

Because I'm me, and because I don't have the at-home freedom to pause and rewind and spend hours studying a single scene and repeatedly rewatching to catch every single detail of every single character, I of course played the "WHERE'S REI WHAT'S REI DOING" game every single second the opportunity presented itself. Consequently, I enjoyed no small amount of consistent badassery and flagrant Usagi-based protective shenanigans, including bodily shoving her this way and that and turning to snap at her when she was stupid and I was in pure heaven, kids.

I could absolutely have done with more Inners-based individual character stuff, but let's be honest, I'm basically an insatiable bottomless void there. When is enough enough? A: NEVER. But trying to be (relatively) fair and (grudgingly) concede it's not necessarily all about ME, I thought it did a good job with its balancing acts. Usagi kind of sucked in places, Mamoru's dick wasn't perpetually shoved in my mouth, the Shitennou weren't even IN the bloody thing so we didn't have to waste precious minutes there, AND MINAKO GOT TO STAB BERYL FUCK YEAH SHE DID. It even, for a couple seconds there, flirted with the idea of Beryl ALSO being stuck in a resurrection cycle, which I can't lie is intriguing as FUCK.

So yeah, I'd say I felt the production felt to me like a celebration, and for that, did its job SPECTACULARLY.

MY GIRLS

Special Bonus Awesome Notes:

Cabaret Beryl huh???? Talk about a thing I didn't know I needed but SO DID. What a magnificent way to have fun with something that might otherwise be either too slow or too dull. I legitimately didn't even realize the Shitennou weren't there until much later in the production; Beryl just FILLED the stage when she was there, and the delightfully ridiculous seasoning on the whole thing was all I needed to make the dish satisfying.

I know Holligay is a raging lesbian, but this bitch and whasserface playing Mamoru, fuck me.

I NEED NAY DESERVE THOSE TWIRLY SENSHI LIGHT THINGIES. The light peripheral game in this thing was strong as hell, and peaked exquisitely with those. From elements to symbols and back again. LOVED THEM. WANT THEM. MUST HAVE THEM. (blah blah blah Jetty you wouldn't know how to use them you'd kill yourself Jetty no blah blah)

In summation, what a glorious fucking time. I've actually been struggling a little bit with feeling I've not done anything to deserve what a wonderful, thoughtful, FUCKING UNDERHANDED AND UNTOPPABLE, gift was this experience. But I sure did get it, and I sure did love it, and it's mine now, so OH WELL I GUESS.

Allow me to leave you with this, the only tiny bit of video I took of the whole thing. Please enjoy: a) Holligay VERY CLEARLY joining in on the "Oshioki yo!" like a fucking weeb, b) how the video jumps dramatically at the opening strains of Moonlight Densetsu because the aforementioned Holligay jabbed not just her elbow but HER ENTIRE BODY into me, and c) that weeby cunt bellowing the opening syllable in "Sorry" as in "Sorry that I'm not honest" as she begins and will continue to sing the entire song in the correct tune but with the translated English lyrics. Longtime Yuri Hell's Kitchen fans, you might recognize this travesty.

IN CONCLUSION: REI HINO

[yumedoca]

And UY's third cour's final PV dropped.... which means it's time for me to share my thoughts!!

(And as usual. Ignore the shitty quality of the screenshots)

First up, I have to mention the fact that MAISONdes is doing the OP and ED again!! The new OP is 'Rock On*' feat. Hashimero, Meguru and the new ED is 'Raizakura' feat. 9Lana, SAKURAmoti. Here are the gorgeous album cover arts for both songs and oh my gosh, they are so precious!!

*It might either be 'Lock on' since the Japanese pronunciation for 'L' and 'R' sounds the same.

(Edit: Seems like it is 'Lock on' after all!!)

As for my thoughts on the songs themselves, so far they sound great, but to form a proper opinion I need to hear the whole thing as well as see how it pairs with the visuals.

Now to the actual PV itself.. (Attention: Spoilers!!)

First up, as expected, there's a lot of new footage shown. Many of them are from the episodes shown in the previous PV which I've already discussed (go read it if you haven't, since this is technically a part 2) so I'm not going to talk about any episode shown previously unless it's new or specifically worth mentioning..

First, I want to talk about the adaptation of the hilariously deceptive 'Lum becomes a cow' chapter. Let's be honest, this is hands down the funniest AtaLum chapter of all time and it looks like the remake is making the AtaLum moments in this one extra dramatic (they even added rain for more effect!) just so the final payoff would hit us in the most hilarious way possible (unless those bits are from something else but I doubt it). AtaLum enjoyers (me included) are being really well fed this cour, huh?

I don't know where these and a few others come from (please tell me if you know!!). I'm guessing the fourth one might be from the chapter about Ryu's mom since it was already confirmed previously and the montage looks like a flashback with lot of beach vibes but I might be wrong. The Kotatsu Neko one might come from the Kitsune (fox) chapter with the photo and camera since I remember a similar scene which looks like that shot, but again I might be wrong. There are a few other scenes as well (Onsen-mark getting hit, Ten hanging from a tree and such). Maybe they're anime original scenes? Who knows, but we'll know sooner enough...

That's really all I have to say anything new about the PV, everything else are chapters I've already pointed out. That aside I do have to give props to how absolutely gorgeous everything looks as well as the fluid animation. The above shot of Lum and Ten sleeping is so pretty!! There are others but there's too many to count and it's obvious which all they are. I also like how Inaba's bunny realm looks and I'm also in love with AtaLum's outfit colorings for their 'date' in the electric jungle arc, they're kinda caramel coded!! Speaking of AtaLum, the PV also showed a lot of their key moments which surprised me since I though they'd keep those a secret till the episode airs, but to be fair, it's only bits and it did end up making the PV a bit emotional.. :')

(I had space for one more image till I hit Tumblr's limit so here, have an Inaba coming out of a trash can. He looks so proud of himself XD)

Anyways, that's all for now. This cour seems to be very AtaLum focused, to the point where the OP and ED album cover arts have both Lum and Ataru in it!! But it still has other fun storylines as well and I'm excited for all the episodes, may it be big or small. There's one week left and we'll probably get next weeks episode titles on Tuesday (as how it always is). One more week, here we go!!!

[veradragonjedi]

@airlocksandaviaries

Something about Luke being the spitting image of his father

[wyntereyez]

I'm going to talk about Holiday Matsuri before I forget everything.

I found out about the convention at nearly the last minute, probably due to deleting my Twitter account, so I didn't see Neil announce he was going. Since I hadn't seen Neil since MegaCon in February, I was excited. He was going to be near me again! The tricky part was that it was the weekend before Christmas, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to get time off my retail job. However, I was prepared to call in sick if needed, because after the hellish holiday months, I deserved this.

Turns out, I didn't have to call off. Which was kind of disappointing. So much for my small act of rebellion.

I was able to attend Friday (I just worked five hours in the morning) and Saturday, which I had off. So I planned to get some ops and autos with other guests on Friday, and devote Saturday to Neil's line.

Due to CIRCUMSTANCES, it was nearly a disaster. I ended up still being in the looooong registration line about ten minutes before my first photo op. I may have been panicking a bit. By which I mean, a lot. Fortunately, one of the staff was going down the lines doing arm bands to save time, and when I explained my situation, he told me to go up to a desk, and they took care of me. So, now it was five minutes to my op, and I hadn't had any time to figure out where anything was. A staffer showed me on a map - but it ended up being a different photo room from the actual celebrity ops. Those were on the complete opposite end of the convention center from where I was.

And the convention center is huge. I was sweating by the time I actually got to the right place, with a lovely glistening face and frizzy hair. Joy. But I'd made it.

My first photo op was with Maggie Robertson, Resident Evil Village's Lady Dimitrescu herself, as well as Baldur's Gate 3's Orin the Red.

I was the only one in line for her.

I was also the only one for the following photo op, which was an RE Village op with both Maggie and Neil.

Maggie asked if I was there for RE or BG3, and I told her both, which seemed to delight her since she'd mostly been encountering BG3 fans.

After we took the photo, Neil was brought in for the RE op, asked if I wanted RE or BG3, and when I said Resident Evil, he immediately started doing Heisenberg lines while Maggie just elegantly loomed over us (she's tall, and Neil was crouching). It was hilarious!

Once I'd finished, I immediately went to Theo Solomon's autograph line. He saw me wearing a Legend of Zelda shirt, which I'd joked was appropriate for a holiday convention because it was green and Link is elf-adjacent, and we talked about those games for a couple minutes. I also thanked him for coming to another American convention, because he's done very few of them compared to the others. For my autograph, I picked the gorgeous art print he had of Wyll, and admitted that I thought Wyll looked really good with the horns. Theo agreed. (Look, the circumstances about how he got them sucks, but he did look good, okay?)

I then went to Maggie's line and selected a Lady D print that matched a Heisenberg print I had. There was an option for Maggie to draw her special Vampy doodle for an extra $10, but I was spending enough as it was, so I just went with the regular signature. Maggie warned me she liked to deface herself in prints with her photo, and asked if that was okay - I was fine with that - and she went to town on the print. And drew the Vampy I didn't pay for. Oops.

For our table selfie, she directed me through a variety of poses, and it turns out I will in fact let Lady Dimitrescu boss me around with no question. LOL.

And that was my first day.

On Saturday, I'd arrived early, intending to secure a good place in Neil's autograph line. And I would have been third in line, but there was a snag - they weren't letting people hold places in line for photo ops unless you had someone else actually, physically there with you to hold your spot. I had a photo op with Neil, and autographs didn't start until after the photos, so I would have ended up waiting four hours only to lose my spot.

Yeah, not happening. I'd take my chances and get in the auto line after my photo. But that freed me up for the BG3 panel!

There was already a line for that, even though it wasn't for another hour and a half. So I sat down in line and made myself comfortable and sat on my foot, which fell asleep.

Deeply asleep.

When the line started moving, I stood up, took a step, and promptly fell, scaring the hell out of some volunteers. I got up, then fell again. It's like my foot just wasn't there. So now I had some lovely bruises on my knees, and my hand somehow, and some freaked out staff. (I'm fine besides the bruises; I just didn't give myself any time to get feeling back in my foot because I didn't want to hold up the line.)

I got great seats for the panel, though.

They didn't cover any new ground; they'd been doing panels for about a year now, and mostly this was the panelists having fun and the moderator, Wee Claire, doing her best cat wrangler act.

She tried to bring them out one by one, but when she got to Jen and Aliona, Jen had Maggie's hand and Maggie was pulling Neil behind her.

They tried to start with a lightning round with fast, short answers (the other guests all turned to Neil here, LOL!)

Things we actually learned:

Ranch ornaments are a thing

Wee Clair doesn't like Ranch, which caused Dev and Jen to walk off stage in a huff

Neil is BAD at answering questions where you're supposed to choose between two things without thinking about it. (For example, Wee Clair asked for them to choose between Christmas sweaters and Christmas pajamas. Everyone else snapped off an answer. Neil seemed at a loss, then defended that he doesn't wear either. He continued to be bad at this game.)

The cat that Astarion was based on passed away. Apparently, he was old; he'd been a neighborhood stray for 15-20 years, so he'd had a long life of mooching off his various families!

Wee Claire said she'd read Neil would have been happy to play a goblin in a tavern if it meant he could be involved in BG3. She then asked him to act out a goblin character, which she named Kevin.

My Neil photo op was next. The line was pleasant, because we all shared common interests, obviously. The woman ahead of me was going to do a Y'allstarion op, and had brought a cowboy hat to give to Neil if he wanted it.

When I saw him wear the hat in her op, I realized I had a dire need to also get a pic with him in the hat. So I did. No regrets.

And then came the autograph line. We'd been assured that Neil had gotten faster, and the line did seem to progress pretty well. I think I was in it about three hours? Still long, but nowhere near what his waits had been.

When I got up there, I included my internet handle as well as my name, because I wanted to see if Neil continued to ignore my real name and call me wynter.

Blue Owlz Medic was sitting next to him, chatting with everyone waiting, and to my surprise, she recognized my name! I wasn't aware I was that visible, yikes?

And then it was my turn for an auto. Neil was once again very polite when he introduced himself, then he looked down at the little post-it with my name and immediately recognized my handle. He remembered that he'd seen me somewhere earlier this year, though not where (I'd seen him at MegaCon), and then broke my brain because he thought I was one of his mods.

How... how am I so visible he thought I was a MOD?! I'd considered applying, but decided against it because I'd never been a mod before and that would be an overwhelming community to start with. But it sounds like I would have had a chance to get a position because they 'know' me?!

Halp.

Neil and Blue both thanked me for my contributions to the community (halp?) then I got my table selfie. And Neil asked if he could hug me. I've never had to ask him for a hug, but I've gotten hugs every time I've seen him.

And that was my Christmas present to myself. I managed to accomplish a lot in two days!

And that was basically it for me. There was a search for an Astarion charm that I saw next to Blue; someone had given it to her and I had a DIRE NEED for one.

[xcerizex]

Lovebrush Chronicles: Godheim Review

My very long, informal, and definitely biased review. This will contain minor spoilers for the Godheim arc only so take caution. This review is also only limited to the Godheim series so there will be no overall thoughts on the game itself. I followed Otome Kitten's format and I really hope it helps out any beginners to LBC.

ART:

I found the art very pretty and was extremely glad to see that they did not skip out on giving us CGs either! The sprites all looked good, but I personally have some issues with Lars' outfit (the orange did not look good on you sweetie 💀).

Not all CGs are drawn by the same artist however, which may be off putting for some. The total count number of proper CG's for each route (not including common route) boils down to around 4-5, so that also may be a pet peeve for some.

On another note, there are also mini CG's which appear as small boxes, whether you consider it as an actual CG is up to you. Personally, I enjoyed the roles they played towards aiding the narrative.

Unrelated note, I'm banging on the floor crying and wondering who the hell did Ayn's CGs (the one where he was cleaning his sword was my absolute favorite 😍) and why didn't they come back.

MUSIC:

If there's one aspect of the game that I shall praise to the ends of the earth, it's the music.

Colour me shocked when I listened to the intricate and deep soundtracks for the first time, they just took my breath away! There were many gorgeous orchestral scores that depicted the fantasy setting perfectly. Not to mention the battle ost's which had more effort put into them than necessary.

My personal favorite OST's would be the "River's End", and "Starry Sky", which plays the same tune as the OP song you hear when you log onto the game. It's honestly so iconic. 😭👌

Opening theme:

VOICE ACTING:

I was absolutely flummoxed by the stacked japanese voice cast, which all included extremely famous seiyuus from the otome industry:

1. Ayn Alwyn

[JP VA: KENN]: Shelby Snail (Cupid Parasite), Yukimaro (9R.I.P), Limbo (Bustfellows)

2. Alkaid McGrath

[JP VA: Tachibana Shinnosuke]: Seiya (9R.I.P), Henri (Piofiore), Rafayel (Love and Deepspace)

3. Lars Rorschach

[JP VA: Junichi Suwabe]: Artem (Tears of Themis), Van Helsing (Code: Realize), Sukuna (Jujutsu Kaisen)

4. Clarence Clayden

[JP VA: Kosuke Toriumi]: Rei Mukuni (CollarXMalice), Ichiya (Variable Barricade), Chojiro (Nightshade)

5. Cael Anselm

[JP VA: Daisuke Hirakawa]: Saint Germain (Code: Realize), Tower Overlord (Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk), Lucas Proust (Virche Evermore)

COMMON ROUTE:

To my delight, the pacing was done very well. Nothing was dragged out and the introduction to the overall plot of the game was well established minus a certain plot point which definitely could have benefited better by being introduced in the common route itself.

I didn't really expect it to turn out as dark as it did however. The common route + modern prologue took me around a total estimation of more than 4 hours but in reality the prologue itself shouldn't take that long at all.

ROUTE ORDER:

Once you've completed the common route, you are given the option to start either Ayn's or Alkaid's route. After you've completed both, Lars' route is unlocked. And once you've finished all three routes, Clarence's route unlocks as the grand finale.

This was my personal playthrough and I wouldn't have changed it if given the chance. I believe it had the best flow of story progression. Though that was mainly because I wouldn't have enjoyed Alkaid's route as much if I'd played Ayn's first:

Alkaid = Ayn = Lars = Clarence

____________________________________

AYN ALWYN:

- Crown Prince of Godheim

- Tsundere

- Sweet tooth ❤️

Ayn is Lars's cousin, but you soon find out that there is not a hint of familial love between them. He shows up as a mysterious figure during the common route and portrays a conflicting character, making the heroine unsure of his standing. While he appears blunt and crude, he is a determined young man who's sworn vengeance, and with an unexpected love for sweets.

Ayn's route in my opinion had the best consistent pacing as well as romance. I did find the romance somewhat abrupt early in the story, but the strong chemistry between him and the heroine more than made up for it! 🥰 It was just so enjoyable to watch them banter with one another and watching them just click.

I enjoyed the storyline for this route a lot and I think it had something to do with the fact that Ayn's route provided a different perspective in comparison to the others. In this route, we learn more about the the political situation surrounding Godheim and the royal family.

I also loved Ayn as a character, and not unexpectedly became my oshi ❤️.I do think a lot of people will enjoy him as a love interest. His route also has a wee bit of spice 👀, so for y'all thirsty gamers be sure to savor it slowly, as it's the only bit of spice we're getting here lmao. I did find some of his actions, mostly in the bad ends, to be OOC, but I easily brushed it off seeing as how much I liked him.

ALKAID MCGRATH:

- Member of the Noventrate

- Good, sweet boi

- Tea

Devoted and caring, Alkaid is the mage assigned to guard the heroine during her stay in Godheim. He's always expressing his concern for the heroine and will do anything to help her, even if it means betraying his mission.

Alkaid is the character who the heroine interacts the most during the common route. His romance with the heroine was sweet, even if it did feel way over the top in it's initial stages when I first played it. But once I got to learn more about him, I realized that he truly just wanted the best for the heroine, romantic feelings aside. 🥺

The route was fine. But I personally wasn't the biggest fan of the direction (?) it took on halfway. Some parts of it felt irrational to me and didn't really feel like it had any real relevance to its own story.

On another note, Alkaid is such a dreamy man. 😩 I adore just how respectful of a man he is in general (women respect juice, bottoms up!), and it was so sweet how attentive he was in making sure the heroine was always out of harm's way. I guess you could say he was someone akin to a hero in fairytales.

LARS RORSCHACH:

- Emperor of Godheim

- Good at combing hair 🥰

- That chest doe 👀

Known as the "Tyrant Emperor" from the heroine's manga, he immediately sweeps her off her feet, claiming her as his bride the moment she first arrived at Godheim. While his initial impression was flirty and playful, he lives up to his name as a cold-blooded tyrant. For some aspects at least.

His route focused more on the Silver Knight, which was the main (and wrong) reason why I enjoyed his route so much! 😆 On that note, I think that the writers had a bone to pick with Lars. They just had to force him to share the spotlight with an intriguing side character lmfao. The route itself was paced and executed well for the majority, but the quality of the writing towards the end was slightly skewered.

But to be honest, I quite enjoyed Lars a lot as a character, rather than a love interest. It was interesting to see the conditions surrounding his birth as a tyrant and his motivations for his questionable actions.

That's not to say that the romance wasn't enjoyable. I actually quite liked the relationship between him and the heroine. I found some moments they shared together really sweet. I also adored the development of Lars' feelings, and you can see just how important the heroine's existence was to him at the end of the route.

Though I guess I would have found the romance more believable if the heroine articulated her feelings for Lars more. I found it difficult to see the romance from her side. In short, the romance wasn't it's strongest point.

Clarence Clayden:

- Godheim's Archmage

- Get the tissues

- I've never been the same since...

Clarence has somewhat poised himself as an antagonist, only giving leeway in Lars' route. Distant and cold, he is stubborn in wanting to use the heroine for his goal and is willing to sacrifice anything to achieve it.

This route was an emotional rollercoaster. It broke me down, dumped my heart 6ft underground, trampled on its grave, and then some. It left me broken for a whole week for real goodness gracious...😭

This route can probably considered the "True Route", seeing as how it tackles the problem straight on unlike in other routes. The pacing slows down a little bit for a few chapters, but once it picked itself back up, it picked up HARD.

Now let's get to the romance. Out of all routes, some may say it had the least sugary romance, and a part of me agrees. But do igaf? No! ❤️Clarence turned out to be such a longingly sweet character and despite all the harm and pain he's done, I have no qualms in forgiving him and wanting to love him with all my heart🥺, as does the heroine.

I honestly don't want to say too much as it may ruin the experience. I went into this route completely blind and boy was I glad. All I can say that this route was the most popular out of all the routes for good reason. Got me playing up to 2 am with no regrets.😆😭

CAEL ANSELM:

- The Silver Knight

- The bias wrecker

- The sus

- He ruined me...

He is known in Godheim as the Silver Knight as well as the leader of the Rebellion. Decisive and apathetic, the heroine is unable to affect him emotionally in any form.🤡

Cael does not have an actual route, but a personal story, labeled as Expedition from his POV which may serve as an epilogue to the Godheim series. In his story, any unanswered questions are explained here, as well as the many actions he took that did not make it on screen.

If this wasn't a review I'd spend one whole section brainrotting about him so be grateful I'm trying to keep this short. 😅 Cael is a surprisingly interesting character by nature and it was very liberating to finally get a glimpse of his true feelings and thoughts throughout the heroine's journey in Godheim.

I'm scared to say more in case it may ruin any surprises. In my opinion, I enjoyed his story a LOT! It definitely made me feel depressed and empty in its own way and it hurts my heart to see that he never got a route of his own for reasons I won't get into right now. Absolutely amazing and one of my favorite parts of the Godheim series!

_________________________________________

TRUE EPILOGUE:

Once you've finished all routes, the game will give you the option to choose one "True Ending", wherein you choose one of the boys to have a happily ever after with and by your own accord.

"One can only paint a world in which they believe in." 🥰

Please note that you can only choose one boy at a time. Your choice will then give you a Pictura based on which boy you choose.

To change your "True Ending", buy the Diadem from the shop to change your choice. You will not receive a different Pictura however.

I think the best thing about these endings were the music.😆 Each soundtrack was unique to each character and drop dead gorgeous to listen to. 😩

HEROINE (LITTLE PAINTER):

- Cheeky

- Anonymous manga author

- Needs a therapist (rly tho)

Despite China's strange attempts at creating self-insert heroines by leaving them nameless, the Little Painter was far from a blank slate! She's extremely relatable when it comes to her reactions and actions. Often times I would react a certain way to something an LI said or did, only for her to do the same thing! 🤣 I guess that could also count as a self-insert personality.

But if there's one thing I admire her greatly for, it would be her drive and determination to save Godheim. Her journey was far from easy and I doubt I could ever stay sane the way she did. Tbh, I didn't like the fact that her sufferings were never truly addressed properly, or rather, professionally ig?

I also found her quick adaptation and flexibility to her new environment extremely impressive. That goes the same to the way she wielded her powers for the first time. And how she grew stronger to go head to toe with even Clarence in his own route! You👏 Go👏Get👏 Em👏 Girl!

That said, she's not perfect. Some people found her to pushy and annoying though I personally found it okay. I was really glad how she didn't force herself to tolerate any crap and got that anger out rightfully.😆 (Asmoran deserved it...)

_________________________________________

Final Thoughts:

I have enjoyed my journey immensely! The whole premise and setting drew me in, and I was surprised with the impressive narration which absolutely pummeled me to the ground (mostly on Clarence's route and no I'm not shutting up abt that).

The localization was also really superb? Yes it had a few typos + mistakes here and there, but they really pulled out all the stops when it came to making the dialogue natural and relatable. Not to mention a few large words that even I don't understand. 😂

It's not without it's imperfections of course. There are definitely some issues with the writing. And if you're looking for heavy romance or even fluff, Godheim is not the place to go to. 😅

Playing the Godheim arc took me about a week-ish, considering I had to level up and such. It may be a tedious process for some, but for me, it was an iron gate which I violently shook every day, screaming for the next chapter.

All in all, it's definitely worth playing! You don't lose much anyway considering it's free, so just give it a try. You can always drop it if you don't like it. My rating for this game is also very much biased and should not be taken seriously:

8/10

[nijigasakilove]

Love and Basketball: The Anime 😂 this one has been hyped for such a long time and after the first episode, I completely understand why it has so many fans. Telecom delivered one of the most visually pleasing shows of the year. Gorgeous art and designs really and that Higedan OP as usual bangs. Really eating good with anisong this season.

As a basketball lover it’s cool seeing a love interest who’s pursuing her goals in the sport as well. Chinatsu is not just eye candy, I can tell she has a lot to her that I’m looking forward to seeing explored. Mad respect for her being the first to arrive and last to leave everyday in the gym. Mamba mentality.

I remember seeing panels of this on Twitter a while ago and thinking to myself how tf is this shonen and not shoujo, but after the Hina fanservice shots and seeing how it focuses on Taiki yea it makes sense lol. Still, there’s been some good shonen romances of late so I got high hopes for this one. Hina is really cute too, both girls just seem great so far.

The last 5 minutes of twists were so well done I was genuinely caught off guard. The animation of Taiki running to the gym to convince Chinatsu not to go overseas was sooo good, but the coolest part of that scene is how we don’t even realise the impact the smallest things we say to people can have. Here he is thinking he needed to convince her to stay and his passing comment about seeing how hard she worked and how hurt she was about nationals is what saved her. She’d already chosen!

I went in completely blind so the reveal that Chinatsu would be staying with Taiki and his mom actually had me saying wtf lol. I’m not the biggest fan of this gimmick but we’ll see how it goes!

[sol-dial]

: D

I see that and i give you 3490 natasha stark’s supervillain origin story - wherein civil war was avoided but steve d*es anyway. 

you cant convice me that tasha stark wont go apeshit if her husbands gets k-worded in front of her

also on twitter

[fallloverfic]

Thoughts on Solo Leveling Episode 6: The Real Hunt Begins

Excellent ep!!! Spoilery thoughts for the anime, novel, and manhwa before Ragnarok below, also CW: blood, murder

The OP is still so good. Between Studio PPURI's animation and the song, just ahhh. I'm so excited for the Igris fight in the show T-T

Oooh more Go Gunhee and Woo Jinchul! It's fun to see how much more they're showing up, even more than in the manhwa! Jinchul looks really nice.

lakjdalj I know when Jinchul says, "Would it be all right if I asked for a bit of instruction? . . . It might be the kind of change of pace you need, too." (smile) he's saying, "let's spar" (it's a martial arts thing), but alkdjlaj I love this addition to the cute flirtiness of their relationship. It's very sweet. The novel gave us Gunhee asking Jinchul out for drinks, and now Jinchul is like, "let's spar :3". It's so cute.

Jinwoo v the dungeon boss is pretty cool. It's neat to see Jinwoo move so much, and the animation is gorgeous.

Jinwoo's jacket is giving me Seragaki Aoba DRAMAtical Murder vibes with its ridiculously wide collar lol (Doesn't help they're both that same bright blue).

Gunhee's fond gaze as he faces Jinchul :3 Also it's neat to see Gunhee fight. We're not getting to the Frost Monarch this season, so it's a nice little preview of hopefully future seasons.

They're so cute T-T

Jinwoo sadly accepting he'll get betrayed T-T He's so used to it T-T And Jinho standing by him!!! Love He :3 Even Jinwoo is like : D Jinho still calling him bro, bless.

O.O Park Heejin, Gina, and Lee Bora (had to look her up, since she's a manhwa-original character, and I believe only actually named in Arise) know each other??? And Gina is wearing normal clothes before reincarnation timeline??? Marvels, all!!! And they know Iron??? (And of course he's still a dick lol) This is so nice :3 Folks know each other :3 It's really wonderful world expansion.

Jinwoo with his necromancy shadow energy already, looks beautiful.

The song during the Lizards fight section (Dark Aria &lt;LV2> by Hiroyuki Sawano, lyrics by Benjamin) is gorgeous. I don't know why tumblr is screwing up the formatting here. The link works. It just looks bad.

Jinwoo using dash to appear in front of Kyuhwan was an amazing bit of animation that was honestly terrifying alkdjlaj His face alkdjalj It's terror time, indeed.

Bye Dongsuk. Aww, poor Jinho, just getting nearly murdered and traumatized a dozen times, but hey, you get a sugar baby out of it kind of, so win-win?

I feel like learning a bunch of people died is the really wrong time to geek out over armor releases.

And a little peek of Dongsoo. Bleh.

Wonderful episode :3 Loved all the stuff they added! This series continues to feel like really fun fanfiction in all the best ways. The animation was beautiful! The music was great! Jinwoo is going through so many discoveries and revelations and realizing how confining and horrifying the system is in new ways, and Jinho is having all sorts of discoveries of his own. Can't wait until S01E07.

More episode thoughts:

Season 1: Episode 5, Episode 6 (you are here), Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10, Episode 11, Episode 12

Season 2: Episode 13, Episode 14, Episode 15, Episode 16, Episode 17, Episode 18, Episode 19, Episode 20, Episode 21, Episode 22, Episode 23, Episode 24, Episode 25

Where to read Solo Leveling by Chugong in English:

Novel: Yen Press (ebook, physical book, audiobook), Tapas

Manhwa adaptation by Dubu: Yen Press/Ize Press (ebook, physical book), Tapas, Tappytoon

Ragnarok (sequel novel written by a different author): Tapas

Ragnarok manhwa adaptation (drawn by a different artist): Tapas

The Solo Leveling anime adaptation is available on Crunchyroll. Solo Leveling: Arise, the video game, is free to play and available on PC and as an app via netmarble.

[mental-mario]

My WONDERFUL Diagnoses

Hey friends! I hope you enjoyed reading about my experience in the mental hospital. Next time I will have to get myself thrown into solitary so I can recount what that's like as well! I went for a follow-up with psych the other day, and he threw a couple more diagnoses in my hat. I thought it would be fun, if you humor me for a moment, for me to list my ongoing disorders in alphabetical order!

Feel free to sing along and list yours in the comments!

Antisocial Personality Disorder (except for you fine folks!)

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Binge Eating Disorder

Bipolar II ("can't rule out")

Borderline Personality Disorder

Cannabis Use Disorder (not a disorder!)

Major Depressive Disorder

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Oppositional Defiant Disorder

Substance Abuse Disorder

So looks like we're up to 10 and counting! I'm sorry if there's any of you I'm forgetting. I'll be sure to give you a shout out as well!

Now, onto my uber mega important review of SMB Wonder! It's late, but that is because it's far more prestigious than any of these so-called "professional" outfits!

I'm reminded of the phrase "an elephant never forgets," and Elephant Mario (or character of your choice) does indeed make for an unforgettable experience! Yes, this is another positive review, and if you happen to think the game sucks, you're wrong.

I don't think I have heard or seen a negative comment about this game, aside of some complaints about the frequency of the talking flower, but Nintendo did give the option to shut the voice off. For me, it isn't a big deal, and I actually enjoy it for the most part.

It really can't be said enough just how beautiful and vibrant this game is. The art is gorgeous, and the animation blows me away! I particularly love the different animations for entering/exiting the warp pipes, and I also love the attention to small details, such as the use of both hands alternating when throwing fireballs. The various facial expressions throughout the game also really help bring it to life.

If I had to provide any critiques, it would really be nitpicking. I guess maybe if Prince Florian could remind us about 100 more times that we can change badges by pressing R, maybe then I would remember...seriously though, I wouldn't mind having up to 6 players for co-op, some of the Wonder scenes are a bit repetitive, showing practically the same theme of effects in different courses. I might've liked more variety of power-ups, but again, nitpicking. I would also love to change the entire button mapping to suit playing with other controllers, but that's a complaint I have with many Switch games. I mean, why sell the retro controllers and make it so I can't use them?!

I love that the game moves so fluidly, even in multiplayer. I like that the game doesn't hiccup when a player dies, gets hit, or gets a power-up. I love that the game has accessibly easy courses for my kids to play along, but also some legit challenging 4 and 5 star courses for more experienced old grizzled vets like myself (not to mention the secret exits and courses). I also like the star rating system for each course's difficulty. It is also rather funny, and my family and I were hysterical plenty of times throughout the campaign. I think the piranha plant parade deserves its own spin-off!

Finally, I absolutely love the online mode. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it, but it really works. It can be toggled on/off with a quick pause of the game, and I think having shadows of other players only added to my experience. I would've liked to see some more emojis to communicate a bit more with others, but I am happy to see that I didn't experience any latency or slow-down with the online play. The heart point system for reviving players, sharing a saved power-up, and reaching the goal concurrently also makes for some nice feels, especially when playing solo late at night and feeling lonely while smashing a full family sized box of Pop Tarts. I regret nothing! I recall having one spot in particular where I was stumped and threw the question mark above my head, and someone else immediately ran over and mimed what I should do. It worked, and that was an awesome feeling! That and having someone else share a power-up with me made me feel like somebody cares and that I'm not alone, and I've actually been able to friend a lot of the players I've encountered!

In conclusion, you couldn't wipe the smile off my face while playing, especially in that first hour that I was playing it for the first time when it dropped at midnight, and putting that smile on faces is exactly what SMB is about. I've heard a lot of comparisons to Mario World. I don't know if I would go that far, but I do recommend playing the game with the SNES controller if you have it. That controller is still the best of all time, but that's for another post!

Please tip your blogger. My psychiatrist is worried about me, and I could use the help! Besides, I have to buy the family a new box of Pop Tarts! And be sure to friend me on Switch so we can play some online races and campaign together as well! I'd love to get a whole party going online. Then I can feel like I've got real friends while also being able to cater to my introverted ways and bounce if I need to! I'll try not to do that to you, though! It would be nice to play with each other for once, instead of the usual playing with myself...

Friend code is: SW - 4419 - 5159 - 3401

[glassmarcus]

UI Overlord

So after going through the Kingdom Hearts games again, I've been thinking a lot about menus. Mainly what percentage of a game can I handle being comprised of navigating menus. And I'm gonna cut to the chase and say that my conclusion was that the percentage doesn't matter at all. Navigating menus actually rules as long as the menu is worth navigating.

I've found that a good menu is either extremely complex or extremely simple. Look at the first Kingdom Hearts game for a perfect example. There are 4 options and 3 drop downs. That's it. In fact it’s so lean that it expects you to play an action game while navigating the menu in real time. Secondary actions such as using items, magic, and summons are done though menu navigation. Simplicity breeds brevity, and Kingdom Hearts keeps it simple so that you spend as little time in a menu as possible. And this isn't cutting out the fat, this is turning menu navigation into an entirely new layer of challenge in a way that Active Time Battles were never able to do. Active Time Battles are basically normal turn based battles that replace turns with cool down timers added to any character action. I've always disliked them because they add unnecessary stress in a way I don’t find all that engaging. I find no pleasure in navigating a menu quickly if that's the only thing I'm doing, so I'd rather just sit still and play at my own pace. The menu in Kingdom Hearts acts as a way to do non standard actions in combat as opposed to being the sole interface in the game, hence why I’m perfectly content with how it is implemented.

Navigating menus is not stimulating, at least not for me. Thinking is stimulating, which is why I love complex ones as well, as they show you a myriad of options to solve any problem thrown your way. Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories has more of a rolodex instead of a traditional menu, which isn't any more or less complicated than the original. The complexity comes from the deck builder outside of combat. This is the actual fun part of the game. The combat is just executing on a gameplan you decided on before the encounter started. Ordering cards in the perfect sequence and predicting where the cards will be positioned later in a fight. That's the good stuff and it's certainly better than playing the actual game.

What does this have to do with Unicorn Overlord, the 2024 Vanillaware developed strategy RPG? Well, in Unicorn Overlord, the menu IS the game. It's got wonderful art, charming writing, and a simple yet engaging story, but if you look at its body composition it is like 80% menu. Setting up your party of 50 soldiers is done through a menu. Customizing your character's actions for specific scenarios is done through a menu. Positioning your units before a skirmish is done through a menu. You can explore the overworld to your heart's content, watch the gorgeous fights play out, and view a few cutscenes every now and again, but it won't be long until you return to the warm nutritious bosom of the unit editing menu. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

What separates Unicorn Overlord from a lot of RPGs I've experienced is that you don't play as individual characters, but multiple groups of characters. You normally expect to control a single party of colorful protagonist, or in a lot of SRPG’s cases, multiple individual characters. Unicorn Overlord does both, having you build multiple RPG parties that you can control on a field. I found that the core joy in this game was constantly tweaking my units so that they synergize perfectly. I've always enjoyed doing this with a single party in games, so it's not surprising that doing it with 10 parties gets a little addicting. It’s fun forming a team built for a specific niche and tunnel visioning them into a special ops unit. It's fun getting all the characters you find aesthetically congruent into a squad and making then work. If fun making the most busted all purpose posse you can make. And a big part of that fun is that it lets you use its large cast of wonderful characters instead of letting them rot in the reserves.

I've talked a bit in the past about RPG party structure and I how I prefer all characters be involved in some way rather than being benched for the whole adventure. The way Overlord gets around this is by just having a large amount of those characters be playable at once. There are 10 parties of 5 characters you'll end up making by the end of the game. This means most units are gonna see some action as there are only like 60 unique characters you’ll end up recruiting. I say ‘only’ as if that's not a huge amount, but it really doesn't feel that way. You're never overwhelmed by choices in party members. As you get more available slots for your initially small roster, there will continually be a few characters left out of fray. Every new unit you get and every new slot for your party you unlock makes you rethink your team’s composition and your ability to do so slowly grows. You'll steadily end up managing dozens of characters, eventually building parties not only by battle strength but character affinity as well.

Each character has their own social link with any other character. This link is built up through having them fight in the same squad and dine together (a completely optional mechanic that allows the artist of this game to flex their ability to draw mouth watering food). As the social links build, you unlock buffs to show how your characters are now working with each other more effectively. They unlock scenes which you can find on the map that show off that individual character dynamic. Basically, it's Xenoblade Chronicles, but with 10 times the amount of party characters. And just like in Xenoblade you can track the affection of every character through a large yet easy to navigate menu. Everything in this game is pulled together through menus. I don't really have a larger point than that, I just think it's neat how engaging menus can be. Probably didn’t need to write that much about Kingdom Hearts in the beginning. They’re really only superficially connected. This write up is a mess.

A few more things I wanna mention about this game. For as much of it is quality menus, its time spent being interactive gameplay is just as good. There's a solid gameplay loop in exploring the continents, finding new villages, saving villages from enemies through missions, foraging for materials to give to the villages, and repeating the process until the whole nation is prosperous. On map enemy encounters are also fun because they introduce a way to gain experience and practice without doing missions.

The story is not 13 Sentinels tier. Few things are. But it's satisfactory for what it is going for. It's a simple fantasy narrative, with great voice acting and it is easy to get attached to characters. And boy these characters all have banger designs. Not a single miss. Especially Selphie, Rosalinde and Yunifi, a trio of girls which mark so many of my boxes it's kind of eerie. There's something for everyone here, and most of them aren't extremely horny. There's clearly restraint taken. Though if you are a degenerate, you will be served as this is still Vanillaware we’re talking about. I really want to go back and play their entire ludography one day, because they seem to just never miss.

[curestardust]

Dust Watched: Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2

Genres: Shounen, Action TW: body horror // 23 episodes // S01 (x) M01 (x)

GodDAMN!

✧  story  ✧

Season 1 of Jujutsu Kaisen starts out with about 5 episodes covering the "Hidden Inventory" arc which is a flashback to Gojou and Getou's time as students and the events that lead to them being who they are in the present. While this arc is loosely connected with the rest of the show, it sets a tone for the rest of the season. As opposed to Season 1 which played around mostly with the hallmarks of Shounens that are more comedy and combat centric with low-stakes due to it being the introduction to the series, this season goes absolute balls to the wall from the get-go.

Both "Hidden Inventory" and the following "Shibuya Incident" arc, which the rest of the season covers are grim, brutal, bloody, and unforgiving. Plot armour? Forget it. This is an outright war. People die and the next second we're already back to fighting because otherwise, they're next.

I'll honestly say, that no anime had me literally on the edge of my seat almost every episode in a LONG time. 90% of this entire season are high intensity fights with high-stakes. Although, exhaustion does seep in near the end of the anime. We spend a tad bit too much time with the same characters fighting the same enemy in the same (bland) location. But aside from that, and a very few slightly weaker episodes, this season was absolutely top notch.

✧  characters  ✧

I don't have much to say here as everyone is an established character. Character progression and introspection does happen to a few characters but I don't want to name names cause even that could be a spoiler.

✧  art  ✧

I think we all know about the unfortunate conditions that were revealed to be happening at MAPPA. It was noticable in some episodes but especially the last few that aired after the news came out. However, any quality drop is the fault of the higher-ups and NOT the animators. The stuff the team put out with JJKS02 is absolutely phenomenal. The OPs themselves will probably go down as some of the best in the 2000s. Throughout the anime itself, the use of colours was gorgeous and the amount of insane fight scenes is mindboggling. Honestly just... I've no words.

✧  sound ✧

Besides the obvious bangers for the OP/EDs and the OST, I really want to shout out the sfx team. That scene where the sound of the shower slowly morphs into the sound of clapping literally gave me goosebumps (because I suffer from a mild form of psychosis and this is LITERALLY what it's like and I've never seen it shown this accurately.)

I didn't know where to put this but I also absolutely need to mention the way they set up the atmosphere. Some scenes were near psychological horror levels of suspenseful. I loooooved it.

✧  overview ✧

Season 2 of JJK had a great start, an insane middle, and very slight decline in the end. If the final fight with a certain someone was cut short by maybe 1-2 episodes, I think the pacing would've been much better. Still, what a ride this was, and the set-up for S03 is looking insane already. (Just treat your staff as damn human beings MAPPA, jesus christ.)

My Rating: 9.5/10