#NEXT MYSTERY FILES EP

[shaniacsboogara]

i would love to see shane madej's theories regarding the fnaf lore. give that man a corkboard immediately.

[hemlockesprings]

HALLO from Norway, my partner and I love Going...Going...Gone! and were hoping there was somewhere like Bandcamp where we could pay for your music so that we could download it (we're old farts who love local files) :P

Hello hello hello 🥰💕 So glad you liked the EP!

I have not posted on BandCamp as of yet, and I can't promise in the near future I will (I dunno how it works w/contracts and stufffff), but let me ask around!

Fun fact that I just remembered: This is technically my second EP release! I released an EP on BandCamp (I genuinely forgot what the EP was called) under a different name (I think I remember the name I had before 'hemlocke springs', but I hope it NEVERrr comes to light)!

.............I only made 50 cents off it LOL!

But someone out there has the OG file of a song I want to put on my next project (and they PAID 50 cents for it). I genuinely wonder who that person was/is (but also hope they never reveal themselves --- love a shroud of mystery)! Okay, ramble over! 😭💕🔒

[tasty-littl-snack]

Hey lil question: I was scrolling the shyan tag and saw an ask on your blog that referred to ryan and shane having some kinda fight after/during their investigation of Waverly Hills on Ghost Files. I hadn’t heard this story before so I wondered what the OG source for that info is. Just for science and the ethics code of ghost hunting’s sake ofc 🫠 Not doubting just ravenously curious!

(The ask and the post it spins off from in question)

Oh yeah sure no problem. Some of these anecdotes are now lost to time because their patreon is now gone so no easy way to see the sources but, this one has three sources including one from Shane Madej himself.

Before the streamer and up to June this year they had a patreon and the bonus content on there for higher tiers was one of the crew doing audio commentary on the episode (think dvd commentaries where people share behind the scenes). Sometimes to incentivize people to see what is available on higher tiers they posted some of Shane's commentaries for all paying patrons. In 2022 they also had the sick and unrealistic shedule of posting Ghost files ep every week, so Ryan was busy and couldn't do it for the first ep. Therefore Shane did that even tho his only working on the show was being there brainstorming for how the boonker would look like (off-topic but here is a fun interview of them comparing this to furnishing a house together wtf) and editing the ghost files outro so the music is as haunting as it is. Since the commentary was created as a watchalong (I listened to it as a podcast bc I find Shane's voice great to listen to, but that's just me), at the end of it he goes into explaining why he didn't tell Ryan where the walkie was. (according to him he asked the crew beforehand and they didn't say he couldn't do it). So when we see Ryan being angry you can hear Shane say "He's genuinely mad here by the way, and I meant it when I said it's good to be a ghost hunter but internally I was like "Is Ryan mad at me? yknow". In that commentary we also hear Shane's impression of their car drive from Waverly and while Shane tries to talk, Ryan is answering him in short phrases. He was also mad at him the next morning apparently, but I guess they made up. So that's the primary source for that, and I swear I heard a snippet on this on tumblr, or maybe some people posting about it back in the day but I couldn't find it (if someone has it then feel free to share that snippet).

The second source that I have that this happened is Hinsdale House Debrief (Ghost Files season 2 finale), (around 23.30 with the 'solo investigation' part of the video) when someone asks Lizzie if she'd go on a solo and she admits that a location like Waverly would be out of the question, and so Ryan is like "Now imagine if your pal didn't tell you where the walkie is and you have to do the solo investigation for an hour" so like a year maybe two after this we can see that he still remembers this and while Lizzie and Shane say "You chose this life" Ryan is somewhat upset about it. Lizzie then says "He didn't talk to Shane after this for like a week" and since she is their coworker and has to deal with them I find that really fascinating.

Third source is this Really no Really podcast interview with Ryan and Shane, (Around 23,00 minutes in, segments: the relationship and the first episode) when they ask them about their relationship and then they go into recounting the whole thing again (here Shane once again makes the impression of Ryan being mad at him in the drive back). In general I reccomend watching this ep because they are really cute together and you get to see them interact with mr Jason Alexander who is a fan of them and it's really cool to see.

Also if you have the streamer, in Mystery Files bloopers Ryan also explains why he did the blob prank on Shane, and it was to get back at him for the walkie thing from Waverly so I think this is really their one serious fight that they will allude to for the rest of their friendship.

Thank you for asking, hope it clears things up a bit <3

(also I'm sorry for clogging the shyan tag I just sometimes remember to tag things and sometimes I don't so random asks end up in the search)

[agatharkn3ss]

Thoughts on Teen's story (spoilers)

This is not a formed theory of any kind, I am still trying to make sense about Teen, so this is just a brain-dump of things I've noted so far.

I still think he's some form of Billy/Wiccan and that his parents died in that car crash mentioned in ep.1. Maybe even the body that is being investigated was Billy's mom and not Wanda, as we were made to believe. But what happened next? Why only release Agatha from her spell in 2026 if the crash was in 2023? How is he connected to Rio because I think they are working together? What triggered Nosey-Agnes to become Detective-Agnes?

The detail that has caught my eye is Agatha's house when she finally wakes up from the curse. Agatha still lives in the house she "borrowed" from Ralph Bohner (fake Pietro) in Wandavision. Surely, the house content and decor would largely stay the same as what she made it when she still had her purple powers? Wanda wouldn't change the house itself - even her own house plot didn't physically change.

But in the opening of ep.2 Agatha seems confused by things - e.g. she dislikes the coffee, then exclaims "whose shoes are these?!". But I brushed it off thinking maybe she's just finding items from her "Agnes" persona and still recovering from the spell. Or her neighbours got her wrong items (and someone must have built her that "car"!). But what if they really do belong to someone else?

We are made to believe that maybe Agatha kidnapped Teen, but what if he lived with her since the crash (or at least for a while)? And that's how he's learnt about Agatha and magic? Only she doesn't remember because she was in her Agnes-the-nosey-neighbour persona? Or because of the sigil?

The house is absolutely littered with books (and rabbit images - which is interesting, since in her detective reality rabbit was somehow linked to Nicholas Scratch items) and there are symbols and sketches everywhere - someone has been very busy looking for magic for sure. It couldn't be Agatha if she's trapped as Agnes? I imagine this is how Teen managed to create his spell book and fill with lots of info he found.

There are also lots of police files boxes and random photos are stuck to doors and walls etc. This could be because Agatha was in her "Agnes O'Connor" role and was hanging up what she thought was evidence. And I do think that to certain extent that might be the case - we see the same flower photos that Agatha originally thought were photos of the victim's body. But where would the boxes come from? There are so many of them and they look like the real deal and not made up. So was someone really investigating something?

And finally, there is this little detail... A kid's drawing?! Or maybe someone was trying to badly draw a vision of what they saw? Looks like a woman with rays coming out of her head?

This is not making any sense, somehow I can't see Nosey-Agnes and Teen playing happy family... But then again, it would explain the connection they have. When Teen wakes up from being injured on the Road, the very first thing he says is he asks Agatha if she was the one who put the sigil on him. I wonder if this is Teen testing Agatha how much she remembers from before. It feels like he wants to have a heart-to-heart with her, but doesn't know how much he can say yet.

Then there is the link to Rio. And the mystery of the locket. Rio was clearly very interested in it - she questioned "Agnes" about it - "Are you hiding evidence?". This was briefly followed by Teen breaking into the house and stealing the locket. I don't think that's a coincidence and Rio was probably trying to create distraction for Teen. There are soooo many possibilities, but I wonder if the locket was the one item that Teen needed to break Agatha from the spell - something that was her one connection to reality (as it remains so during the trials too) and close to her heart, because it contained her son's hair, and only Rio would know that. How did the locket get to the puddle in the "crime scene" in the first place though? Did Agatha have something to do with the crash?

As for the sigil, I wonder if it was Rio who placed it on Teen, knowing Agatha can't know too much about him because she wouldn't help Wanda's kid. Or she simply knew that keeping the mystery will intrigue Agatha enough to keep Teen close to her. The question is, why?

Oh, and another side-note - no matter who cast the sigil, it would hide Teen's identity from all witch-folk, including the witch who cast it. So when Rio says "That boy is not yours", it raises even more questions. Is Rio not a witchy person (because she's Death) so she's not affected by the sigil? I think unlikely, since she had to obey magic to join the coven after Sharon died. Or, she is affected by the sigil but she knows Agatha's son is dead (or somewhere else) so it can't be Teen? Or, she's lying. Either way - why?

Anyway... just a collection of random thoughts, because I am getting stir crazy waiting for the next episode! I hope they will answer at least some of these questions soon! (probably not until ep.6 though...)

[class1akids]

You're Next - What do we know so far of Movie 4?

Timeline:

It takes place sometime in the days between Aoyama being discovered as traitor and the start of the final war

The setting is Class A's search for AFO - with tie-ins in Ch 339 and in the anime S7 Ep 5

Who will be in the movie?

The main focus appears to be the Origin Trio (which makes sense with "Dark Might" as the villain), together with the new movie original characters:

a motorbike-riding, gun-shooting butler - Giulio Gandini (VA: Mamorou Miyano) - who apparently starts out as antagonistic to the heroes and is scared of Anna's power

Anna Scarvino - the mysterious girl who seems to be only important for the power of her quirk (and as possible love interest for Giulio)

Dark Might - the main villain of the movie, whose power seems to stem from a combination or tech and leeching off of the girl's power

Will Class A be in the movie?

Yes, all of Class A (minus Aoyama who is in prison post-traitor reveal) will be in the movie.

They'll start out the movie in 3 groups - led by:

Deku (Uraraka, Sero, Ojirou, Hagakure)

Bakugou (Kirishima, Mina, Tokoyami, Satou, Kouda)

Todoroki (Iida, Momo, Tsuyu, Shoji, Kaminari)

Based on the key visuals, Uraraka and Iida may have slightly bigger roles than the rest of the class.

Will Class B be in it?

Unlikely.

Will there be Pros in the movie?

All Might, Endeavor and Hawks appear in the trailer. A few others are listed on the Movie website. They are unlikely to have big role, with maybe the exception of All Might.

Will the hero kids fight together?

Yes, the new trailer shows that Class A converges to fight together, we see a TodoBaku combo, and the final part of the clip suggests that the main villain may be defeated by an Origin Trio combo.

What are they up against?

It seems like Dark Might and/or Anna's power results in something similar to the JJK "domains" / enclosed alternate reality spaces. Some of them are similar to locations from previous movies. You can see the "crack" in the space behind Bakugou's explosion.

Music?

The theme song is Homunculus by Vaundy

For the OST, Okamoto said that Hayashi made a better song than You Say Run!

When is it coming out?

The movie will open in Japan on 2nd August - same day as the release of Volume 41.

We have no news as of yet regarding any international release. But Anime Expo will have an MHA event on the 6th July with the release of an extended EN trailer

Merch?

The merch released so far are:

Clear files by Yuki Hayashi (sold in Japanese movie theaters as bonus with the tickets)

Another set of clear files with the new OCs

A third type of bonus is rumoured to be an illustration by Horikoshi

Was Horikoshi involved?

We don't know. When they released the OCs, they didn't specify that Horikoshi designed them, so likely it was Umakoshi instead.

We don't know if Hori will do any promotional art, or original volume like he did for other movies (but possible)

Does this mean S7 will be a disaster?

No. Within BONES studio B works on the movie and studio C works on the anime. So the two teams are separate (with some overlaps - notably Umakoshi who is involved in both projects).

Who is the animation staff?

Director: Tensai Okamura

Screenplay: Yosuke Kuroda

Main character design: Yoshihiko Umakoshi

Character design/main animation director: Yuki Hayashi

Chief animation director: Hitomi Odashima

Music: Yuki Hayashi

Sound Director: Masafumi Mima

More posts about Movie 4

[drunkkenobi]

Well. This is the weirdest one of these I’ve ever made.

I’m not going to rehash the wank from the Watcher TV announcement. You all know what happened. I am standing by my assertion that this streaming platform is the only way they’re going to stay afloat because YouTube is just not the place for them or anyone else making videos that aren’t just of one person in their house. (nothing against those folks, it’s just a completely different business model)

Anyway.

First up, here’s how Mystery Files season 2 did. It did well, with each ep hitting a million fairly quickly, but it didn’t do as well as season 1. Not significantly worse, just not as high. (two weeks after season 1 ended, the average per episode was 1.854 and for s2 it’s at 1.194million) Of course, the two weeks since season 2 ended have been fucking insane so it’s impossible to say how much of that is a factor.

I will say that views between last week and this week are down overall, but that’s expected. If someone has paid for the streamer and you want to rewatch Ghost Files or whatever, you’re going to watch it ad-free on the app you pay for and not YouTube for the most part. Also it’s very possible people are just not rewatching stuff right now for their own personal reasons, which is fine. I also just don’t think it’s something to worry about.

For better or worse, the Goodbye YouTube video is the best opening weekend Watcher has ever had (and will have?) on YouTube.

Watcher lost around 100k subscribers over The Announcement but, again, if people are paying them directly now then this is kind of a non-factor. For posterity, they’re at 2.84 million subscribers today.

I’m not sure what else to say this time, tbh! It felt like a good time to make one of these with MF season 2 being over but YouTube viewcounts are just…not going to be important anymore for Watcher so there’s not much to say about them. Finding out that a million views only nets between $10-30k has been very eye-opening to me about how piddly the revenue from YouTube is for a production studio like Watcher. The shows they want to make just cost more than they can make off of there. It’s that simple. No one has to like that fact, but that is the heart of all this.

Also, with all of that being said, I think my time as a spreadsheet gremlin is coming to a close. I’m going to keep up with it for a few more weeks and probably do one last round-up for every single video’s views, but with Watcher moving away from YouTube as a business model, there’s little reason to keep up with these. I’ve been making these updates less this year anyway because of a job change and I was losing my steam for it a bit too, so the timing feels right. Like I said, this won’t be my last viewcount post, but maybe second-to-last? And who knows, maybe I’ll check in when Ghost Files premieres but the counts will mean so much less now that the videos will premiere with a month delay from the streamer. We’ll just have to wait and see how the wind blows on this.

Thank you all, as always, for reading, reblogging, replying, liking these posts. Y’all are the reason I’ve kept up with it for four years (and my own nosiness but having encouragement helps!). And don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll have some other spreadsheets to share in the future of Watcher fandom. (I have…so many) So, until next time, thanks again. ❤️

[suometar]

Scifi/odd/mystery indie film rec list

Someone asked me to create rec list of less known/indie scifi/odd/mystery films, and, well, it kind got out of hand. Oopsie. You can thank my hubs who writes a review of all films we've watched. These all have been given at least 3/5 stars from me and/or him. Enjoy!

I'm not fully sure if these films are all indie, but I'm quite convinced you at least haven't heard about most of them:

Another Earth (2011)

Archive (2020. On my Top 10 forever fave film list)

Automata (2014)

Boss level (2020)

Brainstorm (1983)

Breach (2020)

Coherence (2013, SO GOOD)

Color out of space (2019)

Coma (2019, russian, is available with english and german dubbing. Effing gorgeous film)

District 9 (2009)

Donnie Darko (2001)

Dual (2022. Fun fact: it was shot in the town in Finland where I was born)

ExistenZ (1999)

Gattaca (1997)

Girl on the Train (2016, mystery)

Hardcore Henry (2015)

High-Rise (2015, also highly recommend the J.G.Ballard book the film is based on)

Ink (2009. On my Top 10 forever fave films list)

Intrusion (2021)

Lobster (2015)

Melancholia (2011)

Memento (2000)

Minor premise (2020)

Moon (2009)

Oxygen (2021, French)

Pi (1998)

Poor Things (2024)

Predestination (2014)

Primer (2004, can’t emphasize enough: this is a MUST for every scifi film buff. Goes without saying, on my Top 10 list)

Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021)

Splice (2009)

Sunshine (2007)

The Blackout (2019, Russian)

The Discovery (2017)

The Endless (2017)

The Invitation (2015)

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

The Repo-men (2010)

The Trip (2021)

Upgrade (2018)

Upside down (2012, technically fantasy but what the heck. Pretty as hell)

Vivarium (2019)

Westworld (original film from 1973)

Scifi/horror:

Blood red sky (2021, German)

Cube (1997) & Cube 2 (2002) (the rest are meh)

Event Horizon (1997, I wrote a homage to this film into my book :3)

Kyrsyä - Tuftland (2017, Finnish, it’s available online somewhere and en subtitles are available. Might require some digging though)

Additional mentions, not necessary indie films but MUST SEE:

12 Monkeys (1995)

Contagion (2011)

Dune (1984 + the new ones)

Ex Machina (2014)

In time (2011)

Logan’s run (1976)

Old (2021)

Prospect (2018)

Soylent green (1973)

Tetris (2023)

The Andromeda Strain (1971)

A Quiet Place (2018, 2020)

Split (2016, also the whole film series)

In general worth a watch (all basically under odd at least):

All Darren Aronofsky films

All M. Night Shyamalan films

All Yorgos Lanthimos films

TV shows (not indie, just worth the watch):

Dark Matter (SYFY, 2015-2017. First EP sucks, then it's absolute golden. A kin to Firefly)

Dark Matter (Apple, 2024. Based on a book with the same name by Blake Crouch)

The Expanse (Originally Netflix, moved to Amazon. Both TV show AND books. Oh the books are SO GOOD and better than the show imo)

Severance (Apple. I can't yell enough of this. It's just mindbogglingly good)

The X-Files (duh)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (yeah yea, I'm a trekkie)

Star Trek Picard

Resident Alien (SYFY, 2021-)

Foundation (Apple, 2021- *chef's kiss* goes for the books too)

[yohangaontdj]

The Devil Judge Rewatch Ep 6 (Part 1)

This time round, the rewatch will be in chronological order, according to the episode. Cause there's too many things I want to talk about.

And I have to start with - 'What in the world are you thinking, Yohan!'

Driving your car right into a sea of deserted containers, all alone. And just because of a mysterious letter you had received.

You're just as bad as Soohyun in not calling for backup.

And when a car had blasted its headlights on you and about to run you down. Shouldn't you be jumping out of the way and not stand there looking cool and like you can handle it.

Only to get whacked in the back of your head.

Though I have to say that you looked pretty hot handcuffed o a chair.

And Gaon should have seen it instead of being fast asleep.

Then he wouldn't have make that remark about you being with your girlfriend, when Elijah had woken him up.

And here we have Elijah worrying about Yohan.

And carrying the same teddy bear that she had from the church fire.

Though I wonder if it was the same. Cause I know from experience that a soft toy can't last that long without going grey and limp and flat.

Makes me wonder if Yohan had managed to find the same manufacturer and got the exact same teddy bear produced.

And I suspect that Elijah knew it wasn't the same teddy bear as the one she first had. Cause the smell wouldn't be the same. Not unless Yohan went so far as to get the very same smell reproduced.

And here we have Gaon trying to comfort Elijah.

I love how he had made sure Elijah wouldn't scald her hand. Offering her the handle of the mug first, while he himself held onto the hot part.

Then listening to Elijah talk about how cold and impossibly large the house was. And how she had hacked into Yohan's computer, just for fun at age 12. Only to find a hidden file about cancelling the donation Isaac had made. And so, concluded that Yohan had her parents murdered.

Now we have a flashback to Yohan's past and the relationship he had with Sunah.

Which turned out to be toxic. Starting with Sunah betraying Yohan in what I suspect is an attempt to protect herself.

She had been stealing from the Kang household and now that it seemed the thefts had been noticed. She had decided to sacrifice Yohan in order to save herself.

And Yohan had heard everything.

This isn't the only thing Sunah had done wrong to Yohan. And which I will have to continue in the next post as I've reached the 10-photo limit placed by Tumblr.

To find Part 2, look here.

[nedxnancy]

Last Nancy Drew Mystery Stories episode! (Back to the Files for the next one.)

[spyrkle4]

Since ep 8 of despair time is almost here ima scream about my thoughts on ep 7

read more contains major chapter 2 spoilers, esp for the end of the ep!

Teruko even when she’s being a grumpy cat is a big mood

*sleeps in four hours in* “I’M GONNA BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!” “Wait I’m in a killing game I don’t have school”

and then nopes out of drama much to the audience’s dismay (these eps being livestreamed makes the meta of Despair Time being a tv show 10x hilarious, it’s like v3 all over again)

Part of me expected Ace to damage his vocal chords or lose his voice due to him neglecting his throat wound, but it must’ve been surface level since he’s still at 110% volume, Eden must’ve dragged him to the infirmary, she’s got willpower, she could do it

and Nico being oddly quiet makes me think that they regret trying to kill Ace and it was a “I am in so much stress I’m going to express it in a very unhealthy way” and that way was attempted murder

Doesn’t make what Nico did okay... but I get why they tried to kill Ace, they have really bad experiences with getting bullied and Ace constantly picking on them in an environment like the killing game is not good for one’s mental health, (plus getting outed w/o their consent DAVID--)

the convo with Rose at the gym makes me think of the vine of “I thought you could do a kickflip--” “I can! I did one this morning!”

Wonder why J was in the gym, hmmmmmmmm

and then Rose realizing Nico stole her art supplies to commit murder--

*shakes Nico* I love you but *points to Rose* you gave her anxiety, apologize asap

I think they’re genuine friends but Nico def made some bad choices and should apologize 

Best part of the ep is no doubt the charwhit shenanigans, everything else is on fire and they are vibing, I also love that Whit is helping Charles learn how to cook and they both are finding things they have in common

Veronika is an interesting character for sure, she reminds me a bit of Junko but if Junko dealt with her despair addiction in a healthy matter (aka horror movies)

I don’t think Veronika is like the mastermind or secretly a serial killer (please god do not let us have another chapter 3 serial killer), she is just a little Unhinged like your everyday tumblr user

and then the BDA happens this ep and *sigh*

...Arei : (

Was really terrified once David noticed she was missing and the way she died... wtf to whomever killed her I have words for you

It really sucks bc (a. the playground of all places?! b. She had a really bad hand in life and C. I wanted to see her be happy!) 

I’ve seen a lot of people debate it being David or Hu or Eden (I doubt it’s Eden since the BDA went off and I think she has some part to play) but I’m not sure, but it def wasn’t an accident like Xander

and it’s def gonna be a long trial since bda files aren’t a thing in this game, which is super cool and it made the first trial really interesting as part of the mystery was the cast assumed Xander died from a throat wound but in reality he died from electrocution 

who knows what’ll happen next ep but I am def scared for the investigation 

[wordsandrobots]

Thoughts on the Urdr Hunt (Eps 1-5)

As of writing, five episodes (each in two parts) of the Iron-Blooded Orphans tie-in game campaign ‘Urdr Hunt’ have been released on the Iron-Blooded Orphans G App. This is currently only available in Japan; I’ve been watching it subbed by Youtuber Trafalgar Log. I thought I’d summarise my impressions so far, since we’ve now had every character who shows up in the opening sequence appear at least once. Spoilers etc below.

The Set-Up

The titular Urdr Hunt has been revealed as a chase to recover data from various landmarks of significance to the Calamity War in general and the Seven Stars in particular. So far, the participants have visited a wrecked ship belonging to Angelica Elion, an Ariadne Beacon/resupply station administered by Kalf Falk, and an orbital satellite marked with the coat of arms of Gargin Bauduin. It seems probable that places overseen by the other four founders will be next on the itinerary.

Now, I’m of the opinion that one of the best things about IBO is that it’s not a ‘war is hell’ story so much as about how the peace afterwards is as well. The great big space war is three hundred years in the past and everyone is still living with the consequences: the unjust systems it created, military technology that has encouraged the use of child soldiers, powerful relics buried across the solar system like landmines waiting to be stepped on, etc. I think a series actually focused on the Calamity War would be considerably more generic than the one we got. That being said, it’s an obvious and perhaps irresistible narrative hook. The idea of some rich personage (the prize is a 100 billion meria, one of the two in-setting currencies in IBO) instigating a search for data and even artifacts from a by-gone, technologically superior age is a cool set-up for an episodic game.

Moreover, the central mystery here actually has little to do with the War -- only one of the competitors so far has voiced interest in the what the data they are collecting actually means -- but concerns the identity of whoever set up the Hunt in the first place. All we know about them is that they are wealthy enough to offer such a huge prize and that they go by the appellation ‘N’.

Now, given that Naze Turbine pops up in one of the trailers for the Iron-Blooded Oprhans G app, in the section pertaining to the Urdr Hunt (and in conjunction with Shino flying an updated version of the Season 1 Ryusei-Go) suggests he and indeed Tekkadan may well be putting in an appearance at some point. And certainly, the all-female team of Hunt guides might be an indicator that this is the doing of IBO’s premier harem-haver. However, there are three reasons I think it’s unlikely Naze is ‘N’. First, it seems wildly out of character: Naze shows zero interest in the Calamity War over the course of the show and this is extremely elaborate for Teiwaz, whose interest would be purely material in the sense that they have uses for old equipment. Second, the Hunt has already intersected with drone weaponry and some actual pluma sub-units of a mobile armour. If this is building to Naze being responsible, why didn’t he freak out when the half-metal mining operation uncovered Hashmal? We know Eco didn’t have a clue what a pluma was at the start of that arc in Season 2, so it would seem a continuity goof for Naze to have previously collected loads of information on the War. Finally and most importantly, there’s the presence of the Rakou Pirates as one of the entrants in the Hunt. They are explicitly described as the Turbine’s black-ops team, so if Naze wanted to know more about the War an the Seven Stars, why didn’t he just ask them to visit all the way-points and collect the required data? After all, the risk faced by the competitors has been entirely caused by the other competitors. Even the drone missiles wouldn’t have been a problem if Cyclase hadn’t turned them on. It would just be a case of bopping along the trail and downloading some files.

Basically, I don’t think it makes much sense for Naze to be ‘N’. Plus I really don’t want him to be? That’s too much of a tie-in to the main show and makes Naze out to be too much of a scheming jerk. But if not him, then who? A single-letter pseudonym implies a reveal of some kind, so who are the other options?

One who springs to mind is scheming jerk Nobliss Gordon. We know he likes byzantine plots and is rich as Croesus, plus being an arms dealer would give him a reason to want to dig up Calamity War relics for his own gain. That being said, it does seem a bit . . . fanciful for him and certainly a massive investment for potentially little gain. Still, not one to rule out.

A better fit might be Nemo Baklazan. ‘Who?’ you’re probably asking -- well, Nemo is another member of the current Seven Stars, the old, possibly blind gentleman who exists primarily to fill out the table and tell McGillis ‘no’ at the worst possible moment. The biggest evidence I can see for the Hunt being set up by someone in Gjallarhorn, aside from the Calamity War being the whole impetus for their existence, are the rings that serve as the means of entry. Each competitor has been given one and they appear to be highly advanced technology for the setting, basically being a wrist-sized computer capable of holographic projection. Nowhere else in IBO have we even seen that holograms are a thing. To me, that suggests they are War-era tech and since Gjallarhorn have controlled such technology for 300 years, I’m going to apply Occam’s Razor. Plus, it would make sense for a Seven Star to see what happened in Season 1, look at his fellow council members and go, ‘hmm -- wonder what other massively powerful weapons are lurking out there. Maybe I should do some digging into that . . .’

Of course, ‘N’ might not be anybody we have seen before. But if I had to bet, Nemo or someone else connected to the people who already know most about the War is where I’d put my money.

The Protagonist

I’m going to admit straight up that I don’t find Wistario Afam as engaging as either Mikazuki or Argi Mirage (lead for the other spin-off, a manga) which I think is partly due to him being a protagonist.

Let me explain. Neither Mikazuki nor Argi are precisely ‘protagonists’ in their own right. They are, broadly speaking, where the narratives are centred but both have complex relationships with other characters that mean they cannot be taken on their own. You can’t talk about the story of IBO-proper without making it about Mikazuki AND Orga, and indeed, Mikazuki AND McGillis. Similarly, the events of Gekko/Moon Steel happen to Argi, but while he has a more concrete personal aim than Mika (getting revenge for the death of his family), the narrative drops him into things that mostly have nothing to do with it. He’s a sullen grump, who’s nevertheless easily spurred into helping other people and as a result, it’s generally their stories (Volco wanting to restore Astaroth, Liarina taking over her father’s business, Mina running from her family) that we follow.

By contrast, Wistario’s quest to win the Urdr Hunt and use the money to buy Radonitsa Colony is where we come in and broadly speaking where we continue to go. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, of course, but it’s structurally shallower.

Wistario himself is by turns a slightly-spoiled, slightly-sweet kid, lonely as the only youth not to have left his home town, swaying people to the side of his big dreams with a charismatic earnestness I’m not sure the game has sold as effectively as it could. Broadly inoffensive and not as grating as I’d feared going in, but not as striking as his peers.

Also there’s his attitude towards killing -- always significant in Gundam fiction -- and, look, I feel I’m being unfair picking on this given we’re talking about a game where battling enemy mobile suits to destruction is the core mechanic. All the same, it’s a bit jarring to have a hero positioned as a *civilian* -- the teenage heir to a maintenance and administration company -- who gives less of a damn about shooting down enemies than Mikazuki Augus.

I’m not talking capacity here. I mean, Wistario goes from worrying about leaking pipes to efficiently murdering attacking pilots without really remarking on it and later proves completely OK with launching himself into fights to the death. With Mikazuki, we’re shown he understands what he’s doing. It’s one of the most scary things about him, that he isn’t killing people under the impression it’s not serious but out of a fundamental belief it’s the only way to survive. As for Argi, he goes from wannabe hit-man to frantically trying to save the life of the man he was there to shoot in, like, the first two pages. Looking back, I’m not sure he kills anybody over the course of the manga and many of his fights end with him demanding the defeated party give up. In their own ways, these are both characters in dialogue with the necessity of fighting and killing.

Yet it’s not been a part of Wistario’s story at all. He’s just . . . fine with it.

Maybe we’re building towards something here. This is the problem with making judgements halfway through a story. It could be that Wistario is being set up to be just as psychopathic in his own way as probably-main-villain Cyclase, willing to do anything for his dream.

And there is certainly *something* up with him, in regards his connection to his Gundam, which has been shown operating at Alaya-Vijnana speeds despite him not having one. I suspect we might be headed for the reveal that he’s our first non-Gjallarhorn descendant of an original Gundam pilot. Which -- eh. I guess that’ll be fine too.

I still prefer the other two.

The Supporting Cast

I have to say, I’m also rather ambivalent about Wistario’s direct subordinates. Demner Kitaco Jr basically exists to dote on him and Dexter and Sinister are fairly one-note old geezers. They’re well-designed and work OK in the story, but mostly, they’re just there. Even if Demner keeping a Gundam in the basement hints at more backstory for him in particular to come.

Katya Inoshi, on the other hand, intrigues. She provides a necessary extra element to the crew, which is otherwise made up of Wistario’s lackeys, offering common sense observations and asking questions the audience might be thinking. She is also clearly on the run from Gjallarhorn and her similarities to Carta Issue (hair, eye colour, eyebrows) may offer some hint as to why.

That said, while her joining the Erda II crew after they help bust a human trafficking operation (and she raids their fridge) works well, I do wish she hadn’t been relegated to ship’s dogsbody. It feels rather rote for the girl to get lumbered with the cooking and cleaning, and she lacks the framing that helps with alleviate the feeling over in the main show. Atra is supremely at home in her chosen profession as Tekkadan’s cook (as competent as her comrades, just along a totally different axis) and demonstrates a core of iron-toughness that makes it clear she belongs alongside them. By contrast, Katya essentially begs for the roll in order to stay aboard the ship, making her far more subordinate to Wistario as a result. It feels like a step down, though her personality offsets it somewhat.

I want to deal with the Urdr Hunt guides later, so let’s skip to the next member of Wistario’s gang, Range Dubrisko. Oh, Range. Well first off, he endears himself by being the kind of mook who wears his poncho over his normal-suit.

Beyond that, he has the most involved backstory we’ve seen so far, as the son of a human debris-trader who grew sickened by family business and took a job with the Omden Colony Company instead. His aim in doing this was to gather the power necessary to build a paradise where people could be free and equal. Unfortunately, Range is . . . how to put this . . . a bit of a chump. A well-intentioned chump, but a chump nonetheless and it’s clear there was no chance of him pulling off his grand design -- which was in truth not so much a design as a dream chased to ease a guilty conscience. With the loss of his loyal followers Andy and Bito (who exist to believe in Range unto their deaths), he has thrown in his lot with Wistario, drawn in by the teenager’s unwavering conviction in his own big dreams. I’m interested to see where that dynamic goes. And he’s certainly fun to watch, in a ‘cutely flailing disaster’ sort of way.

The Friendly Rivals

Speaking of flailing disasters, time to discuss my favourite character: ex-ish human debris and Tekkadan wannabe 598. Now I have to confess, I primed myself to like this kid from the get-go, having adored his character design since it was first revealed. Just look at this doofy gremlin child.

He is absolutely dying horribly before this is over. Indeed, 598 is the most typically IBO character in Urdr Hunt. A kid sold as human debris before getting abandoned on the street, he was taken in (in both sense of the word) by a pirate who convinced him to fight and steal by spinning stories about Tekkadan’s success in Season 1. The prospect of becoming a similarly-powerful gang blinded 598 and his numerically-named comrades to their exploitation until a fight with Wistario led to the revelation their boss had a cargo hold full of young girls he was planning to sell off. 598 ended up taking control of the ship, freeing the prisoners, and setting off to join the Hunt as head of a new group named Foundling. There are a lot of things I like about 598, from his boisterous enthusiasm to the fact he’s both more worldly than Wistario and much less smart. But mostly, I like his stubborn refusal to live on anyone’s terms except his own (even when he doesn’t quite understand what those terms are). While Wistario gets him thinking (and later comes to his aid in battle), it’s the discovery of those human trafficking victims that spurs 598 to change and he takes responsibility for actions he took as a pirate, finding dignity in owning his mistakes. He even refuses to take a new name, not seeing what’s wrong with the one he’s got. As I said, I suspect this attitude is going to get him killed but in the meantime, he’s the highlight of the game.

The second friendly rival takes the form of a pirate captain by the name of Tamami Rakou, head of the single most unsubtle black-ops team you could imagine.

Yep. Yep, that’s literally just the Turbines’ logo with a skull painted over it. Tamami self-describes as someone who was once a lot like 598 in the sense of being extremely reckless, before being brought into the Turbines by Naze and Amida. She learnt how to run a business under their tutelage and took on the kinds of missions that would reflect poorly on the company. Eventually, this led to her crew becoming known as pirates and they just sort of ran with it. It’s a nice, straightforward backstory that fits well with what we know of Turbines, and as I mentioned above, speaks to a separation between the Hunt and our favourite Teiwaz subsidiary. Tamami comes across as a fairly reasonable woman, albeit one who turns fierce when confronting threats to her family. She had to be drawn into the Hunt via pursuing 598 over his attacks on Teiwaz shipping, but now she’s involved, I’m looking forward to seeing more of her teaching him the ways of the Jupiter mafia. It’s a nice means of taking their stories forward.

Thirdly we have Mendou, a treasure hunter with very different priorities to the other two.

Where 598 and Tamami are, like Wistario, in the Hunt for the massive cash prize, Mendou is here for the historical knowledge. We’re introduced to him braving danger in the name of uncovering information on the Calamity War, and I suspect we’ll see more of that. He seems pleasant, but his off-putting reaction to hearing the Erda II crew are from Venus and cryptic hints about Wistario’s Gundam make me think he might not be as much an ally as he currently appears. Certainly he seems the sort to press a big red button that should on no account be pushed . . .

The Antagonists

On to the unfriendly rivals, we should probably start with the Zan brothers, Rome and Aiko, who reflect that thing about it being very clear when an anime character is intended to be American.

Their theme music is literally named ‘Gangsta Bros’, they’re members of a crime family from the SAU (the fictional country comprising the Americas), and leaning into this set of stereotypes doesn’t feel like the greatest choice, honestly. But it’s what the makers of the game went with, so here we are. Rome is a self-important blowhard, puffing himself up as the natural successor to his father while being not nearly as smart as he thinks and a bit of a cowardly lion, retreating when it’s clear he’s not going to immediately get his way. Aiko gives the outward appearances of subservience, while muttering under his breath about his brother’s shortcomings, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this relationship is headed towards fratricide. Their role has been to show up intermittently trying to kill the competition. For all their flamboyance, they’re presented as basically rich bullies, happy to send human debris out as cannon fodder, and a threat through force of arms rather than anything else.

Far more dangerous, it appears, is Cyclase Mayer, the most villain-coded git you could imagine.

Cyclase starts out as Range’s superior in the Omden Company, coldly demeaning the hapless poncho-wearer, before graduating into full-blown bastardry by abandoning him, Andy and Bito to an automated weapons system simply to ensure the destruction of a Hunt way-point. Indeed, this has been his overall modus operandi, demolishing artifacts of historical significance to make sure nobody else can extract the precious data. Such single-minded ruthlessness has put him firmly at the front of the pack, with barely any interaction with Wistario to get in his way. All this said, we haven’t really had much hint as to what drives Cyclase yet. He gives a big speech to Range about being a cog in Omden’s machine, so he clearly has no belief that he’s valued by the company. On the other hand, he’s been diligent in pursuing their goals. I guess time will tell if he has an agenda of his own (the character profile describes him as a former Gjallarhorn officer who killed his commander -- he even flies a stolen Schwalbe Graze -- but this is yet to come up in-story). He’s working well as the competent opposition and I look forward to seeing that expanded with an actual confrontation.

Finally, a note on the minor antagonists. First up, we have the nameless prisoner from the very start of the game who is the intended recipient for the Hunt ring that Wistario ends up with, who I mention chiefly because it’s a point that’s gotten lost in the shuffle.

Wistario isn’t meant to be involved, and the fact the guy who is was sprung from a Gjallarhorn prison seems like it might be notable with respect to whoever’s running this thing.

Then there’s Torrado Omden, the man at the Omden Company in favour of continuing with the hunt (and presumably the owner of said company?).

We know absolutely nothing about him, but the fact he has a character model suggests we haven’t seen the last of him yet. I do wonder if we’ll dive deeper into the corporate side of things, something IBO has gestured to in the past but largely evaded in favour of your actual mafia.

Then there’s this arsehole.

Kimball is the pirate who 598 originally worked for and was, it turns out, a member of the Dawn Horizon Corps who struck out on his own. He’s probably not all that notable, save that he rivals Jasley for awfulness and has a fairly striking design. It was extremely satisfying to see him get his comeuppance. Which is kind of what you want in a villain, right?

The Urdr Hunt Guides

So far, seven guides have appeared, all helpfully providing the bare minimum of exposition required to get everybody involved in the Hunt. They are:

Korunaru Kousa, with Wistario;

Berose Kousa, with the Zan Brothers;

Parstai Kousa, with 598;

Tagging and Bana Kousa, with the Omden Company;

Kenshal Kousa, with the Rakou Pirates;

And Slice Kousa with Mendou.

Out of these, Tagging and Bana have had the least screen-time and precisely zero lines, appearing only in the background of an Omden Company board-meeting. Berose, meanwhile, has been relegated to the Zan Clan’s battleship, bemoaning her lot in being stuck with the brothers.

Kenshal, by contrast, seems to be having a nice time with pirate crew, albeit a rather boring one until Tamami gets drawn into the Hunt. She’s the youngest, a literal child, with the attitude to go with it, partial to sweets and loudly overruling an exasperated Tamami on competition matters. It’s actually kind of refreshing to have a kid in IBO who freely acts like it. Huh. I’m not going to dwell too hard on that, if you don’t mind.

Parstai might be my favourite of the lot, working as she does to directly help 598 out of his situation with Kimball and going on to administer his new company, despite being barely more literate than he is. She offers us possible hints about the Kousas’ background: she more or less says outright that she used to be human debris and doesn’t seem too far removed from that existence. She’s clearly come to care about her brash young charge and I do wonder if that’s going to creat a conflict with her mission. Generally calm and quiet, 598 does say that she’s utterly terrifying when she’s upset, as she certainly is with him offering up his arm as collateral and then signing away his life to a pirate captain.

I like Slice quite a lot too. She’s obviously invested in doing a good job and frustrated with both Mendou’s side-tracking and the dodgy comms system that have meant her hard work going unreported. (With her completing the set, I draw your attention to the fact that for all the guides, their hair-colour matches their eyes, though Berose’s character page shows that in her case at least, it’s dye.)

However, I can’t say that I’m too enthused by Korunaru, nominally the most important of the guides since she’s palling around with Wistario. It’s fine for a character to be meek and quiet, but I don’t think we’ve gotten much of a personality from her beyond her love of making tea. She mostly exists to gesture towards the plot, without really doing anything. Again, I hope that’ll change as the story progresses. Certainly there’s plenty of directions to go, including maybe giving us the full explanation for what the guides’ deal is. That would be the logical path for getting to the bottom of who ‘N’ is and what all this is in aid of. But for the moment, there’s not a great deal of connection established between her and Wistario, despite them having spent a lot of time together.

Closing thoughts?

Honestly, I have rambled quite long enough but if I had a closing remark to make, it’d be that I’m not sure how to evaluate the story in comparison to the main show yet. I don’t know how many episodes there are going to be, so I’m not sure how far in we are. We’re gotten through most of the trailer footage excepting that showing Gundam Hajiroboshi‘s original form and the aforementioned Naze and Shino cameos. Time wise, we’ve had at least 10 episodes of the anime, but structurally, I’m not sure it’s quite that much content (though neither is it just 5 so . . . hmm).

But with the next part showing Cyclase and Wistario coming face-to-face, a mobile armour’s reactivation and bloody Iok putting in an appearance, it seems things are about to start moving very quickly indeed. Hopefully there will be enough space to expand on the parts I’ve been meh on and this will all cohere into a satisfying tale!

[booasaur]

If you’re fielding random gay-ish Deadloch requests, some random thoughts - the stuff with Dulcie trying to be all business while Eddie is naked and hungover made me laugh out loud, Skye's explanation she got too gay for church and Nadiyah's thing about her mom being a ho-mo-phoobe was fun too. Dulcie frantically trying to scroll away from her wife's boob shot. Also, not strictly gay but I still liked it - Dulcie in that black suit in Ep 3 looked gooood.

That show is so great though. It was so funny from the start, but it really snuck a fantastic mystery in. I still haven't a clue who did it?

And another anon:

Lol Deadloch is an anti-ship for me. I just want everyone to stop yelling and solve the crime.

Haha, yeah, we don't have no ships here, no sirree. >_> (I do have a ship, actually, but I'll expound in the next reply.)

I've filed away your requests, anon, but as always, who knows when I'll actually get around to them. Although, Dulcie in the suit--actually, Dulcie has been extremely attractive throughout this show! I haven't watched Wentworth but I've seen other random things she's in and she never really hit me quite like here. The stern rule following thing just does it for me.

But the mysterrrryyy, yeah. At this point, it's really wide open. I can LOOSELY rule out the kids, though I wouldn't put it past the show saying the first death was accidental by one of them, but other than that...

I've gone up and down on Skye, at first they were laying it on so thick, but now that they've focused on her this much before the ending, as if they want to exonerate her and move on, well, maybe it'll circle back to her again. Margaret seems super suspicious as well, and I know we're supposed to hate James, but that call he made was weird too, aside from how obstructive he's been.

It all gets even more complicated if there are multiple people involved, as it feels like there must be at this point, the number of deaths and the variety of victims. Why the long gap and the reveal that Sam isn't a suspect but a victim? I've been eyeing Cath, Nadiyah, Aleyna, Gez, Vanessa, Ray, and Claire as well. The only people I think truly can be ruled out are Dulcie, Abby, and Eddie. And Sven...and Sven...? Maybe not him, actually. I'd say we, the audience, have seen enough of Dulcie, Abby, and Eddie trying to investigate the case even when people aren't watching, to mostly assume they're actually trying to solve it. Though, I mean, I guess Dulcie could be covering her own tracks this whole time... I just can't believe it of Abby, and Eddie has barely been around.

I have to say, the comedy's been great, and the satire of these shows spot on and sharp, but they've done so well in creating a genuine drama on its own, these characters, the pacing, like god, the ending of the last ep? So good. Genuinely hoping that either we get more series like this from them or this gets a s2.

[trashworldblog]

i really thought id get no service up here, ive never had such amazing reception. im shocked (and greatful the next ep of mystery files is great and i wanna see some shitposts) [ive made NONE for this weeks oops lol]

[tasty-littl-snack]

how do you feel about them leaning into the horror genre in the future of watcher? i've been chatting to people who still support them after that podcast episode came out, and mostly people are disappointed with that decision, as am i. idk, i feel like i'm too old to enjoy paranormal horror and what attracts me to watcher most are their other shows, i'm less interested in seeing more horror content from them (the podcast also seems to be going in that direction)

Very good question, I hope you don't mind the answer being very long and going into details that not many people care about.

The TLDR version would be to tell Watcher that you feel like this. Tell them that you're here for your favorite shows that aren't the files. They seem to listen to the feedback, and I noticed in the comments of that podcast ep that many people feel like you. (Top 5 beatdown being the dark horse of a favorite show for some, Many Puppet History fans wanting to keep the professor on watcher despite the spooky pivot. I think they will listen to that because this episode opened up the discussion of what people really want, so we'll see.)

Also important thing is that if you're on the streamer then nothing will change. Steven's shows will be uploaded there, and Puppet History will air in January. My guess is that they want to see how it preforms to decide what to do with it later, but now that they started to even upload podcast eps ad-free I think everything will still be on the streamer. So if you're the subscriber to that then not much will change.

If you also want my personal feelings then they are that WWW is their best show, along with Travel season, and I still think those are the best shows that watcher has. Besides Ghost Files which I also really like so if I'm getting more ghost files in 2025 and it will be as good as season 3 then I have more positive feelings towards the change into spooky content.

But I'm a dedicated fan who signed up for the streamer, and I still think that goodbye youtube video is not that bad and is a fun making watcher finale. My opinion doesn't allign with majority of watcherinas, and I don't have all the facts. This is pure speculation based on what happened before but I'm also sometimes wrong so don't take this too seriously I just love being analytical about how people think.

And the facts are that Mystery files and Ghost files are their best preforming shows.

And also that the content they're makng is content that they want to make. I think that is a detail that flew over people's head, they are listening to the audience but they also lean into their little niches of interests. If there are videos that they don't want to make then they simply will not. (Rip MF debrief)

You can see that many casual fans are there for Ghost Files with the criticism for the streamer being "They only make 6 eps a year I'm not paying for that". For most people watcher is synonymous with the files and it's those people who bring in views and therefore money. (I'm not a youtube expert but I believe if you have sponsors in an episode then you're like "This video will get x many views, and thus a precentage of that are potential clients"). I think this is why some sponsored videos are pinned in the channel, and this is why travel season spicy ep has more views than the rest of the season, it was pinned there for some weeks, before their next sponsored video appeared. The fact that people are there for GF also shows by some people saying "I subscribed just for that", or most telling when the trailer dropped suddenly many people were in the comments on watcher tv sharing their enthusiasm.

Also if we look at the channel in 2023 compared to 2022, we can already see a very slow shift towards the spooky content.

(In bold are what counts as spooky shows, in italics shows that got over 1M views as of writing this post)

In 2022 their slate was:

Top 5 Beatdown -> Worth A Shot -> Eat like Me -> Berry Boy's one off -> Are you scared -> Too Many Spirits -> Pretty Historic -> Dish Granted -> Ghost Files + Debrief -> Puppet History -> Making Watcher

Out of these shows, only Ghost files, Are you Scared and Puppet History got more than 1M views (as of writing this post) and some episodes of top 5 betadown depending on the topic I suppose.

In 2023 the shows that premiered were:

Top 5 beatdown -> Are you scared + Survival Mode (same week) -> Too Many Spirits + Worth a Shot (aired wednesdays) -> Mystery Files -> GF one off -> Puppet History -> Ghost files + debrief (alternating weeks) -> top 5 specials -> Santa TMS -> Making Watcher.

Versus in 2024:

Survival Mode+ Top 5 beatdown (same week) -> Mystery Files -> Streamer announcement -> Survival Mode s3 -> Travel Season + Are you scared 3 eps in -> WWW + TMS one off -> Jokerfied TMS -> Are you scared one off -> Ghost files + Debrief (alternating weeks) + Are you Scared x Rusty quill collab (the lost tapes).

I marked the shows considered spooky in bold to show you that the slow increase of them happened over the last three years, and that even if they premiere their "variety" shows that are not considered spooky they still need a spooky show to equal out the views. The simple truth is that shows without Ryan and Shane doing spooky stuff don't get the views even if they are beloved by some watcherinas.

Now what is the spooky content they're leaning towards? Let's see what they're saying.

"More Ghost files, More Mystery Files, more episodes of those and Are you scared, and also Ghost Files Alone which is not a series yet but one-off for now."

They're "doubling down" on making them which is also something they wanted to do, but perhaps didn't know how. I think this is an opportunity for them to see what works (And as Katie Leblanc said, it's also easier for their crew to not go from editing one show and then a whole different show. We know how much effort ghost files required so I think if they focus their energies into making the files verse then they're gonna be better for that. It is better to have one good show instead of many cheaper ones. My hope is that they know what they're doing in that regard, because if they're going to lower the quality of Ghost files to make more of the episodes then that's not something I'm interested in. But I don't think they will go that far)

As for the food shows going for another channel, this is sadly the reality of youtube. Just like the thumbnails for ghost files s3 on Youtube are Very Clickbaity, so is the almighty algorythm, not liking the variety that watcher produces. What do you mean one week you can have long hour video and the other only half hour? Why only one month is there food stuff, and the other some spooky stuff? This might be confusing to new audiences but also to youtube algho which is like "Produce more of the same thing, always". This is a thing that every youtuber talks about sooner or later, and why every youtuber has a second channel for more experimental stuff. Food and Spooky content doesn't mix well, so if watcher wants to make a second channel for food I do think it's for the best. Steven's shows deserve to be watched by people who like them, not hatebombed (and we can all agree that Travel Season got the short end of the stick this year. As much as I love that show, it wasn't fun to go into comments and see people disliking what they're seeing.)

I think also this is the basis on which they're making that pivot, and in the end this decision doesn't surprise me. They already made a separate travel season instagram account, to give a chance for fans to have something more fun, so I think this was a decision they came to quickly. Perhaps they wanted to see how everything performs, and had to wait half a year to see how things are. I think the reason they waited with announcing this change is because they had to have a plan and see what would work. As much as I think they should make a separate more concise way to announce the changes (I doubt many fans even know of the podcast ep, or were listening to the end), aside from their own feelings about it they had to come up with a plan on how to go from here. I also think that they haven't decided what to do until the end. Shane mentions that Puppet History MIGHT go somewhere else IF it doesn't fit. Those are hypotheticals, and nothing is set in stone. This is why I think it's important to let them know what you feel about their content going forward.

I also think the strategy of them going into more spooky content is underway in small ways we don't notice. Besides the slow increase in shows, this explains the bfu collab (follow us on watcher for more of the ghost hunts), even if Ryan admitted that they wanted to do this for a long time, and the crossover with a tv show that focuses on ghost files. So they are doing this but in the end it is more content for us.

As for Pod Watcher leaning into the spooky things.... well this is pod watcher and it's about what's airing on watcher. Their last episodes are themed like this because ghost files is airing, so they keep with the theme. I'm very interested to see how they will change the content once something else will be airing. Also they are film buffs and like scary movies. So no wonder they talk about horror films, that is their interest and they talk about "whatever is on our mind every week".

Lastly I also think that it's fine to not like or vibe with the change if you feel like that. People change, content changes, our interest comes and goes. Just because you were a fan of watcher in 2020 doesn't mean you have to like everything they do in 2025. I'm myself not sure how much this will remain my main interest, if I will be here for the next five years or maybe decide that the changes are bad and I've outgrown their content in the next half year. (I highly doubt it because it doesn't feel like it for now and I am excited to see where they go from here.) If it's a good idea or not, remains to be seen, but none of us have a crystal ball and can now in December 2024 say that this is good idea or ultimately bad. There are some people who think that the pivot is a great idea, and the nature of creators is that they want to evolve and grow and change. It seems that their goal is to make what people want to see and reach new audiences by making their most popular shows, and at the end of the day they are a business and need to make money from this. If they feel like this is what's gonna work then I can only believe that they know what they're doing.

I hope this makes sense and that it explains some things for you, thanks for asking :D

[kdramalands]

year-end drama recommendation

2. Brush Up Life (2023)

10 eps, 55 min each

At the age of 33, Kondo Asami suddenly dies in a car accident. Immediately after the hit, she shows up in a white room, void of anything besides a desk and a clerk sitting at it. We learn that it's some kind of an in-between place for reincarnation purposes, weirdly reminiscent of a real life mundane visit at the City Hall, but this time it's a room with a clerk of the afterlife that keeps on filing the documents and guiding lost souls onto their next step.

See, our main character doesn't really regret anything she did, but there's one thing that keeps bugging her. She finds out that her next reincarnation is supposed to be a giant anteater in Southeaster Guatemala, because, apparently, she didn't earn that many "kindness points" during her lifetime to deserve anything better. Kondo realizes that she doesn't want to spend her next life on ant munching, and asks if there is anything she can do at this point. Well, no, not really. You can redo your life from scratch as Kondo Asami though, if you'd like to. Just enter the door on the right. If she has an opportunity to fix things and maybe get another chance at reincarnation after she redoes this life, to bump up those points to get a human reincarnation next, how could she not take that offer? But it's not that simple, it never is.

This drama was pure insanity, and I mean that in a good way. If I could compare it to anything, it would be probably Groundhog Day, but stretched from one day to years. The way those 10 episodes encapsulated the feeling of that movie with the similar nature and a unique spin should be studied. The comedic nature of it significantly lightened serious topics and lifted some of the weight that comes with death, tragedies, and (as abstract as those are) never ending hopeless time loops. It was genuinely so funny, I think I could watch Asami figuring her life for the nth time again and again and again, and... I won't spoil that much.

Brush Up Life is like a gift that keeps on giving. At the surface level, it shows us a pretty straightforward objective for the main character, but it only takes a second to realise that it's not that straight after all. This simple concept blooms into a beautiful and touching story, heart-warming like a bowl of steaming hot soup on a cold day. This jdrama wields the tools it has in store so skilfully with a precise timing, showing us intricately constructed story about determination and friendship, with the hint of mystery and foreshadowing. Truly, there are so many carefully planted elements that are coming back to kick you in the ass in the most hilarious way when you least expect them, you will feel the reward of paying attention and engaging with the story.

Part 1 || Part 3 || Part 4

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