#Mal is cool and all but a change in protagonist is nice

[clonedchaos]

Am I seriously one of the few people on the internet that actually liked Descendants: Rise of Red??? 😭😭😭

I keep seeing ppl hate on it. And, like, that’s their opinion… But I wanna know why. Bc all I’m really hearing is it’s mostly bc the OG four aren’t in the movie. And like… isn’t that the point? That it’s a new story with new adventures and characters?

[asteria-in-your-area]

In defence of Alina (and some others)

I don’t know if this opinion is controversial or not, but here we go: stop hating on Alina for having chosen Mal over the Darkling and Nikolai. Right of the bat I want to say, I am not hating on any of the characters, just discussing.

Alina has always insisted that she does not want to be involved in any of the big events, her dream was to settle down with her childhood friend.

AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT! There is nothing wrong with choosing to step back. You would argue that Mal was being a d*ck and played with her. Well, news everyone, the fact that the Darkling said some nice formulated sentences that sound poetic does not make him any less of a d*ck. That’s his character and it’s logical for him to do that, but don’t blame it on Alina for not being like 90% of the YA female protagonists and being blinded by the bad boy’s power and looks, for using her brain. I think Bardugo made a really sensible decision not making Alina fall helplessly in love with the Darkling as this shows that you can be the main character and still not “sacrifice your feelings in the name of the greater good” (honestly most of the times is just the girl putting some stupid obstacles and just throwing one big tantrum). They always say: “Ah, I wish I was normal, I wish I had a simple life, please pity me”. But when they really can choose it, they are like: “Oh, no, I can’t step back, I will let down so many people” (I am talking about you Mare Barrow, but that is for another time). But Alina chose the simpler life with her best friend, who isn’t the perfect book boyfriend everyone wants, but is a realistic man with his own feeling and priorities other than y/n. EVERYONE, THAT’S A REALISTIC RELATIONSHIP. Not everything is perfect, but it works and they are generally happy. That’s the most you could ever realistically want. I think female authors should stop writing those perfect boys who will do anything for the girl, because it sets unrealistic standards. We all fight for changing the impossible standards on women and in that same breath put them on men. That’s not ok, Karen. I have a brother and he’s really suffering from things like that, and he doesn’t even read.

And about Nikolai. I really love him, honestly. I am all for the smart and planning character (Jude, Kaz, even Aelin). And I do think that if Alina wasn’t Alina and was more ambitious, they would’ve made a really cool power couple like Jurdan (an otp of mine). But Alina is Alina and she doesn’t want to have anything to do with politics and power. And it is really important that we respect her choices and wishes. She is actually stronger than all of the other “very special girls”, because she chooses step back and look after her own happiness, she doesn’t fight for the greater good, but her own wellbeing. As a society we should normalize this, because this is how you really should behave if you want to preserve yourself and really live an average, but happy life. (Stop loathing for something impossible and be thankful for what you have, because many can’t afford it).

I am personally sick and tired of the all the characters that do everything for the greater good, with those noble motives. They are unrealistic and from one point on – boring. I need more Judes, who openly wants power (that does not stop her from wanting and deserving love), like Percy, who is tired of the hero life and straight up says: “F*ck you, I’m out”, like Warner, who doesn’t magically get nicer to everyone because he loves Juliette, he has stated countless times that he wants her and nothing else (you shouldn’t expect him to miraculously change), like Thorne, who is and will always be a ladies man and would be unnecessary… romantic or erotic to a minor (I am not saying it is ok bc it is not, but that is logical when he never saw resistance and no one ever has told him/showed him or even slightly hinted that it is wrong, that’s the real world guys and books should reflect it and not only some magical utopia where everyone is perfect, we should definitely discuss it and point out that it is not ok but there are boundaries that should not be crossed).

I know that it will sound strange and even a little hypocritic, but we should all as a collective distance ourselves from the character and view the stories more as an art and not a real-life thing and not get too involved, bc it is really not cool anymore.

I guess this turned more like a rant, but I needed to get it off my chest. I guess I just want to get canceled at this point. I would love to hear other opinions as long as everyone stays respective, I won’t tolerate anything less. Pls do write if you have real arguments and not just: “bUt I wOuLd’Ve cHoOsEn hIm”.

As a conclusion: stan Alina, stan Jude, stan Warner, stan Percy, stan Nikolai, stan realistic relationships and throw *insert perfect bad/t boy here* in the trash. That was from me. Thanks everyone who had the nerve to read all of this, it is deeply appreciated.

😊😊😊😊

[courtney-deserved-better]

my opinion on td finalists

spoiler alert, im not a fan of most

TDI: Owen & Gwen

uh I personally don’t like either of these guys for finalists. gwen did do a lot but there were so many times where she just acted so apathetic I was like why?? are you still here?? and as for owen... I didnt like him as a character for a Long Time and he's growing on me but he just doesnt seem like finale material

I think a duncan versus leshawna finale would've been super fun to watch. especially if they teamed up to take down heather in the semifinal. those two had such a fun dynamic, especially in the triathlon episode, that I think taking it to the finale would've been fantastic. also leshawna deserved to win that season and you cannot change my mind

TDA: Duncan & Beth

duncan, while not my first choice, I can see making it through to the finale this season. but beth?? no. im sorry but shes just too much of a side character and is canonically fake nice and annoys everyone else so it doesn’t really make sense

an interesting finale would’ve been duncan versus courtney considering how volatile their relationship was this season. however, bc courtney was kinda awful to duncan, I dont think she deserves to win this season. it would be cool if there was one ending where their votes tied and they made up and decided to split the money but that just feels too tame, both for a finale and for their dynamic

harold versus duncan could be interesting, but because duncan tends to bully harold, I dont think his win would be fair in this situation. I think lindsay versus harold would be the best, as this season is about lindsay learning to take charge and come up with strategies, and while he can be off-putting and occasionally condescending, I think harold has a lot of useful skills that could really flourish in the finale

TDWT: Heather & Alejandro

while I dont ship them at all, I truly dont think there could've been a more satisfying final two. we’ve had their rivalry build up from day one, they have a ton of good songs together, it really completes heather’s arc of antagonist to antihero to protagonist. heather winning is the best ending in my mind, but I like  alejandro winning too. the only problem I have with his ending is that it only happened because heather threw in the wrong dummy-- I think it would’ve been more clever for him to have switched them or something like that

ive been thinking about some other final twos that I think would be interesting, though unable to top the canon one imo. gwen versus courtney would be really cool because of the friends turned enemies thing-- I think it would be interesting for courtney to be put in danger and gwen has a choice of saving her or going for the money and she save courtney before apologizing again (maybe dumping duncan) and the two make up and split the money. 

though I don’t really enjoy either as characters mostly due to their writing, cody and sierra would be an interesting final two. maybe cody finally stands up to sierra, or sierra struggles with wanting to be the winner of total drama or helping the boy she likes win. it definitely wouldn't be as good as the canon two but there would be a lot of clashing dynamics at play that'd be fun to explore

TDROTI: Lightning & Cameron

admittedly, I don’t remember too much from this season, but it really felt like these two kind of coasted by. I never found lightning to be a particularly compelling character and thought it weird how he suddenly went from dumb jock to evil jock in the last episode or two. cameron really felt like he was just carried through the season, similarly to beth, though I dont have as much as an issue with him winning. I dont think it was a bad finale, per se, I just think if those were the final two they should've been written better from the start

seeing as how jo really played the game and went all in, I think she would’ve been a great finalist. it would’ve been interesting to see her versus (commando?) zoey though im not the biggest zoey fan. I think a jo versus lightning finale could actually work (or brick) though if there was a jo versus cameron finale, I couldn't see him logically winning bc jo would just destroy him

TDAS: Mike & Zoey

*BIG FUCKING INHALE* no. just no. im probably not gonna say anything that’s not already been said so ill keep it short. bland, mal writing bad, have someone who's been in the game for 3 previous seasons instead of  1 make it to the ALL STARS FINALE. jfc.

you know what would’ve been an interesting finale? gwen versus courtney. they both said they wanted to reach the final two with the other one, so maybe they do! maybe they start to struggle with their friendship because of courtney’s competitive streak! maybe one of their helpers is duncan and that causes strife between them! maybe they become enemies again and don’t make up until the finale! maybe they decide to split the money! idk! it would've had a hell of a  lot more flavor than what we got

TDPI: Shawn & Sky

I don’t really have an issue with either of these characters making it to the finale. they’re compelling, worked hard, and have distinct goals. I would’ve liked to see jasmine in the finale but I'd be cool replacing either one with her: jasmine and shawn having to compete against one another would be an interesting relationship hurdle and sky versus jasmine would've been cool because they’re both very athletic and it would’ve been the first f vs f total drama finale (we've had m vs f and m vs m but no all-girl finales...)

TDRR: Surfer Dudes & Police Cadets

Again, I don’t really have an issue with this finale. I really like how Sanders and MacArthur both work hard in their own ways and have to learn how to work together (MacArthur breaking Sanders’ arm and realizing that she can negatively affect her partner and also that Sanders is super tough was a GREAT arc). I know there’s been some contention about the Surfer Dudes being eliminated and then coming back so late in the game, but it made sense to me. They chose to lose because they felt that they owed it to Devin and Carrie, and that choice paid off when Devin and Carrie called in a replacement team. I doubt the surfers expected that to happen, they were just trying to be fair, but that kindness was rewarded in a big way which I think was sweet, especially  considering how much of a hot mess this show can be. 

I gotta say, this does kinda remind me of the TDI finale, with the villain (heather/ice dancers) getting eliminated third, and their rival (gwen/police cadets) making it to the finale with the fun guy (owen/surfer dudes). The reason I like the Surfer Dudes as finalists more than Owen is that I felt they put in more effort during challenges and had more of an arc (with Josee’s mind games ending up bonding them as a team after strife, choosing to be eliminated for the sake of fairness, etc). 

Speaking of Owen, it’s kind of ironic that if I had to replace a team in the finale, I would replace the surfer dudes with the reality tv pros. they’re my favorite team and I think it wouldve been great for them to really live up to their name. I think it also would've been funny for the ice dancers to be so focused on their rivalry with the cadets that the pros just completely go under their radar until its the final three and the ice dancers are like “oh crap they’re PROS why haven't we been trying to destroy them??”

I also wouldn't mind replacing the surfer dudes with the sisters. I know emma gets a lot of hate (mostly because of nemma which I only like platonically) but I actually like her as a character (when she wasn’t being obsessive) and I think she and kitty were a great team that had a good arc of learning to work together. I also think it would be really interesting because for the final three they would all have rivalries with one another: the police cadets and the ice dancers (obvious) the ice dancers and the sisters (josee messed with them in at least 2 challenges) and the sister and the police cadets (kitty and macarthur’s game/road rage was hilarious)

[pair-annoyed]

Anime I Watched in Quarantine

With some of the restrictions being lifted, I wanted to make a sort of master post to see just how much I’ve watched in my time off. Plus, I wanted to share something more lighthearted with everyone.

All of these anime will be rated on a 1-10 scale, 10 meaning masterpiece, 1 meaning complete garbage. I’ll also share what I liked/didn’t like about each show. This list will go in chronological order, and will encompass all anime from 3/13 - 6/13. Multiple Seasons will be grouped together. 

1. Beastars - 8/10 

I dig how human and down-to-earth Beastars is. The pacing was a nice and the animation was unexpectedly great! It’s driving force is its characters and their interactions. Felt a little slow at times, and Juno annoys me, but that’s okay. I’ll be watching season 2.

2. Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun - 8/10 

Oh my god! This visuals for this were absolutely wonderful! It did feel a little cliche at times, I won’t lie. But, I still loved all of these characters and the nice balance between creepy and comedy. 

3. Ao No Exorcist - 6/10 

I posted about this one after I finished it. The ending really pissed me off. I feel like if I had watched this when I was 13, I would’ve given it a higher score. Compared to some of the other shounen I’ve watched, this felt a bit basic. That doesn’t mean I still didn’t like it. Still have to get around to watching season 2...

4.  Kaichou wa Maid-sama! 6.5/10

Shoujo usually isn’t my cup of tea. Maid-sama was a nice way to ease into the cliches of shoujo. Misaki is a great protagonist and the ending Maid-sama was so satisfying. I’m only giving it a low score because of its slow pacing and lack of certain character development. 

5.  Violet Evergarden Gaiden: Eien to Jidou Shuki Ningyou  - 7/10

I’m a big Violet Evergarden fan to begin with, so of course I liked this movie. It did not resonate with me as much as the series itself, but I still enjoyed it. Kyoto animation is never disappointing in their visuals and sound design 

6.  Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! - 8/10 

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren - 6.5/10 

Chuunibyou was a breath of fresh air for me. It was so different from all other romance anime I had seen at the time. It for sure has a slice of life vibe to it, but it was still so good! It reminded me of being in middle school and my “chuunibyou” phase. The second season was not as enjoyable as the first. I guess I just had higher expectations for Rikka and Yuuta. 

7. Dr. Stone - 7/10

Dr. Stone is honestly such a perfect shounen for me. I’m a science nerd, and with taking AP Chem this year it was kind of nice to sorta apply my knowledge. This show also has some of the best reaction images ever. The tone, however, is a little inconsistent which made it hard to keep watching. I do love the relationship between Senku and his Dad, that whole sub-plot was so endearing.

8. Oshiete! Galko-chan - 6/10

This one only gets a low score because its so short and the op takes up like half an episode. This show had been in the back of my mind for a while. I decided to watch it after seeing a video essay discussing it. Its masterful subversion of tropes and stereotypes was refreshing. The message of this show is so positive, and everyone can benefit from watching something like this.  

9. Mairimashita Iruma-kun  - 5/10 

The second half of Mairimashita Iruma-kun was so much better. I’m not completely sure why I didn’t like this as much as I should have. Overall, its a really average show. The comedy (and musical numbers???) give this show and charismatic and chaotic vibe. I’m someone who focuses primarily on character-character interactions, and this show definitely had it. It isn’t monogatari levels of dialogue but it’s still nice. For the studio’s low budget, they were able to make a really bright and colorful show. I’ll be watching season 2.  

10. Byousoku 5 Centimeter - 8/10

Very. VERY. Pretty!! This one was another one that didn’t completely resonate with me emotionally. I still loved the story and the way it was told. Its not like Your Name or Tenki no Ko, it’s realistic and grounded.

11. Mob Psycho 100 - 8/10

Mob Psycho 100 II - 9/10 

Style alone made Mob Psycho 100 so impressive. By the second half of each season I was emotional invested in Mob and his whole journey. Season 2 is receiving a higher score because it was able to make me cry. That’s something I NEVER expected. I’m mad I didn’t watch this sooner. It is a great balance of action, comedy, and heart. 

12. Noragami Aragoto - 8/10 

Not sure why I put off Norogami’s second season for so long. I absolutely loved it. The focus on Bishimon was a nice change of pace and it was great to see Yukine develop more as a character and begin to loose his arrogance. Kazuma was my favorite character in all of this. His ability to affect the people around him was presented nicely. I was emotionally invested the whole way through, and I’ll probably pick up the manga. 

13. Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji - 3/10

Ah yes. My least favorite thing on planet earth. This is a wonderful example of Shoujo at its worst. Their relationship was incredibly toxic, and the characters themselves were poorly developed and generic. The whole time all I could think was that I was watching normalized Stockholm Syndrome. Our MC deserves so much better. 

14. Youjo Senki - 6/10

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting to like Youjo Senki as much as I did. I’m not usually one for iesekai. The action was great, but the use of CGI bogged down scenes. I do NOT really like the protagonist that much because she came across as apathetic. Towards the end, I started to like her more. This was also my first military/warfare-focused anime. If either a movie or second season is made, I will probably not watch it. 

15. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica - 6.5/10

I wanted to like Madoka Magica more than I did. I really did. The style was compelling and the story was interesting. Especially in the beginning, a lot of the death and sad stuff didn’t feel all that sad. The last 4 episodes are a solid 8/10, I love time shenanigans. The emotions and character development really shined through in the end. Madoka is such an inherently kind-hearted person, I love her so much! 

16. Yakusoku no Neverland - 8.5/10 

I was expecting Yakusoku no Neverland to be more graphic, but I’m kind of glad it didn’t go that route. Like Madoka, the last four episodes had me really invested. However, the character development was not as rushed. It’s a smart show and welcomed change of pace. Emma is my favorite character and you bet I’ll be watching season 2. The more I think about this show, the more I appreciate it. 

17. Mo Dao Zu Shi - 9/10

Mo Dao Zu Shi 2nd Season - 8/10 

I know that is is technically a donghua, but I’m counting it as an anime because its on MAL. Amazing visuals and an incredibly layered story.  Censorship makes it difficult to fully appreciate this work and its original novel. Even though I was confused for the first 2 episodes, Mo Dao Zu Shi did a great job of developing the time period and character relationships. The second season wasn’t as satisfying as the first but still great! I don’t think I’ll be watching the live action anytime soon, but I believe that a 3rd season is confirmed for 2020.

18. Banana Fish - 8.5/10

I knew nothing about Banana Fish going into it. Although I didn’t cry at the ending, it definitely made me feel some type of way. Kind of... numb. Banana Fish is painfully realistic. So much so that I had to take a break after episode 15 because I felt sick to my stomach. I also praise Banana Fish for it’s healthy, non-fetishized relationship representation. Eiji and Ash have such a complex but healthy relationship. I hope Banana Fish is able to pave the way for better representation in media. 

19. Promare - 5/10 

Why do people praise Promare so much? I hated how predictable it was. The whole movie felt like a 2 hour animation flex for Trigger. The only character in this movie that didn’t manage to piss me off it some way was Lio. The only other thing I’ve seen by studio Trigger is Kill la Kill, so compared to that, this felt like such a step down. :( I was disappointed. 

20. Given - 6/10

Given made me both sad and made me want to start a band. Overall the animation is nothing special, I do like the reactions that some of the characters had. Especially that “It’s Mutual” gif set. I couldn’t get over how much Ritsuka looks like Kageyama. My only complaint was how rushed Mafuyu and Ritsuka’s relationship felt. More time should have been dedicated to Mafuyu dealing with and moving past the loss in his life. All that said, I’m still watching the movie.

21. Enen no Shouboutai - 5/10 

Generic Shounen, bad ending, great animation. Need I say more? I did not watch Soul Eater (made by same creator), but this was enjoyable. Really cool fights, not so cool character development. A lot of the explanations towards the end felt like complete bull shit. Same energy as using fancy sounding science words to explain things. 

22. Hataraku Maou-Sama - 5.5/10

This is another show I felt I would’ve liked more if I watched it when I was younger. The iesekai trope is so beaten down that classics like this don’t really carry as much weight as they originally did. A 24 episode season with more Slice of Life episodes would’ve benefited this series greatly.

23. BNA - 7/10

BNA, in my opinion, was so much better than Promare. Like Hataraku Maou-sama, BNA would’ve benefited from a longer season with more Slice of Life Episodes. Trigger’s newer animation is beautiful and I really hope BNA gets renewed for a second season. The ending was cliche as hell, but still really enjoyed this show!

24. Devilman: Crybaby - 7/10 

A.K.A. The one show I’ve got to watch when I know I’m alone. The use of multiple languages besides Japanese in the sub was a unique take. The animation was also a little jarring at first, but I came to love it. The themes in this are not the most positive. The end left me feeling numb, but also appreciative. Ryo pissed me off as soon as he tried to kill that cat, so it was hard to sympathize with him in the very end. It is a really good show, but also sickening, Watch at your own discretion.  

[symwinter]

Making Descendants likeable to me and only me but maybe you if we have similar tastes?

Part One: Mal

The best way to ‘fix’ Mal, is to give a context to her actions, have her grow from them, and change for the better, a standard thing really.

In movie one the main thing Mal has to learn is to grow out of her mother’s shadow. A lot of what she does is to be like her mom, there’s a whole song about it, but to make it the driving force of her first step in her arc is a good way of going about it. Have her initially be against the date with Ben because her mother wasn’t the dating type. Have her interest in magic be because her mother is. Then her telling her mother off at the end of the third act all the more climatic.

The other thing is to remove the manipulation of Ben with the love potion. Instead, it would make more sense to infect Audrey with some kind of hatred spell. Audrey already doesn’t like the Core Four, so the spell just makes her more obsessed and spiteful of them, therefore Audrey has more reason to want revenge on Mal in movie three other than stealing her boyfriend when the spell breaks.

Movie two‘s main arc is trying to figure who she is by going back to her roots, magic and then the Isle. Her conflict with Uma is more a result of her pre and post Auradon side as she still cares about Ben, lovable puppy that he is, even when she’s trying to be the person she was before. However I am going to get rid of the whole love spell thing Uma does since magic doesn’t work on the Isle and it’s never explained how she got off the isle and did the spell

By the end of the movie, Mal embraces the better parts of her old self and the better parts of her new self and along with having one of my favourite movies endings with the dancing boat scene, she tells Ben her actual real faery name, a sign of utmost trust: Morgana.

Movie 3 is more like a tv show with an A plot and a B plot. A plot is “actions have consequences” primarily focusing on what she did to Audrey. B plot is “how to keep her deal with Uma without endangering the people she cares about” because in case anyone forgot the Isle holds people like: attempted murderers, actual murderers, abusive parental figures, people who have committed high treason, people who have attempted regicide and/or identity theft, attempted animal murderers, people who are willing to manipulate a teenage girl who’s stuff got destroyed to gain power, a jock, whatever the fuck Captain Hook was trying to do. It isn’t safe to release them onto Auradon and just assume their grudges will go away.

By the end of the movie when Hades, who isn’t her dad in my version, gets on his high horse, Mal rightfully admits it was her fault Audrey went this far but also that Audrey is like seventeen, nobody died, and that there was little to no collateral damage. As for the whole villain kid parent thing, Mal and Ben reinstate something I’m calling the “Villain Rehabilitation Act” which is basically a rehab/help centre type thing that allows villains who want to change the opportunity to change in things like a larger scale Remedial Goodness class, finding jobs where their skills come in handy, and finding Auradon citizens who are willingly to help them get better. 

Also due to fairy physiology, Mal should have wings. The basics for me is that a fairy’s shoulder blades are more pronounced to act as the breaking point for wings, but because Mal was on the island the anti-magic prevented them from growing out properly but also technically hid the pain so when she reaches Auradon she has back problems and what looks to be fractals from the damage her lack of wings has caused. It also acts as a catalyst in the first movie when she goes to Fairy Godmother for help and kind of experiences genuine motherly affection as Fairy Godmother breaks the unofficial rule not to use magic to break Mal’s wings out of her back with as little pain as possible. Like all wings they’re translucent with fairy magic in a physical form being the sparkles/glitter, but hers are dragon shaped.

Part Two: Evie

Since I can’t just make Evie the protagonist without doing a bunch of movie rewriting, we shall keep Evie as the deuteragonist/tritagonist that she is. Also like the others, her character arc is handled in the movie and then she’s fairly stable for the rest. Evie’s major character arc in movie one is to not trade her passions to get the guy. This is dealt with through her two most defining relationships in Auradon: Doug and Ben. While Jay is her best friend, more on that in a the next part, it’s those two that basically help Evie to ditch the persona she had put on. She’s still boy crazy and wants a nice castle, but she should be herself. Evie is fashion savvy, empathetic, and genuinely smart and she shouldn’t throw it out. By the time two and three roll around, she’s got an upcoming business, a sick boat party to look forward to, and is making bank by embracing and sharing her fashion. Her time on the Isle isn’t ever really discussed because for a good portion of it, she was locked in her house for not inviting Mal to her birthday party, so she actually knows the least about the Isle. However, that is unimportant as she acts as the bridge between Mal’s old and new self having figured out how to be her best self without getting rid of the person she was, and in movie three she’s legit done with all the fighting because she is the most emotionally mature which is why she suggests the ice breakers because Audrey is clearing a danger to herself and others and we don’t have time for your power trips.

Part Three: Jay and Carlos

You know when we reach the “and” I’m running out of stuff to do. This is probably where we reach the point where it’s primarily background or aesthetics that change more than a storyline.

Jay is the only member of the Core Four to be born in Auradon. His mother is alive and well. Just before our gang was born, the Villain Rehabilitation Act happened, and Jafar decided why not in a ploy to get power, but then befriended and fell in love with Jay’s mom, but the act was revoked for unknown reasons and Jafar, as well as baby Jay were sent back to the Isle, even though Jafar was one of the least dangerous villains at the time. So technically for Jay, Auradon is a chance to meet his mom. Which he does on Family Day before the whole Queen Leah drama. THe other notable thing about Jay’s past is his friendship with Evei, which began when he broke into the castle to hide after stealing some stuff for his dad and Evie hiding him from her mom. Friendship blossomed from there and the two will often hang out because of this.

Carlos is both easy and hard to work with. For example, appearance wise he would have movie two hair, the peak hairstyle honestly, but everything about him personality wise is a lot more… poised. He still likes tech, but fall out of the limo he does not. However he’s not great at talking to people without being kinda bitchy. His main issue with Jane is her lack of self confidence, so even after the hairstyle upgrade in movie one he still kinda sees her as spineless though he’d never say it outloud.

His arc is friendship through the doggo and like compliment sandwiches. Taking care of Dude and having to give positive critiques teaches him empathy, constructive criticism, and a better way of complimenting people by pointing out the effort a person put into something, even if the result isn’t great. There’d be a part of the dance in movie one where Carlos tells Jane that her problem isn’t her appearance, but her lack of confidence and offers to help her figure it out. Also his crush on Jane stays but the whole having trouble asking her out is either ignored or dealt with very quickly. Like they’re about to go to the Isle to get Mal back and Carlos spots Jane and asks if she’ll be his date to Cotillion if he gets back in time for it.

Part Four: Ben

The gist is that a single strand of his dad’s curse is in his  DNA and fairy magic can strengthen it, so for movie one, other than the whole Audrey thing, his major conflict is that he’s in love with a woman who can legit turn him into a beast. I mean there’s magic water and true love, but it’s still a terrifying thought to him, especially since Ben is a total sweetheart and doesn’t deserve it. Interestingly enough, he finds that nothing actually happens when he’s with Mal until movie two when we learn Fairy Godmother was requested to bury the curse so on the Isle, where magic doesn’t work, he’s basically a ticking time bomb since the beast curse was still gaining strength from Mal’s untamed magic and since it’s also genetic, it can affect him on the Isle. It mainly takes the form of claws and being a bit more on edge. By the time they return home, the spell is placed back on him, and is subsequently broken again in movie three. Ben can’t catch a break, but once the whole enchanted water puts him at a halfway point, he learns of Mal’s deal and brings up the old Villain Rehabilitation Act since it’s what he based his exchange program on and is able to find the moving fairy cottage by following the smell of Audrey’s perfume. Movie three’s whole thing is the acceptance that his curse is kinda cool and that fangs are fun.

Part Five: Antagonists

Movie two has Uma as the antagonist with Harry and Gil as like lackeys. Uma does not hate just Mal. Evie, Jay and Carlos all got to leave the Isle and get a better life, but Mal had power on the Isle and even though Uma rose when she left, she still feels it was just given to her. Her goal is to truly beat Mal so her power feels justified. Harry goes along cause he’s like lowkey in love with Uma, but like he just has a general thing for confident women and gravitated to Uma due to shared interests, and Gil had nothing better to do. That’s why he’s the odd one out. Somehow after the whole Ben kidnap fails, Uma escapes the Isle but rather than mind control Ben cause no thanks, she decides to ruin cotillion. Unlike before, Uma has been humiliated by Mal, so attacking the boat with her octopus tentacles is a pretty big fuck you. When that fails she hides out in her mother’s old lair until movie three. Meanwhile Harry and Gil are left with trying to hold the crew together but by movie three it’s broken up which is why Harry and Gil decide to break out and are less then excited to see Uma initially since she abandoned them. But again, they’re happy that she’s back. Harry does kinda break away from Uma such as complimenting Evie back after she compliments his accent, but it’s Gil who has the best character arc as he becomes part of a himbo duo with Jay. Gil honestly doesn’t need to change, he's great as he is.

So we’ve already covered movie one’s antagonist, Audrey who was a means to an end created by Mal and while Mal does break it, I don’t imagine she apologized for it. So she vanishes before the dance sequence and goes to deal with every that’s happened and also probably to be a witch on the Charmed reboot, I don’t know for sure. But movie three Audrey is a different story ignoring the end, which was talked about as well. Audrey’s primary goal in movie three is to get back at Mal which is deserved, and Queen of Mean is a bop so it’s staying. The downside is Audrey is so invested in revenge she doesn’t think to stop using Maleficent’s wand which was created to be used by a fairy. Fairy wings basically act as a magic battery, constantly replenishing the magic used by spells, so when a human, like Audrey, uses it, when it runs out of magic, it’ll use Audrey’s life as energy ie. it puts her in a coma. When Audrey does wake up thanks to Hades, she finally gets her apology from Mal and while they aren’t friends, they don’t hate each other. She also trades the pink for blue as pink reminds her of things like activating the curse on her ex-boyfriend or locking Chad in a closet. 

Next is Hades who isn’t Mal’s dad. That was kinda dumb. His plan is mostly the same, escape the Isle by making people feel bad for him, but again, Mal doesn’t fall for it at the end, not only by pointing out that she pushed Audrey into doing that while no one did to Hades, sure he was stuck in the underworld but he never tried to find a positive in it, and you know, people died during Hades’s titanomachy. By the end however, he is allowed to go back to the underworld rather than the Isle.

Part Six: any other characters that are primarily just minor fixes that don’t need their own section

Doug is fine. While he does have a crush on Evie, his primary goal in helping her is just that. There’s no ulterior motives. Also his season three hair is a yikes.

Chad is also fine. I like that he’s clearly got good self-preservation skills shown in movie three, and giving him claustrophobia helped me sympathize with him.

Jane is a top tier character, fight me. Major difference in movie one is that her following of Audrey in movie one is because she wants to be liked and thinks that’s the fastest way, but she doesn’t insult Mal, and actually asks to have her natural hair back after the whole dance thing.

Lonnie, proving mlm wlw solidarity is great. I like her friendship with Jay in movie two and her being a boss as bitch and also when she puts her foot on Chad’s back to make doing push ups harder because Chad still sucked in movie two.

The og parents are fine. Dizzy is great, wished we had more of her in D3.

Part Seven: should’ve been a show

And I don’t mean like Wicked World, which like the books is non-canon in this, but like an actual tv show. So much could’ve been done with the Isle that just wasn’t. Mal probably wouldn’t be such a contentious character if we didn’t have to cram the plot into a two hour movie. They wouldn’t even need to start the show with them meeting, since they could follow the format of Once Upon A Time and have each episode show things like how Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos became friends, or how the whole Shrimpy thing happened. Descendants, and Barbie Princess Charm School, would work better as a tv show over a movie. At least I think so.

There it’s done.

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Barely Reviews - Volume 2

Hey remember this format? 2 entries so far and the last was half a year ago? We’re bringing it back, baby! Kinda. I actually wrote basically all of this multiple months ago, but because I couldn’t for the life of me bring myself to watch Sword Art Offline II until today, I never posted it, because I had to watch that first. But I have now, so uh, yeah. Here’s a post.

Aoi Sekai no Chuusin de

A 3 episode OVA series based on the Sega vs Nintendo console wars of the 90s of all things. And it’s not great. None of the characters are exactly written or developed well, nor are any of the plot threads and worldbuilding it tries to introduce. Speaking of which, a lot of that stuff is like, framed as super serious and almost edgy at times, and it’s already hard to take this as something super serious because of how silly and fun the premise for this series is, but there’s also loads of more light-hearted humour, such as the dude based off of Tetris being an absolutely massive pervert. This show’s also basically hentai at times. Visuals are eh and the soundtrack is decent, but otherwise this series is pretty much just a funny sounding premise and a couple of references to Sega characters. Tails dies in the first minute!

Final rating:3/10

SAO Fatal Bullet: The Third Episode

Note that this’ll cover both The Third Episode and the Pilot-ban thing MAL has as well. Some weird short that exists to promote the Fatal Bullet game. Animation is kinda limited and I really don’t like the art style or character designs, and the overabundance of glitchy “cool” gamer effects on the screen at all times was kinda annoying. No subs so I didn’t quite know what was going on to be fair, so take this score (they both got the same score) with a grain of salt.

Final rating: 3/10

Sword Art Offline

This’ll cover every version of this except the Ordinal Scale one since I’ve already seen that in the past. Anyway, these are your typical cheap shitty shorts that are included in the Blu-Rays as some incentive to buy it. And there are 9 of them for season 1, 9 for season 2, and then 1 for Extra Edition and Ordinal Scale. Not only that, but they’re all 11 fucking minutes long! Which is way too long for the vapid, insufferable wastes of time that these are! The chibis aren’t cute and are way too underexpressive, almost 100% of the humour is characters being tsundere or in love with Kirito, and it’s never funny even once. And again, with how fucking long each episode is as well as how many there, it’s such a fucking chore to watch. Ultimately though they are just shitty Blu-Ray specials so I can’t be that mad at them, I guess, but I probably regret watching them. Last 3 SAO II episodes have Yuuki in them at least, though that doesn’t change their score at all.

Final rating: 2/10

Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan

Rohan’s always been a fun as hell character, and you can kinda tell just from seeing him in part 4 that he could totally carry a series on his own. The two episode OVA that is Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan is proof of this. We’ve got all the good stuff about JoJo – fun and bizarre circumstances that force our protagonist to think outside of the box to find a way out, really nice visuals to accompany it, a sweet soundtrack, etc. This OVA is a little weird in that it adapts just two of the stories from an already nonchronological source material, however I think we’re given just enough context to not feel lost, and especially since it’s Rohan anyway shit like “I went bankrupt from buying 6 mountains” is easy to accept. I think the second episode was kinda boring, especially compared to the first one, but I’ll take more animated JoJo fun any day.

Final rating: 7/10

Yuki Yuna is a Hero Club Member

I don’t think I said this at any point, but I think Yuki Yuna is a Hero could’ve been a better show if it were just a cute, funny slice of life where the gimmick was that the Hero club love to go around and help people, and it would be all nice and wholesome. Doesn’t even matter if magical girl stuff is or isn’t involved. These little, Blu-Ray shorts I think? They’re basically that. Despite being 100% chibi, this is a lot more animated than many chibi shorts I’ve seen, and the chibis are also super cute, and when they un-chibi for some moments, it also looks super cute. The soundtrack for the actual show is used, which is actually kinda funny cause obviously the soundtrack is super serious and dramatic but this spinoff is uh, not that -  which is much appreciated cause most cute girl anime that make their little fake dramatic music aren’t funny when they do that. They got mileage out of their soundtrack here is what I’m saying. All 3 episodes are separate MAL entries but I gave them all the same score anyway. I feel kinda bad giving them a higher score than I did the actual show, but these specials are cute and fun so it makes sense. I’ll probably rewatch the actual show one day – I wasn’t super fond of it but I won’t deny that it had some pretty interesting elements I’d like to look more into.

Final rating: 5/10

Anyway now that I’ve posted this I’ve decided that this format is officially dead. It’s not actually that fun at all, and uh, that’s all I’ve got really. Bye.

[mechanicalinertia]

STMPD Recommends Bubblegum Crisis Fanfiction: Innpchan's Dance of Armor

While browsing my copy of the licensed Bubblegum Crisis RPG, I realized that this guy's name is a reference to 'the pig' or rather, P-Chan from Ranma 1/2. (Ranma was the hot shit in anime fanfic writing for most of 90's, but you knew that already.) Not that this fact detracts from the quality of Innpchan's Bubblegum Crisis fanfiction.

No, it most certainly does not.

In sum: this is a fanfiction about Linna Yamazaki, her past, her present as a Saber (sort of like what I covered in Night Life but infinitely less cynical), and her somewhat downer future. It is a character study, a Boomer-fightin' adventure, and everything else you could possibly want from a novella-length (???) fanfiction.

So! Linna Yamazaki. The great non-personality of Bubblegum Crisis. Nene gets Scoop Chase all to herself, but in Double Vision, the closest thing Linna gets to her own episode, she's playing second fiddle to the guest star Reika, doing the protagonistic 'do not pursue revenge leave that to us' spiel. One almost gets most of her personality from the Survival Shot dinner in OVA 4, and her boyfriend troubles in OVA 5: she goes through boyfriends fast, she's looking for 'the one', and she wants to make scads of money while doing it - or is that more an adaptation of who she is from BGCrash? Hard to say.

Well, there is a character down there, I'm sure of it. I keep trying to write little script-bits in my free time, one where the Sabers and Sylvie talk and talk, but I can never quite get her right. Vain, bitchy, but still a good person... how to do something like that without a heart-of-gold cliche? I still haven't listened to the audio dramas, and I wonder if they have something to offer there.

Anyway. Here's a fic about Linna. Back on topic.

Innpchan starts by telling us about Linna's past - how she lost her parents during the Quake, how she started to model during a disaster-porn fashion photoshoot, how she worked her way up through performing, modelling, dancing (I think they kinda drew on a blurb from Grand Mal here, but I don't care) - before losing an audition for Sailor Moon the musical (you were born to be Sailor Mars, her mentor says, because Linna and Rei Hino share a voice actor). It's charming, it's kind of cutesy, it is essentially creating reasons for why the way Linna is from whole cloth, but that's what fanfiction is about, and it's done remarkably well.

But that's not all, as the author alternates us between that and Linna's daily life. She picks up Priss and her costumes from her show (they stink up the back seat), she goes home to her nice apartment, she fights Boomers that now have weird stealth abilities with the other Sabers - and lo and behold, an old childhood friend from before the Quake walks back into her life. She's smitten, of course - after boyfriends who, in her opinion, can't keep up, can't hold things together, it's time for a sea change...

And then a Boomer starts targeting the boy, and she gets him out of the way, only breaking her leg and arm in the process.

Well, why is Seito Sakai in Megatokyo? What secret does he have to address? How can Linna keep him safe if she can't even get in a hardsuit? These are the questions that occupy the latter part of the fic. Linna aside - she has some truly badass moments in this one - the answers to those questions are also pretty cool.

Does it end on a downer? Sure. But is it a downer that's not too much of a downer, and also one that feels earned? Fuck yes. The point I'm trying to make is that we see Linna at her best here. Not vain or horny, but genuinely, authentically in love, something none of the other Sabers can ever quite pull off. Someone - normal.

Maybe that's Linna's magic: she's not quite normal, but she's closer to normal than a revengeaholic second-string rockstar, a turbo-eccentric millionaire with a taste for exotic lingerie, and an exciteable hacker could ever be.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, we get lines from Priss like this:

"This guy. I looked over at you when you were talking in the car. Your eyes were full of a country house and two-point-five rugrats."

"Oh, GREAT! We're up against Genom's latest and greatest, and the tech-wench wants to glue her mom's camcorder to my hardsuit!"

Not bitchy or rageful, but kind of deadpan snarky. I like Priss like that.

Also-also, fun fact: One of the major characters in Gibson's trilogy of cyberpunk-adjacent work he wrote in the 1990's is a Japanese ethnographer by the name of Laney Yamazaki. Yeah. Laney.

It really makes you wonder if Gibson, despite his self-professed hate for the genre he created, actually watched BGC. Now there's a strange thought, eh?

[recentanimenews]

Carole & Tuesday – 06 – Kicked Up to the Big Stage

Right off the heels of their first sparsely attended gig, Gus has a second one for them, courtesy of Hofner (through Beth). They’ll be backing up Omega—and their notoriously flaky drunk frontman—at Cydonia, one of if not the biggest concert on Mars. They’ll be playing to one hundred thousand fans who wanted to hear Omega. The prospect of all those hostile people “breaks” Tuesday.

Oh yeah, the show’s tomorrow, so they have to spend part of the night and the train ride there writing and practicing a song. Everything about this gig is already ridiculously implausible…and I’m not talking about them being on Mars! Even with the explanation that no other band would bother if there’s a chance Joshua will play, it makes no sense for Hofner to not already have a list of professional bands eager for their shot backing up Omega.

But whatever, Carole and Tuesday are super-lucky! Fine. And the place is pretty cool; we finally get a good look at Mars’ rolling red hills and valleys, and Cydonia looks kinda like a Burning Man-style oasis in that wasteland.

Carole and Tuesday have some time before they go on, so they soak it all in, including, hopefully, some of one of their favorite singer Crystal’s air. Meanwhile Roddy does his job as DJ Ertegun’s AI operator, and Ertegun plays the same track we’ve heard to a delirious crowd.

That crowd’s reaction is somewhat outsized for what sounds like someone hitting a 2003 Casio keyboard’s DEMO key, but again, whatever.

Joshua arrives, and there’s a funny sight gag where he seemingly steps surefootedly out of the car, only to crumple into a human slinky; dude is tossed, which means C&T are most likely on. Panicking in their trailer, they eventually go outside, only to run into Roddy and Ertegun.

They run and hide—because he can’t press charges if he can’t catch them, I guess?—and end up in the smoke-filled trailer of “Skip”, who is very spooky and threatening at first, but gives them the most uninspiring inspirational speech before going on stage and performing what was actually the best piece of music in the episode, but which was still pretty bland, with lyrics that might be forgivable if written by a middle schooler.

When Joshua can’t take the stage due to some kind of “Beetle” problem (or is it “Beatle”?), C&T take the stage for him, with the reception you’d expect from people who paid good money to see Omega, not two amateurs with one official gig under their belts.

If I’m sounding overly harsh about this episode, it’s because this episode was harsh. Also, because the show believes C&T to be some kind of generational world-changing talent. But I’ve reached my limit.

Here’s the thing: the “Dancing Laundry” is vapid trash. I wouldn’t throw trash at them if they played it at a concert I attended—that would be despicable—but I would probably walk away to buy some beer or get in line for the toilets…anything to get away from that.

But here’s another thing: C&T actually are good by the standards of music in this world. Ertegun is a hack, Skip is inskipid, and the less said about Omega, the better. The duo still took the stage, played as hard as they good, and endured the abuse of the crowd until Omega took over.

I just couldn’t feel that bad for Tuesday crying afterwards, because from my ears they did nothing to turn that crowd around, and as unfairly impossible as a feat as that might have been, if C&T are as good as everyone says, then why not have them win that crowd over? They like all the other crap we had to listen to!

The last nail in the coffin of this stinker of an episode is Crystal, who to her credit seems like a nice lady, comforting the duo and giving them kudos for persevering in front of such a hateful crowd. But even the mega pop star can’t help but sing lyrics that sound like they were generated by a computer algorithm…a bad one.

Carole & Tuesday draws you in with its lush and intricate setting, warm, likable protagonists, and game supporting cast. But then somebody starts singing and you have to turn down the volume and hope it stops soon, and all the show’s goodwill is spent. It’s a big problem. In the future, on Mars, music is apparently terrible.

Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo featured good music from real artists, and neither of those Watanabe shows were even about music! How could the ball have been dropped so badly here? MAL doesn’t even list anyone on the staff as responsible for music. Maybe computers really did make it…

By: sesameacrylic

[tumblunni]

Cathedral Tower Defense Game character ideas and stuff so far! I’ve talked about some of these before but I wanna just compile it in summary form, and try and get thinking about more to add. It’d be so cool if I could make it like an early suikoden game where you have the world’s biggest party selection! Or at least have that equivelant but with recruiting shopkeepers and townbuilders and stuff.

So... long post ahoy!

* Protagonist (Sir/Lady/Master Amity) Your selectable renameable main charrie! A badass disabled veteran who lost their family in the war and ended up defending this cathedral town of strangers in order to prevent another tragedy. They’re generally distrusted at the beginning, have a lot of doubts about what philosophy they should take in life, and its up to you to decide how the story plays out. But no matter what, this protagonist is a cool grumpy comically-serious nerd gramp! (or gran or etc) i really REALLY like the idea of changing them to be an older veteran character, it just works so much better and seriously WHY are there like zero grandma protagonists in anything ever? I will vow to make this one as amazing as possible!!

* Florin Generally supportive yet sassy and lazy deutorogonist helper guy. He’s your first ally in this world and maybe kind of a tutorial, lol. Even though he’s a total cinnamon roll, he’s as distrusted as you because he’s a demon. Even the protagonist kinda wonders why on earth he wants to help them, and whether he’s some sort of enemy spy... His elemental realm is over plants, and he has no greater joy than taking a nice nap amoungst the flowers~

* Malachi At the moment the only fully developed idea I have for another party member, aside from Florin. Though I’m not sure if I want him to be optional or mandatory? In either case when you recruit him he’s the catylyst for a lot of character development for Florin, and they end up becoming like a lil adopted family ^_^ Anyway, Mal is a very young and adorable demon child that the party finds sealed away beneath some ruins. Precociously innocent, he seems unaware that he’s become a monster. I mean, everyone eats rocks, right?

* Admiral Chiffon (wip name) A major recurring enemy turned ally! Chiffon starts off as just the eccentric comic relief member of the opposing army, kinda harmless and kinda entertaining. And you might pity her quite a bit, because her coworkers treat her like absolute shit. I basically invented this character because I got sick of seeing the ‘ha ha flambouyant gross comic relief villain’ thing in recent fire emblems, and wondered what it would be like to have a villain whose LGBTQ status is treated as a sympathising aspect instead, leading to a redemption when she finds people who dont treat her like those damn writers treated everyone :P So yeah, she’s a transgender woman who faces a lot of predjudice in her career, and I hope I can make it very heartwarming when she finds true friendship with our heroes! And also I hope it can make the non-comic-relief villains seem extra disgustingly unforgiveable after you see how badly they treat their own teammates. Her personality is gonna be kind of a greedy merchant sort of person, but what if that archetype was a good character instead. She remains sassy and greedy even when she’s been redeemed, i like a good ‘ol vice-filled hero yknow! Character development is my jam! Also all i know about her design so far is that I think I want her to have stylishly skunk striped hair, to represent greying streaks and all. I was imagining her as the token grandma of the cast before I decided to age up the protagonist lol

* Currently unnamed church matron duo, aka Timon And Pumbaa One of my early-ish undeveloped concepts for non-battling town members. These two are florin’s equivelant, they’re the town workers you start off with before the game really starts. I’m thinking they’d be like nuns/priestesses that worked at this place before you came along, and you have a bit of a rivalry here because they pragmatically know they need you to defend the stronghold but they’re also very wary of you. The ‘timon’ one would be the main one who actually holds all these opinions, a sort of crusty matronly mega paranoid lady who thinks you’re gonna backstab us all at any moment! And she’s some sort of super scary chronic sufferer of resting bitch face, even though she sees herself as the ultimate arbiter of justice everyone else thinks she’s terrifying. Just imagine her trying to hug a baby that just cries as if it saw the face of death! Life sucks when you’re a lawful good character stuck in a chaotic evil character design! And then her partner is a funloving pumbaa-esque team chef, who’s actually kinda too loving and innocent to ever distrust anyone. But she always just falls in with whatever her boss says, its like a pinky and the brain situation. Oh and I’m already kinda preemptively shipping these two before I’ve even finished designing them XD

* Depression jail janitor Starts as a prisoner you take from one of the enemy raids, but he ends up winning your trust and joining your team. Entirely against his will! he’s a chronically depressed man who was forcibly drafted into the evil army even though he doesnt believe in their cause, but now he feels like he’s unforgiveable anyway. So he spends all his time trying to convince you that he is indeed pure evil! But the more humble he is, the more everyone believes in his genuine kindness. Alas! It doesnt help that he also kinda has chronic hero syndrome and cant resist helping out in every possible way. So that is how a prisoner ended up becoming the one in charge of the jail keys! And he’s like Everyone’s Dad. (Even the people decades older than him...)

* Former bully powerful friend The one other main child character, cos I wanted Malachi to have some friends. They start off at odds and she initially joins in with everyone bullying him, cos she wants to fit in. But he ends up helping her deal with her insecurities and realise she was only resenting him for being ‘weak’ because she saw herself reflected in him. or rather, the traits in herself she’d tried to hide to make everyone like her, even if it meant joining in with bullying and only having horrible asshole friends. So she sacrifices her popularity with the main clique in order to defend malachi, and ends up finding her first true friend with him. They’re better off being outcasts together! So yeah cutie malachi will have some sort of stronge deliquent friend with a heart of gold, and I’m not sure yet whether she’d be playable or not? i kinda feel like its not right to have someone that young join the party unless they have magic powers to protect them. So maybe she can fight by teaming up with malachi, actually? like, she rides atop his stone dragon golem form and supports with ranged weaponry or something. or just acts as an advisor? I liked the idea I had that there would be a buffs-only type of magic stone, and people could cast it on themselves to have enhanced senses at something or other and improve their supporting skills. Like the protagonist would maybe have an eyesight-enhancing buff crystal to act as a sniper scope!

* Rival warrior buff teen person Very undeveloped cos I just came up with them ysterday, lol! I’m thinking possibly make this character female just cos this archetype doesnt get to be female all that often. Kind of a draco malfoy type snooty rival, but with a more sympathetic side and ultimately you do become friends. Theyre just a simple ordinary citizen who was doing the best they could to protect their family before you came along, and now kinda resents the fact you’re all BETTER THAN EVERYONE and taking their job as guardian! They have a lot of anxieties over the fact they struggled so hard to become self-trained and now you’re here making it look easy. So the plot has a general theme of believing too much in ‘destiny’, and that some people are just born with talent and you’ll never succeed if you werent lucky enough. This character started off trying to act like theyre inherantly blessed with that talent, because they’re terrified that they aren’t... Oh and I think once you befriend them I think they might be like a ryuuji/junpei type of friend? But without the weird sexism and homophobia randomness that persona 4 threw onto yosuke. Just like a bit of a cheerful cliche ‘bro’ who isnt all that interested in books and likes to be all ‘cmon do it for the vine’. A good polar opposite to the protagonist who could have some cute interactions!

* Rival warrior’s chilled out older sibling figure of reasonableness Every rin needs a yukio! I think they’d be maybe a bartender or owner of a restaurant or something? Just some sort of super chilled out job where they act as an agony aunt to their customers, the place is very popular because of the great service. (Though also everyone is kinda like ‘yo you dont have to run it all by yourself, yo you dont need to give us bonus extra special treatment, seriously get some sleep dude!!’) But anyway they’re this perpetually relaxed super kind soul who’s always the reasonable response to their lil sib’s ohohoho angry rivalness. But the bad side to it is that they’re also a lil depressed and apathetic about their own life, they’re kinda like someone who really lives for their family, in a bad way. They’ve been like a single parent to their sibling because they had kind of a tragic backstory, and big sib has just grown too used to sacrificing everything in order to help other people and never taking care of themself. And they have a lot of trouble even.. feeling emotions. The outwardly chilled and happy-go-lucky facade covers up just a void of nothing but self hate and emptiness. They feel like they’d already been tainted by the way their abusive parents used to treat them, its too late for them and all they can do is try and save other people from falling down the same path. Oh, and I think maybe the two siblings are actually immigrants from the villain country? Like, when older sib ran away from the abusive family they ended up here, and now they try and keep it secret, to the point that even the younger sibling doesnt know where they were born. Basically I just wanna have a LOT of different subplots showing how the ordinary citizens of this country aren’t all evil just because their government are the bad guys in this story. And especially covering topics like characters who’re part of that ethnicity and get treated like they’re inherantly terrorists even if they were born and raised in a completely different country!

[thejpfdude-blog]

The Week in Anime (Week of 7/10/17)

Hello and welcome to a new season version of TWiA! With the season now officially under way, there’s a whole slew of shows to watch, and reactions to said shows. As a result this week’s post is pretty long: just a little warning before we get into it. Now, let’s get into it with the new rankings:

Rankings:

1 (NEW). Ballroom e Youkoso (great/10) [1/24]

2 (+1). Sakura Quest (7.5/10) [14/25]

3 (NEW). Tsurezure Children (good/10) [1/?]

4 (-3). Kakegurui (good/10) [2/12]

5 (-3). Boku no Hero Academia 2nd Season (7/10) [14/25]

6 (NEW). Centaur no Nayami (decent/10) [1/12]

7 (NEW). Isekai Shokudou (decent/10) [1/?]

8 (NEW). Nana Maru San Batsu (decent/10) [1/12]

9 (NEW). Dive!! (meh/10) [1/?]

Awards

The WTF Award: Kakegurui

Okay, that was a thing. Again. On the one hand, it was entertaining, but on the other there were some points in the episode where I felt super uncomfortable. Let’s see, the whole fingernail thing, the weird faces, and how about the fact that Yumeko pretty much got off from gambling? Oh and the OP and ED had some questionable scenes too.

As much as I liked the whole game thing, it did feel a bit too similar to last episode with the whole “introduce character and game, then after looking like MC’ll lose she pulls it off”. I’ll give it a few more episodes because right now, it’s teetering towards “drop” territory if it continues towards the path it’s currently going on.

The “Ideal Body” Award: Ballroom e Youkoso

Truly, the characters in this show are the pinnacle of man (and woman). Necks as long as their heads; this is indeed the peak of evolution.

In seriousness, the giraffe necks were a bit weird. Actually more than a bit weird: it bothered me throughout the whole episode in a minor way. I say minor way because I still greatly enjoyed the episode overall. A nice little introduction to the characters and where they stand so far, from the aimless main character to the not-so-lost other girl. I look forward to seeing how this show progresses.

The “I Guess It’s a Thing” Award: Dive!!, Nana Maru San Batsu, and Centaur no Nayami

Yeah boi, multiple shows can get the same award in a week. Welcome to The Week in Anime, where I make up the rules as I go along.

Anyway, let me start with Dive!!, which as you may guess is a show about diving. But I don’t know, there honestly wasn’t much else to it. I didn’t really like the main character too much, what with his attitude towards his family and girlfriend and infatuation towards his cool senpai. I’ve seen comparisons to Battery, but I don’t think it’s that bad yet. At least they might focus on the sport from what this episode showed, which is more than the “baseball” in Battery. As it stands I probably might drop this show, but something in me wants to give this show one more episode, so that I will. More likely than not though expect this show to receive the award featuring red flags next week.

On the same token we have Nana Maru San Batsu, a show about quiz bowl. Unlike Dive!!, it’s actually pretty interesting. The first episode did a nice job of introducing some things about quiz bowl like predicting the answer before all of the question is read. The gripes I have with this show is with its shounen genreification (that’s not a word but whatever). This show feels a lot like a sports show: we have the weak main protagonist who at first is apprehensive to the sport but then as he suddenly finds he has skill in it joins it and through the power of friendship and stuff wins the thing. Or something like that. I don’t know, I generally don’t like shounen and the tropes that follow along with it. Even a show that does it really well like Boku no Hero Academia this season is still kinda iffy for me. I don’t know why: maybe I just don’t like the monologueing that happens a lot in those types of shows. So overall, 703x (the other name for the show) looks interesting enough for me to continue watching, but I do feel a bit iffy about it in the back of my mind, and so it’s on the Short Leash for now. We’ll check back in after ~3 episodes.

Finally, we have Centaur no Nayami, which is our monster girl show of the season. The first half felt like it should’ve been in a later episode: the way they just throw the viewer into the scene without introducing the characters felt a little odd. Also the whole yuri undertones weren’t my thing. But there were some promising things about the show, namely the themes they introduce that help with the world building. I think if they use it right it would add a nice dimension to the show that so far is kinda lacking in... substance? I don’t know, but something feels like it’s missing. Overall though for a first episode it was okay, but I wanna see some more episodes to see where this goes before fully committing to watching it.

The Nice Romance Show Award: Tsurezure Children

Well I’m glad. Last year had a... shall we say dearth of romance shows. I mean yeah there were some I liked (Honobono Log, ReLIFE if you wanna count that), but there was a really big lack of just nice pure romance. Well this year’s solved that problem. We got Kuzu no Honkai two seasons ago (debatable I know), Tsuki ga Kirei last season, and this season we have Tsurezure Children, a nice collection of skits about various couples. It’s cute, and that’s all I really want in life. The problem I feel like I’m gonna get into is that with the range of couples, there’s bound to be one (or a few) that I don’t like at all. That’s not too much of a problem though I think because the skits focusing on the couples are pretty short anyway, so there won’t be much time spent on hated couples unless I hate most of them (which if the first episode is any indication, I won’t). I’m excited to see what other couples we get and excited for more fun interactions with them.

The Bad OP/EDs of the Season: Boku no Hero Academia S2 and Sakura Quest

Ah yes, here’s the section where I complain about stuff changing.

Yes, with the start of the new season comes new OPs and EDs for the two shows I’m watching that are 2-cour. After watching both episodes with their OPs/EDs, I can safely say that change is bad and nothing good comes from change. Starting with BnHA’s new OP: it’s boring. The song is monotone, and the visuals are pretty average. It reminds me of a lot of shounen OPs I’ve watched before. Here’s the problem: I haven’t even watched that many shounens. Meanwhile the ED is... actually that’s pretty nice. I like the RPG style visuals, although the song will take some time to get used to.

Then we have Sakura Quest starting with the new rock OP, which is... pretty generic to be honest. Plus the visuals are all over the place, which is a far cry from the nice visuals from the first OP with the view of them working. Then there’s the ED. The song’s nice but when you’re coming off of a ED like Freesia it’s hard to meet expectations.

Change is bad kids.

The “Red Flags” Dropped Shows of the Week Award: The many shows listed below

Well as it’s the start of a season it’s the time of dropping hella shows. I’m gonna just go barebones into why I dropped the show, starting with...

Koi to Uso

Two words: FISH EYES. Seriously, those eyes really creep me out. Now I get why people complain about the eyes in Clannad being too distracting (though those eyes in particular weren’t that bad for me). Also the show itself wasn’t too interesting for me, so into the dropped list it goes.

Aho Girl

That was too much for me. Jokes flying left and right, with no break to process it all. Not to mention the main girl is very annoying. VERY. Within the first two minutes I wanted to jump out of the window rather than continue watching (which wouldn’t do too much damage tbh since I live on the first floor). So for my sanity, I’ll just stick with shows that don’t make me want to tear out my hair.

Netsuzou TRap

Welp, that was a thing. I guess it was yuri, but it felt like the beginnings of a hentai to me. Seriously, I was expecting some naughty things to happen during the whole episode, but nothing happened except questionable content featuring a girl I didn’t really like, what with her being pretty abusive. I guess it’s what it is considering this is NTR, so I can’t fault it too much. But I can stop watching it, and that I will.

Made in Abyss

I just lost interest in it. I was watching the episode, got bored, checked the score of the Brewers/Yankees game, watched some of the game, remembered the kazoo channel I used to watch, watched some videos from said channel including a kickass cover of Zen Zen Zense, watched the original Zen Zen Zense music video, started watching Made in Abyss again, wondered who one of the voice actresses was, looked it up on MAL, saw her other roles, looked up other voice actors/actresses, etc. etc. etc.... you get the point. Fantasy shows aren’t usually my thing and the show didn’t grab my attention at all, and the snippets I did watch bored me anyway. Who knows, maybe this show’ll be great like what I’m seeing many people proclaim, but I think I’ll stick with my slice-of-life shows for now, and see if that holds true later in the season.

Best Episode of the Week: Sakura Quest

Before I watched this episode, I was considering dropping this show. I had put off watching it for a few days before finally watching it, and after watching it I can say I won’t be dropping it anytime soon. I thought the most recent episodes were pretty forgettable, but after watching a lot of different anime episodes that were... not good, watching this was a nice breath of fresh air. Plus it helped that the focus wasn’t on the characters so much as the general theme of revitalizing rural areas that attracted me to this show in the first place. I also liked the scenes with all the characters reconnecting with their old friends from back home: coming from someone who went to a faraway land for college, I can really relate to meeting your old friends and reconnecting with them. In that sense I really liked this episode because it felt nostalgic. As I learned from the slate of episodes I watched this week, it’s nice for me to feel some sort of emotional connection to a show. I guess that’s why I enjoy slice-of-life shows so much and don’t really like the fantasy and sci-fi genres. Enjoying a show is one thing, but being able to connect to it is another.

And that’s all for this week! Thanks for reading this super long post, and I’ll see you in the next one!