#Since Rei's first name in the fan-translation is pretty similar to her first in the official one

[jammedjanna]

Some highlights the profiles from my idea for a third game where Susato is the protagonist

Going by the wiki timeline, this would take place approx. 1906 aka four years after the end of TGAA2, when Susato is 20 (I wanted the first case to include her Coming of Age Day.)

Gotta figure out the 2D artstyle a little so I can at least have updated portraits for returning characters and new ones for my ocs or the visualization is gonna be fucked.

[rivalsforlife]

Ace Attorney 20th Anniversary Character Poll (and how to participate in it!)

Hey there. If you haven’t heard the news, Weekly Famitsu Magazine (a Japanese gaming magazine which has, historically, been where many new ace attorney games are announced) is going to have an article releasing on October 21st featuring Ace Attorney for the upcoming 20th Anniversary.

This is pretty decent news, I think, though we don’t know yet if there’s going to be a new game announcement or any other sort of news. What is confirmed is that they’re going to run a fan poll where you can vote on your favorite characters, cases, and Payne hairstyles, among other things.

This does not ask for personal information, and as far as I can tell, you don’t need to be in Japan to respond. The poll is, however, solely in Japanese, and I assume they’re expecting answers in Japanese as well. I took the liberty with the help of google translate to attempt to make a rough translation of the poll, and you can follow along with this and fill it out yourself if you wish! Keep in mind this may not necessarily be extremely accurate, because google translate, and if anyone knows better than I do, please do correct me!

The poll closes September 30th 2021 11:59 PM Japan time - so there’s not a lot of time to fill it out!

Here’s a link to the poll. The questions are under the cut.

Also, keep in mind that this will address characters that appear in all of the games, though no major plot spoilers are present.

I recommend using google translate on the webpage if you can, it makes things a bit easier to navigate. I didn’t put the Japanese phrases next to the translated answers, since there was no option to copy+paste, so it would take up too much of my time - I can if someone really wants me to, though. Don’t solely rely on google translate though, as sometimes it will do things like translate “Naruhodo Ryunosuke” to “Phoenix Wright”.

As well, for some things like character responses, you may want to double-check their names on the wiki, just in case I got something wrong (which is quite likely.)

Here’s the translation:

----

The weekly Famitsu November 4, 2021 issue (released October 21, 2021) features a special article on "Ace Attorney," which celebrates the 20th anniversary of the series! Among them, we will carry out an “Ace Attorney” series fan questionnaire. Please answer whatever questions you can.

There are 20 questions in total. If it takes too much time to fill in, the input may be reset, so if you feel that your answers are going to be long, we recommend that you prepare a separate text and copy and paste it.

Please note that answers to the questionnaire may be excerpted and edited and introduced in the weekly Famitsu, Famitsu.com, and other media operated by our company (KADOKAWA Game Linkage Co., Ltd.). 

* In the page, "The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures" may be described as "Great Ace Attorney 1", and "The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve" may be described as "Great Ace Attorney 2”.

The deadline for responses is 23:59 on Thursday, September 30, 2021.

QUESTION 1

ペンネーム（必須）

(Pen name (Required))

This is a free response question, so answer whatever you want your pen name to be.

QUESTION 2

性別（必須)

(Gender (Required))

This has three options, which are, in order: Male, Female, or Prefer Not To Answer.

QUESTION 3

年齢（必須）

(Age (Required))

The options are, in order:

Under 10

10s

20s

30s

40s

50s

60s

70+

CHARACTER QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1

Q1.『逆転』シリーズの中からもっとも好きなキャラクターを教えて！(最大3名まで記入可)

“Tell us your favorite character in the Ace Attorney series! You can fill in up to three people.”

The following questions have a small free response box where you can put in the character’s name. Underneath that, in the larger free response box, you explain your reason. I’d recommend going onto the ace attorney wiki page of your favorite characters, going to the “names in other languages” tab, and then copy-pasting that name in there. If you’re avoiding the wiki because of spoilers right now, you can either send me an ask asking for the name and I’ll try to get back to you asap, or ask a friend who is not avoiding it.

You don’t *need* to fill out the explanation section if you’re not confident in your Japanese and don’t want to risk it being thrown out if it’s in English. You could try google translate, but keeping it simple would probably be best, otherwise it may come out weird.

QUESTION 2

Q2.『逆転』シリーズで好きな弁護士は？(メインキャラクター編)

“Who is your favorite defense attorney in the “Ace Attorney” series? (Main character edition)”

This is a selection box where the options are, in order:

Phoenix Wright

Mia Fey

Apollo Justice

Athena Cykes

Ryunosuke Naruhodo

The free response section below asks for you to give “A word on your favorite point”, which… I have no idea what that actually means. Sorry. Someone who actually knows Japanese, get back to me on that. It may be explaining why they’re your favorite, or it may be ... talking about pointing, it’s hard to tell with this series.

The next few questions (3-8) follow a similar format with the question then free response, so I will focus on the questions for each one.

QUESTION 3

Q3.好きな弁護士は？(サブキャラクター編)

“Who is your favorite defense attorney? (Minor character edition)”

This is another selection box where the options are, in order:

Marvin Grossberg

Diego Armando

Kristoph Gavin

Raymond Shields

Calisto Yew

Kazuma Asogi

Ryutaro Naruhodo

Gregory Edgeworth

QUESTION 4

Q4.好きな検事は？

“Who is your favorite prosecutor?”

Selection box options are, in order:

Miles Edgeworth

Winston Payne

Manfred von Karma

Lana Skye

Franziska von Karma

Godot

Klavier Gavin

Gaspen Payne

Simon Blackquill

Nahyuta Sahdmadhi

Ga’ran Sigatar Khura’in

Sebastian Debeste

Taketsuchi Auchi

Barok van Zieks

Zacharias Barnham

Darklaw

Flynch

QUESTION 5

Q5.好きな相棒キャラクターは？

“Who is your favorite assistant character?”

Selection box options, in order:

Maya Fey

Pearl Fey

Larry Butz

Ema Skye

Trucy Wright

Rayfa Padma Khura’in

Kay Faraday

Susato Mikotoba

Herlock Sholmes

Iris Wilson

QUESTION 6

Q6.好きな依頼人は？

“Who is your favorite defendant?”

Selection box options, in order:

Larry Butz

Will Powers

Maggey Byrde

Maximillion Galactica

Matt Engarde

Ron Delite

Terry Fawles

Iris

Wocky Kitaki

Machi Tobaye

Vera Misham

Juniper Woods

Damian Tenma

Solomon Starbuck

Ahlbi Ur’gaid 

Bucky Whet

Dhurke Sahdmadhi

Ellen Wyatt

Magnus McGilded

Soseki Natsume

Gina Lestrade

Rei Membami

Albert Harebrayne

Espella Cantabella

(Yes, I don’t think Turnabout Reclaimed is on here, for some reason. Neither is Zak Gramarye.)

QUESTION 7

Q7.好きな証人は？

“Who is your favorite witness?”

This is just a free response, since there would be too many options. Again, find your favorite witness and copy+paste their name in Japanese into this.

QUESTION 8

Q8.好きなマスコットキャラクター、動物は？

“Who is your favorite mascot character or animal?”

Selection box options in order (there’s A LOT, and I’m uncertain on some, so be prepared) are:

Steel Samurai

Mr. Monkey

Pink Princess

Evil Magistrate

Missile

Polly

Blue Badger

Trilo

Regent

Nickel Samurai

Jammin’ Ninja

Mr. Hat

Widget

Bum Rap Rhiny

Phony Phanty

Taka

Clonco

Ponco

Orla Shipley

Rifle

Sniper

Shah’do

Plumed Punisher

Sergeant Buff (the helicopter)

Proto Badger

Pink Badger

Bad Badger

Steel Samurai Daddy

Pink Princess Mommy

Rocky the Polar Bear

Patricia Roland’s white fox

Sirhan Dogen’s dog Anubis

Money the Monkey

Jezaille Brett’s swan

Astique the Elephant

Darka the cat

Wagahai

Toby

Usalock (Herlock rabbit)

Kumaris (Iris bear)

Chunosuke (Ryunosuke mouse)

Nyasked Disciple

Usato (Susato rabbit)

Hedgina (Hedgehog Gina)

Nyasogi (Asogi cat)

Nyan Zieks (van Zieks cat)

Eve the Cat

Constantine the Dog

Mr. Blue Badger (the Blue Badger of PLvsAA I assume?)

[can’t believe they put the parent versions of steel samurai + pink princess in there but not the iron infant?]

QUESTION 9

Q9.キャラクターの仕草(アニメーション)で印象深いものとその理由を教えて！(成歩堂龍一の滝のような汗、成歩堂龍之介の泳ぐ目、御剣怜侍の礼など)

“Please tell us which game has the best character animation (Phoenix Wright’s sweat, Ryunosuke Naruhodo’s darting eyes, Miles Edgeworth’s bow, etc.) and why?”

Selection box options in order:

Ace Attorney 1

Justice for All

Trials and Tribulations

Apollo Justice

Dual Destinies

Spirit of Justice

Ace Attorney Investigations

Ace Attorney Investigations 2

The Great Ace Attorney

The Great Ace Attorney 2

Professor Layton vs Ace Attorney

Then in the free response portion you can talk about your favorite animation and why it is your favorite. If you think you can do that. I just put in my favorite by searching up the character name and trying to google translate the pose, which may not be effective, but you can give it a try.

QUESTION 10

Q10.好きな“珍名”キャラクターを教えて！(小中大、星威岳哀牙、コゼニー・メグンダル、ジョバンニ・ジコールなど)

“Please tell us your favorite pun name! (Redd White, Luke Atmey, Magnus McGilded, Carmine Accidenti, etc.)”

First you select the game it’s from, I think, which are in order:

Ace Attorney 1

Justice for All

Trials and Tribulations

Apollo Justice

Dual Destinies

Spirit of Justice

Ace Attorney Investigations

Ace Attorney Investigations 2

The Great Ace Attorney

The Great Ace Attorney 2

Professor Layton vs Ace Attorney

Then in the free response you give the name. Again a situation of finding the character you want on the wiki and copy+pasting the name into there. This might be a little odd because of the pun names being different in English and Japanese, so proceed with your own discretion, I guess. (For instance, if “Rei Membami” is your favorite pun name for some reason, this would be very odd because “Haori Murasame”, her original name, is not a pun... looking at the name explanation sections on the wiki might be a good idea. If you’re totally not sure, you can pick one of the examples.)

GAME QUESTIONS

QUESTION 11

Q11.印象深い事件は？(最大3つまで記入可)

“Which is the most impressive case? (Up to three can be entered)”

They follow the same pattern of “enter a case” and then “explain why”. Again, you don’t have to fill out the explanation if you don’t want to.

The order of the cases is:

The First Turnabout

Turnabout Sisters

Turnabout Samurai

Turnabout Goodbyes

Rise from the Ashes

The Lost Turnabout

Reunion and Turnabout

Turnabout Big Top

Farewell, My Turnabout

Turnabout Memories

The Stolen Turnabout

Recipe for Turnabout

Turnabout Beginnings

Bridge to the Turnabout

Turnabout Trump

Turnabout Corner

Turnabout Serenade

Turnabout Succession

Turnabout Countdown

The Monstrous Turnabout

Turnabout Academy

The Cosmic Turnabout

Turnabout for Tomorrow

The Foreign Turnabout

The Magical Turnabout

The Rite of Turnabout

Turnabout Storyteller

Turnabout Revolution

Turnabout Visitor

Turnabout Airlines

The Kidnapped Turnabout

Turnabout Reminiscence

Turnabout Ablaze

Turnabout Target

The Imprisoned Turnabout

The Inherited Turnabout

The Forgotten Turnabout

The Grand Turnabout

The Adventure of the Great Departure

The Adventure of the Unbreakable Speckled Band

The Adventure of the Runaway Room

The Adventure of the Clouded Kokoro

The Adventure of the Unspeakable Story

The Adventure of the Blossoming Attorney

The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro

The Return of the Great Departed Soul

Twisted Karma and His Last Bow

The Resolve of Ryunosuke Naruhodo

On a Dark and Stormy Night

English Turnabout

Mysterious Labyrinthia

The Fire Witch

The Great Witch

The Golden Court

A Taste of Despair

Secrets of the Underground Ruins

The Story's End

The Final Witch Trial

The Last Inquisitor

The First Story

Since that is a LOT to navigate, use the Japanese to help you. The games are laid out pretty simply: if you know the game and case, you can find it pretty quickly. It goes mainline -> Investigations -> TGAA -> PLvsAA. Mainline Ace Attorney games are 逆転裁判 followed by a number corresponding to which entry it is, with the exception of the first game (which is first on the list anyways). Investigations games start with 逆転検事 and followed with a 2 for investigations 2. Great Ace Attorney starts with  大逆転裁判 with a 2 for Resolve, and Layton vs Ace Attorney is  レイトン教授 VS 逆転裁判. After the game title you can find the case number.

For some reason, Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice’s DLC cases don’t seem to be on this list. Sorry if those are your favorites. Maybe yell in the free response box about that.

MISC QUESTIONS

QUESTION 12

Q12.触ってみたいのはどれ？

“Which of the following do you want to touch?”

The options are, in order:

Phoenix Wright’s Spiky Hair

Miles Edgeworth’s Frilly Cravat

Apollo Justice’s Sparkling Forehead

Dahlia Hawthorne’s Fluttery Butterfly

Lotta Hart’s Fluffy Hair

Kazuma Asogi’s Fluttering Headband

Golden Professor Layton

And there’s an option for “other” below.

QUESTION 13

Q13.食らってみたいのはどれ？

Google translate says this is “which do you want to eat” - I think it’s more like. “What do you want to be hurt by?” or something.

The options are, in order:

Oldbag’s Ray Gun

Steel Samurai Spear

Edgeworth’s Salary Assessment (aka a salary cut)

Franziska von Karma’s Whip

Godot’s Thrown Coffee

Simon Blackquill’s Finger Sword

Justine Courtney’s Extending Gavel

Susato Takedown

Barok van Zieks’ Heel Drop

And then you have a free response section to explain why... if you want.

QUESTION 14

Q14.以下の中��味わってみたいものはどれ？

“Which of the following would you like to taste?”

The options are, in order:

Dee Vasquez’s T-Bone Steak

The Cough-Up Queen’s Lunchbox

Godot Blend No. 107

Jean Armstrong’s Authentic (?) French Lunchset

Victor Kudo’s Birdseed

Detective Gumshoe’s Weenie Bento Box

Violetta’s Tea

Coldkiller X

Guy Eldoon’s Salty Noodles

Whet Noodle’s Soba

Dane Gustavia’s Candy

La Carneval’s Beefsteak

Van Zieks’ Holy Grail

For some reason they don’t offer you the option to justify your choice with this one.

QUESTION 15

Q15.ハシゴ派？　キャタツ派？

“Ladder or stepladder?”

The options are “ladder” and then “stepladder”. You have the option to put something else if you’re a heathen.

QUESTION 16

Q16.好きな亜内一族のヘアスタイルは？

“What is your favorite Payne Family Hairstyle?”

Options are:

Ace Attorney 1 and 2’s “73 hairs”

Ace Attorney 3’s full set of hair

Ace Attorney 4’s “hair only on the sides”

Ace Attorney 5 and 6’s Gaspen Payne Hair [idk what this actually says sorry]

The Great Ace Attorney 1’s chonmage

The Great Ace Attorney 2’s “sprout of hope”

Then you can put in a word about your feelings about the Paynes in the free response.

QUESTION 17

Q17.好きなBGMとその理由を教えて！

“Which is your favorite BGM and why?”

This is a free response so you’ll need to track down the song name itself… good luck with that. Then you can explain why in the free response section… even more good luck with that. The wiki does have the soundtracks of the games in English and Japanese, I believe, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find.

PLAYER MEMORIES SECTION

QUESTION 18

Q18.『逆転』シリーズで泣いたことはある？　それはどんな場面？(※何度も泣いた人は、もっとも泣いたシーンをお答えください)

“Have you ever cried during the Ace Attorney series? If so, at which scene? (* For people who have cried many times, pick the scene you cried at the most.)”

The first option is a “yes” or “no” for if you’ve cried or not.

The second option is again picking a case, which I don’t feel like writing out again, but it’s in the same order as in question 11. Then in the free response you write what scene you cried in with that case. You could try finding the dialogue - this thread https://forums.court-records.net/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=29682 has a place to download the dual japanese and english scripts for most games except for aai2 and the great ace attorney games. For those ones... good luck.

QUESTION 19

Q19.開発してほしい『逆転裁判』グッズはある？(逆転裁判凡例つき六法全書とかなるほどくんのヘアワックス、考える人型の彫像時計など)※グッズ化が実現するわ��ではありません。

“Do you have any “Ace Attorney” merchandise you’d like us to develop? (Ace Attorney-themed law books, Phoenix Wright’s hair gel, a clock shaped like the Thinker statue, etc.) *This does not mean it will be made into merchandise”

This is a free response section, so good luck explaining, again.

And finally:

QUESTION 20

Q20.開発スタッフに向けて、お祝いのメッセージをお願いします。

“Give a congratulatory message to the development staff!”

If you don’t know what to put here, you can just copy and paste the following:

20周年おめでとうございます!

Which just says “Congratulations on the 20th anniversary!” I think. If I got it wrong, it’s hopefully not horrendously offensive. If you tried to type your answers and have no confidence in your Japanese, you can input “日本語は話せません”, “I don’t speak Japanese”, though they may have figured that out already.

And with that the survey is done and you can submit! We’ll see the results in October. Thanks for following along!

[beansthembo]

I need to do a bit of a vent about the new Star Wars movie. Spoilers below.

I’m having some trouble processing what happened. If you’re reading this, you probably are interested in my opinion on it, and you probably also know that I was a big fan of The Last Jedi. By no means was it a perfect movie, but it took the chance of distancing itself from the rest of the series by springing off of what was established in TFA and building something new. A lot of people weren’t too pleased by this, and there are plenty of legitimate criticisms, but being completely transparent, I can’t listen to most critics of it because most of the people I know in real life who didn’t like it are racist or misogynistic.

TLJ tried to introduce people to the idea that, in reference to the new canon, just because it’s new and different, doesn’t mean that it’s bad. Kylo’s/Ben’s line, “Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to,” finds meaning in this, though a bit extreme. TLJ was going to learn from the past films and move on, for better or worse. TROS is determined to wallow in its past. As a lifetime fan of Star Wars, I can’t bring myself to hate it outright, like many vocal critics of TLJ, but I find myself severely disappointed by the decisions made in it.

I’ve honestly spent too much time composing those last paragraphs, as if I’m a legit critic or reviewer. I’m just kind of going to present my nitpicks and criticisms as they come to me.

So, first a few nitpicks:

-The opening crawl seems... poorly composed to me. The first line is “The dead speak!” Correct me if I’m wrong, but they don’t usually use exclamations in the opening crawls. I know I just spent the last couple of paragraphs defending new ideas, but the opening crawl always seemed as though they were meant to present information formally from a neutral perspective. Not a major criticism, but it did bother me a bit.

-What happened to Kyle’s TIE Silencer? I mean, it could’ve been destroyed in the previous movie, but I don’t really remember that happening. Either way, it seemed to me that they made the decision to make his ship more similar to the Interceptor, as, like, a ‘safer’ choice, but I don’t see why they couldn’t have just had the same ship.

-The Falcon has a round dish again? You know, now that I’m thinking of it, the dish may have been blasted off in TLJ. I just was surprised by that.

I may add to that list later. the actual problems I had were:

-Rey is sort of obsessed with ‘earning’ Luke’s (and Anakin’s) old lightsaber. Which has been repaired, by the way. She doesn’t actually ‘own’ it, even though she’s been using it for the past two movies, she’s just been borrowing it from Leia. I was really looking forward to seeing her make her own (or already have her own) lightsaber, which she does, but she waits until the end of the movie to show it off. And it’s rad as hell! Wtf? why couldn’t she have been using that the whole time! It’s one of my favorite lightsaber designs now and they show it for a whole two seconds!

-They finally give Snoke a backstory, and it’s... that he was Palpatine’s puppet the whole time. I’m gonna say, not the worst backstory they could have done, but they really tried to make him just not matter at all. I mean, yeah, the way he was done off with in TLJ was pretty unceremonious, but I always felt that meant that the real big bad was meant to be Kyle all along. Instead, the Skywalker saga becomes the Palpatine saga. I’m not opposed to the concept of Palpatine surviving and attempting to resurrect the Sith, but that’s something I’d expect from a novel, not the main story of the final movie in the franchise. And, honestly, regardless of whether or not Snoke was secretly Plagueis, I always thought he was supposed to be some other ye olde sith master, not just some sort of failed clone(?)

-Kyle rebuilds his fuUcking helmet. Why? What purpose does it serve? He doesn’t even wear it most of the time. The longest period he wears it is when the First Order officers comment on it. He’s just being dramatic. Which, I suppose, would be in character, but after the scene in which he shatters it in TLJ, it seems pointless.

-Another nitpick, but when they expand upon Rey and Kyle’s ability to connect through the force, it seems a little... disjointed. I do like that they took the time to expand upon that, even though I thought Rey closing the Falcon’s ramp on him at the end of TLJ was symbolic of her cutting him off, the way they presented it seemed, well, off. Like, it makes sense if you take it at face value, but if you start to think about it at all, it sort of... weird. I dunno how to describe it. Like, they interact with each other’s environments, but can’t see what they can interact with until they interact with it, and they can trade items, and... yeah.

-The big one... Rey’s a Palpatine. Her father was Sheev’s son. (When did that happen, huh? Who’d want to get with that wrinkly mess?) Why the everloving fuck couldn’t Rey just have been Rey? Why did she have to be related to someone existing in the franchise already? JJ’s going around saying that this was his plan the whole time, which is bull fucking shit, because otherwise they would have communicated this to Ryan, and I’m pretty sure TROS was originally going to have another director in the first place, and ALSO I’m pretty sure JJ did say at some point that Rey’s parents only mattered to her. While I’m on the topic of fan theories and origins, nobody in the movies was ever concerned about who Snoke really was. They knew who he was-the Bad Guy. Nobody ever cared who the Emperor really was in 1983, so why was Snoke’s death and non-explained origins such a big deal? I have more conflicted thoughts than I can even put down, so i’m gonna move on.

-Oh, before I forget, they just completely write off Rose. She’s present, but they minimize her screen time. I get that a lot of people didn’t like her, and there are some valid criticisms of her that aren’t completely rooted in racism and misogyny, but I never found any problem with her. I actually felt she was pretty relatable. She meets a hero, trips over her own words, and then learns why you should never meet your heroes. Disillusioned, she’s about to turn him in but they come up with another plan, and together they visit a world full of people she joined the Resistance to get away from. I’ve got that same feeling about those sorts of things-while I do enjoy a decent amount of privilege, I still, you know, fight against the system that gave it to me. And I can’t stand to see people abuse others just because they don’t have that privilege, so hearing her speech about wanting to punch a hole through that city did mean a lot at some level. Then, at the end, when she’s like, “this is how we win. Not by fighting what we hate, but saving what we love,” I can even relate to that. It’s when, like, you explain to a kid how you hate something, and they jump on the bandwagon, and get real angsty, and then you’re like, “no no no that’s not what I wanted you to learn!” It’s hard to describe it with my rapidly deteriorating attention, but I never thought she was a bad character.

-DJ wasn’t in it! I mean, he wasn’t the most important character, but I still wanted to see him again.

-They have this fake out where they pretend Chewie was dead for a whole 20 seconds. I totally called it, too-the ship he was supposedly in blew up (or rather, Rey blew it up with force lightning accidentally), but since he didn’t die on screen in front of us, I knew it had to be a fake out. And it seems like the only reason for that was so they can find out that Hugs was the traitor, who is only betraying the First Order to see Kyle lose, which I mean fair, but then he’s unceremoniously killed off by the new big officer guy who we’ve never seen before but was supposedly one of the Emperor’s top men. I don’t think his name was even mentioned in the movie-or if it was, it had zero staying power. Also, they have this part where Threepio had his memory erased for a while before being backed up by Artoo. The lead up to it was very dramatic- Threepio’s generally been a comic relief character up to this point, and now he’s got to give his life for the cause (He had a translation of some Sith runes in his memory, but his programming prevented him from saying the translation aloud, and his memory needed to be wiped in order to access it), but as soon as his memory is wiped they do not give two shits that one of their best friends basically died right in front of them. Then Artoo brings him back and still no one cares.

-Poe and Finn do have a nice dynamic in the movie, but then we find one of Poe’s exes and he starts flirting with her and its like no Poe your husband’s right tHERE POE DON’T DO IT (and don’t dismiss this as shipper nonsense because John Boyega and Oscar Isaac both wanted FinnPoe to be a thing and acted through the movies like it was already don’t you say this is the first you’re hearing of this)

-The way that Rey defeats Palpatine is by crossing lightsabers in front of him to deflect his lightning?

-Reylo is canon NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (Insert the gif of Vader yelling no at the end of ROTS)

-Also why does it always have to be a planet destroying superweapon? I know legends did that a lot but there doesn’t always have to be one for there to be stakes.

I think there was other stuff, but my brain is too scattered at this point to make any more cohesive thoughts. I mean, there was a lot of stuff I did like about it- Lando’s back! And i think Wedge is too, but he was on screen for about a second and a half, so I couldn’t tell. It was confirmed that Leia had force training, and even had a lightsaber! And I do like that they’re taking some inspiration from Legends, but I’m pretty sure Dark Empire was not one of the most popular series’ from it. I also did like Ben seeing a vision of Han; It’s not entirely clear if it was a force ghost thing (I am of the belief that Han was at leas a little force sensitive) or if it was just Ben sort of coming to terms with his actions, but the scene was pretty well done in my opinion. Also, Rey taking the name Skywalker at the end. That was nice, like she chose her family.

Now I just remembered a couple of things-Finn was basically confirmed to be force sensitive, but the way they did it felt very ham-fisted. Like, they weren’t like “he felt a disturbance wink wink nudge nudge,” they were like “HERE IS SOME SUBTEXT THAT ISN’T ACTUALLY SUBTEXT SEE HERE” like they never outright say it but it would have been less insulting if they did. Also, they introduced a force healing thing, which has been a more of a thing in the games, but we’ve never seen it on screen before. But like, Rey dies at the end and Ben brings her back and then [REDACTED] and then he dies, even though, like, a lot of things. I don’t know I’ve been typing for way too long I need off.

Anyway, it felt good to vent, thanks for reading if you did. I give TROS 6.5/10.

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior Home And Drive-In Edition August 7, 2020 – AMERICAN PICKLE, THE SECRET GARDEN, THE TAX COLLECTOR, OUT STEALING HORSES and WAY TOO MANY MOVIES!

Holy Effin’ Ess. It’s August, and I’ve been writing this column mainly as a series of capsule reviews for four months now and amassed over 80 reviews, and this week seems to be the most insane week for new releases since COVID hit five months ago. I’m also starting a new job this week (Associate Editor at Below the Line), so I’m not even sure I’ll be able to continue this column to the degree I have been. I guess we’ll have to see how far we get this week, although I’m generally going with shorter capsule reviews this week. 

Seth Rogen plays a dual role in Brandon Trost’s comedy AMERICAN PICKLE, which will premiere on HBO Max this Friday. Based on Simon Rich’s short story “Sell Out,” the film starts in 1909 as Rogen plays Herschel Greenbaum, an Eastern European immigrant living in poverty in America when he falls into a pickle vat that’s sealed for 100 years, the brine keeping him the exact same age. He is put in touch with his great grandson Ben (also played by Rogen) who helps get him acclimated to the changes that have happened in 100 years, but it soon turns into a competition between the two relatives.

Using a fairly wacky take on the Rip Van Winkle-like premise, there’s a good chance that American Pickle will be more for the Seth Rogen diehards, myself included, because you get a LOT more Rogen maybe than ever before. His accent as Herschel might be a bit off-putting at first, maybe because you don’t want to laugh at him as a Jewish stereotype, but what ultimately makes the movie fun is watching Rogen playing two very different characters without being done in a way that the viewer gets distracted trying to figure out how they did it. (I guess ever since Moon, it’s become easier to have actors playing two different roles.)

Also, this is the first American movie in quite some time to shine a light on the Jewish faith and religion in a way we haven’t really seen in a while, going back to The Believer or Yentl. That’s nice to see in what started as a Hollywood release, although I’m just not sure this will connect with Rogen’s younger fans and probably was better off getting an HBO Max release.

Originally planned for theatrical release, STXfilms’ adaptation of THE SECRET GARDEN is instead getting a PVOD release this Friday just like many movies this past summer. Adapted from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 book, it stars Dixie Egerickx as Mary Lennox, as a young orphan who is sent to live with her uncle (Colin Firth) in England. Once there, she contends with his disabled son Colin (Edan Hayhurst) and discovers a secret garden…that is basically just that. A garden.

I’ll make no bones that I was enthralled by the concept of Burnett’s being remade with “Harry Potter” producer David Heyman putting it together because it looked so fantastic at CinemaCon last year. The film is directed by Marc Munden, who has directed a ton of television but nothing particularly significant in terms of film, and it’s a wonderful-looking film but it just doesn’t have the heart and wonder of the 1993 movie. I just don’t see a lot of kids loving this, and this is from the guy who kinda liked Artemis Fowl. By comparison, this really doesn’t have much to keep one entertained as none of the child actors have much personality, and the adult actors (including Julie Walters) aren’t given much to challenge themselves. Maybe this would have played better theatrically but just watching it on my computer? Did very little for me. A generally pretty but ultimately dull kiddie movie.

Suicide Squad director David Ayer returns to the streets with his crime-thriller THE TAX COLLECTOR (RLJEfilms), starring Bobby Soto as David, the eponymous “tax collector��� for an L.A. crime family who has to contend with his boss’s old rival, putting his own family in danger. David’s enforcer, played by Shia LaBeouf, goes by the name “The Creeper.”

Like his Netflix movie, Bright, I have a feeling Ayer is not going to get a fair shake by the current critics’ pool since they’ll be writing all their reviews based on previous biases. Nothing new there. Fact is that The Tax Collector is on par with movies like End of Watch and is far better than Harsh Times, showing that the writer of Training Day and the original The Fast and the Furious has improved greatly as a director. (Honestly, this should have been proven by Fury six years ago, but you know how Hollywood is…)

I wasn’t particularly familiar with Bobby Soto before seeing this – he’s a fairly new actor – but he does a decent job carrying the movie and not letting the entertaining character played by LaBeouf completely steal the show. Likewise, Cinthya Carmona as Dave’s wife Alexis does a decent job keeping the film grounded with his domestic life. LaBeouf creates a fairly entertaining character that’s far more subdued than one might expect from LaBeouf.

There is one story decision made that I wasn’t crazy about, and honestly, it almost killed my enjoyment of the movie as a whole. Even so, the reason The Tax Collector works even as well as it does is because Ayer knows his shit, so instead of this being a tired tale of Crips vs. Bloods, it instead becomes one man’s journey, and in fact, he has to turn to his enemy for help in the final act, which is when it turns into more of a straight-up revenge thriller. If you like movies like Training Day and similarly authentic L.A. gangland tales, then The Tax Collector should be right up your alley.

Gillian Jacobs stars in Kris Rey’s comedy I USED TO GO HERE (Gravitas Ventures), playing first-time author Kate, who is contacted by her old college professor (Jemaine Clement) to return to her Illinois Alma Mater to do a reading. Once there, Kate ends up hanging out with a bunch of the students and getting a little too caught up in their lives.

I definitely was a fan of Kris Rey’s previous movie Unexpected (under her married name, Kristen Swanberg), and I was hoping this would be in similar vein, but it just seems like another self-reflexive filmmaker telling a story about a writer revisiting their past. In other words, one of the most overused indie movie plots ever used. Sure, Jacobs is good but not great, and the plot is so predictable, especially the fact that Clement’s professor is gonna be a sleazebag. Sadly, what might have brought more to the movie was getting to see more of Jorma Taccone and his girlfriend, played by Kate Micucci (who was so great with Jacobs in Mike Birbiglia’s improv comedy, Don’t Think Twice). They show up for one brief scene and they’re gone, leaving it up to Jacobs and the otherwise weak cast to try to do something with material that just isn’t particularly inventive. The only one of the students who really has much of personality is Josh Wiggins’ Hugo but again, the movie takes his relationship with Kate to the most obvious and expected place possible. 

I Used to Go Here has some fun moments but when you compare it to the Lonely Island’s other recent production, Palm Springs, it just doesn’t compare, and that’s kind of disappointing, in itself.

Liam Neeson and his son Micheál Richardson star in MADE IN ITALY (IFC Films), the directorial debut of actor James D’arcy with Neeson playing Robert Foster, a bohemian artist from England who travels to Tuscany, Italy with his estranged son Jack to sell the house they inherited from his late wife.

I have to imagine Sony Classics’ Tom Bernard and Michael Barker must be fuming that they’re not releasing this movie, because this is just so much their kind of movie. Listen, I didn’t hate this movie, but I also didn’t love it, and that’s mainly because it was so obvious and predictable, reminding me so much of Ridley Scott’s A Good Year (which I also didn’t hate, mind you).

The real draw is seeing Neeson doing a movie with his son in his such a major role, and they’re both very good with Richardson clearly having gotten his parent’s genes in terms of acting skill. (I don’t really remember him in the revenge thriller Cold Pursuit, but I could see him getting more roles from this.) Unfortunately, D’Arcy decides to throw the guys into a cutesie romance subplot with a local (played by Valeria Bilello), and that’s really where things start to unwind. It manages to recover nicely with a particularly emotional and dramatic last act, but it has to work hard to get the viewer back.

The fact that it took Ridley Scott decades to make a movie like A Good Year (and angering his fans for it), so the fast that D’Arcy can make a movie even comparable on his first foray into writing and directing makes Made in Italy something commendable.

In Order of Disappearance (and its remake Cold Pursuit, starring Neeson and son!) director Hans Petter Moland reunites with that film’s star, Stellan Skarsgård, for OUT STEALING HORSES (Magnolia), an introspective adaptation of Per Peterson’s novel about a man in his ‘60s named Trond, who is reflecting on events from his childhood, including his relationship with his father and the mother of three who lived next door. Skarsgard is great as usual, but the film spends so much time in the past, and it starts to jump around between flashback time periods so much that I can only wish you luck that you can keep up with what is going on with all the characters. It’s pretty obvious this is based on a (presumably) beloved book – hey, it’s been translated into 50 languages! -- and I’m guessing that it probably worked better in that format, since I’m not sure those who haven’t read it will get much out of this film. I really don’t have much more to say about the film except that it looks absolutely gorgeous, really taking advantage of its setting, but it just didn’t do much for me generally.

Colombian filmmaker Ciro Guerra’s WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS (Samuel Goldwyn Films) may have the most apt title for a movie this week, because it feels like for a good long time, you are indeed waiting for those much-directed “barbarians.”   Adapted by J.M. Coetzee from his own novel (which may or may not be beloved) the film stars Oscar-winner Mark Rylance as “The Magistrate,” who is in charge of a remote outpost in the Gobi Desert. He begins to question his loyalty to the British empire when the visiting Colonel Joll (Johnny Depp) conducts a series of torturous investigations on the detainees. Robert Pattinson also stars in a film that’s very different from Guerra’s previous films, Embrace of the Serpent and Birds of Passage, but mainly because it’s his first film in English.

The Barbarians in the title are the Mongolians threatening the British soldiers who treat them horribly while trying to expand their empire. Due to the sentencing, the movie may remind you of films like Beau Geste or even Lawrence of Arabia without really being as good as either.Rylance’s character is somewhat of a milquetoast, at least compared to the cold and heartless torturer played by Depp, but it’s obvious almost from the beginning that the rebellious nature of Rylance’s Magistrate is going to come back to hurt him, and it does.

There is no question that Rylance gives a great performance, and Depp isn’t terrible, but it takes quite some time for the story to really get to any place that’s particularly interesting. With such a great setting and characters, I was hoping for something just a little more interesting, and in many ways, it reminds me of Scorsese’s Silence where there’s a lot of interesting ideas and gorgeous images, but it just doesn’t come together in the end…. And it does indeed just end.

Let’s get to some docs…

Scott Crawford’s doc CREEM: AMERICA’S ONLY ROCK ‘N ROLL MAGAZINE (Greenwich) looks at the venerable music mag of the ‘70s and ‘80s that offered an alternative to Rolling Stone with its look at punk, metal and non-conformist rock that fit with the nature of its staff, including the great Lester Bangs.

I’ve been looking forward to this doc for quite some time, because while I read Rolling Stone religiously, as well as Spin,every once in a while, some band or musician I liked would be on the cover of Creem Magazine, and I’d buy it. Granted, this was the mid-to-late ‘80s when the magazine was already not as cool, as it used to be but this doc, produced by founder Barry Kramer’s son JJ Kramer does a great job telling the story of how the magazine, originally based in Michigan, managed to shake up the mainstream music scene with its snarky sense of humor.

I was hoping to get more out of the doc, but I did like the music Crawford uses to tell the story of Creem, and there’s some seriously great talking heads along with it, including Thurston Moore, Michael Stipe, Chad Smith, Cameron Crowe, Joan Jett and more.  Maybe not the best music doc I’ve ever seen, but it’s definitely very informative and recommended if you want to know more about music history.

The Russian hockey doc, RED PENGUINS (Universal Home), Gabe Polsky’s follow-up to his 2014 doc Red Army, covers how in the early ‘90s, the Pittsburgh Penguins decided to buy the Russian Army hockey team and how the new owners used marketing to make the Moscow Penguins world-famous – they even appeared in the ‘90s action film Sudden Death – before problems with the Russian MAFIA brought it all crashing down. Also a good doc, maybe not as solid as Red Army but Polsky once again has a lot of great characters to keep the movie entertaining, such as marketer Steven Warshaw and all the Russians who always seem to know more than they’re saying. If you’re a hockey fan, particularly this era in the ‘90s, you might enjoy Red Penguins.

Premiering on Disney+ this Friday is Don Hahn’s documentary HOWARD (Disney+) about the late lyricist Howard Ashman, who wrote the words for many of the popular Disney animated films like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin before dying of AIDS in 1991. I really wanted to see this movie because Hahn’s other documentaries have all been fantastic, but I got no response

I didn’t have a chance to watch Marion Johnson and Anne Flatté’s doc, River City Drumbeat, which will be available via Virtual Cinema this Friday, including the Maysles Documentary Center in New York. It follows Edwar “Nardie” White who has devoted his life to the African-American drum corps he co-founded in Louisville, Kentucky thirty years ago, as a new person, Albert Shumake, has to take up the mantle and lead the corps.

The Australian horror film BLACK WATER: ABYSS (Screen Media) is directed by Andrew Traucki and written by John Ridley -- not the John Ridley you probably know who actually can write -- but it deals with a group of friends facing a killer crocodile in the caves of Northern Australia. I normally would love this kind of movie, but this feels a lot like the type of schlock you might see on Syfy but it’s not because the writing or cast are particularly bad, just that it seems like something we’ve seen so many times before from Crawl to 47 Meters Down and its sequel that it doesn’t feel like this has much to offer. The problem is that it spends so much time making it seem like the water itself is dangerous to anyone who goes in it, but we always know that there’s a crocodile involved. Traucki goes so over-the-top trying to make this terrifying but there’s only so serious you can take a movie where people start shouting “Victor!” over and over while Victor is flailing around in the water being threatened by a crocodile we never really see particularly clearly. In other words, you get what you pay for on this one, so try not to pay too much.

After opening in select drive-ins last Friday, Amy Seimetz’s She Dies Tomorrow (NEON) will be available digitally and On Demand this Friday. If you missed it, I reviewed it last week. It was okay. Also, Sony Classics is returning to theaters, specifically with Guiseppe Capotondi’s The Burnt Orange Heresy, which got a protracted release due to COVID but will now open up in some of the movie theaters that have reopened.

Then there’s all the stuff I didn’t get around to seeing…. And hopefully, I didn’t miss something good in favor of some of the mediocre movies above… (sigh)

As far as horror and genre, there’s Daniel Tucker’s Nothing but The Blood (Gravitas Ventures) about a journalist sent to investigate a controversial church. Rudolph Herzog’s How to Fake a War (Vertical Entertainment) stars Jay Pharaoh as a rock star who’s worried his charity concert might fail if peace breaks out in the Eastern European country where it’s taking place. 1091 is releasing the supernatural thriller Star Light, starring Scout Taylor-Compton from the Halloweenremake, and The Stand: How One Gesture Shook the World, which is actually not about the Stephen King novel but is in fact, Tom Ratcliffe and Becky Paige’s doc about Tommie Smith and John Carlos’ decision to raise their fist in solidarity at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, only to receive major fallout for the gesture. (Kind of wish I had time to see that one, actually.)

Uncork’d is releasing Paydirt and Limbo while Midnight Releasing is putting out Invasion Earth this week. All of these could be grand, but I just didn’t have the time to find out. Sorry.

Metrograph’s new Live Screenings series will continue this week with Kevin Rafferty and James Ridgeway’s Feed (1992) running through Friday along with a 10th anniversary screening of the Bill Withers’ doc Still Bill. Friday will begin the theater’s Satoshi Kon Retrospective, starting with Perfect Blue on Friday and then the equally-classic Millennium Actress starting next Monday.

Available via Film Forum’s Virtual Cinema is Ramona S. Diaz’s documentary A THOUSAND CUTS, that takes a look at the war between the Philippine government and the media after Filipino journalist Maria Ressa receives a guilty verdict in her trial. Ressa’s news site “Rappler” was investigating the government-sanctioned drug war against the country’s impoverished actors that had left the streets filled with bodies after Rodrigo Duterte is elected President in 2016.

Film Movement’s Virtual Cinema will be screening Peruvian filmmaker Melina León’s Song Without a Name about an indigenous Andean woman whose baby is taken from her.

Premiering on Netflix this week is the teen comedy Work It while Amazon Prime has the Scottish coming-of-age comedy Boyz in the Wood and Showtime has something called The Good Lord Bird.  All great I’m sure but this is what happens when you dump so much stuff onto the same effin’ weekend.

Next week, more movies not in theaters!

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or drop me a note or tweet on Twitter. I love hearing from readers … honest

[serpentinred]

blackmantagirl mentioned you in a post “@serpentinred LOL! Same here. Most of the time, I follow new people...”

@ serpentinred LOL! Same here. Most…

@blackmantagirl Well, then, that’s good. At least we can gang up on anyone who dares to call us anything but young and beautiful. ;)

No, it wasn’t Jump! *goes to search on the Internet for the comic book name* It MIGHT have been Nakayoshi. I don’t quite remember it, to be honest, although I’m certain that it was translated version of it (I think they imported it from Hong Kong at that time, since I got it in Chinatown, Manhattan). I'm checking it up, and it still might be Nakayoshi, since I think I saw Cardcaptor Sakura being published in the same book. I didn’t read it but remember my second older sister liking one of the other mangas being published in there, and I THINK it was Cardcaptor. I think there was also a manga of a female Robin Hood-ish in there as well. Anyhow ... too many years ago. LOL!

I haven’t rewatched Super/Stars as much as Classics/R/S, so I’m not really certain about Chibs’ birthday. 

Also, after Luna-P went over to the dark side and turned into that drill-umbrella. Like, sure, some people might argue that it’s because of the black crystal, but I really don’t think so. Chibs was exposed to that crystal, not Luna-P. Luna-P just changed itself to be with Chibs. Knowing kids, when they are bullied to the extent that the franchise wanted us to believe Chibs was, they’re going to retaliate pretty harshly without thinking of the consequences unless it was in retrospect. Heck, I know of a child who drew blood (by scratching) who only knew remorse after they were confronted by someone they liked, not when they’d first done it. Well, actually, it was only that case - the kid scratched more than one person already, so ...

Kids (well, humans in general, to be honest) can be very cruel in the right (or is it wrong?) situations.

Anyhow, Chibs in the 90′s anime gave me no indication that she would hold back in dishing out pain towards the people that bullied her that much, tbh.

ROTFLMAO! Exactly! I recall thinking “How the hell didn’t they know she was the Queen’s child when she has the freaking moon symbol on her forehead whenever she had the temper tantrum?” But I tend to ignore plot holes when the rest of the story is entertaining, so I was willing to let it slide. Didn’t stop me from disliking Chibs though. XDDD

Now you’re making me imagine the Senshi running all over CT trying to pacify the worried citizens - “No, we’re not under attack ... No, it’s just the Princess getting hungry ... NO, SHE HADN’T BEEN POSSESSED BY A YOUMA."

In retrospect, no wonder nobody knew that the Black Moon clan was going to attack CT in the 30th century. Any signs were brushed under “another Princess anomaly” until it was too late. XDDD

Well, ignoring SenShi (or in general, Shitennou) fan theories of the Shitennou being brought back to life to have extra guards for Mamoru, they had at least 4 Sailor Senshi protecting the Queen and the King. So ... um ... shouldn’t at least one of them be, like, protecting the Princess, too? I mean, she is the next in line to the throne. Sure, CT is supposed to be a utopia, but, erm ... did you forget that you happened to banish people to Nemesis? And besides, if it WERE a complete utopia, there shouldn’t be any needs of guards for the Queen and King. So, why weren’t the Senshi helping Chibiusa control her powers anyway?

Maybe they were going for “Chibs had the power because she absorbed the Silver Crystal”, yeah, no, not buying it because how did the Black Moon clan knew that it was Chibs shining the beacon?

Yeah, Manga!Chibs had more basis for being insecure, and it made sense for her to question if she were the Queen’s kid because if Sailor Moon was so powerful, and Neo-queen Serenity could wield the Silver Crystal, what was she, Chibs, doing? Why didn’t she have any powers?

Agreed with what you said about the difference between two different Black Lady. 

Well, I think 90′s Usagi also gets distracted rather easily. She’ll set herself for a goal to do better and then the next second she’s like “Oh, video games! Manga!” whereas Manga!Usagi doesn’t bother setting a goal for schoolwork. At least, I don’t remember her doing this in the manga. 

Like I’ve said, binge watching Crystal these couple of days, I can say with confidence that you can see that Usagi pretty much matured from Season 1 to Season 3. 

Anyhow, I agree that there’s a way to keep immaturity and maturity at a balance, which wasn’t accomplished in Classics, unfortunately.

Agreed about the running around bit in Season 3. Well, to be honest, it’s a bit jarring to go from the elegant and graceful artwork of S1 and S2 and then to S3. Not that S3 isn’t pretty, but imho, it lacks the elegance of S1 and S2. So when the running around bit came around, I guess I was already a bit ... numb? Anyhow ...

Yeah, I know a lot of people didn’t like it because it felt too convenient with everyone pairing off. I didn’t mind it much because it gave me plenty of things to play with. LOL! I’m that strange kid in the back of the room that has to make pairs with everything (not humans of course, but with things, yeah ...).

No, I get what you mean about some of the personality. I think Jadeite’s boyish laid-back attitude came from PGSM where they had a scene in which Jadeite was jumping around in the back. But I never really got that feel from Jadeite. To me, he was serious, rash at some points. He was probably a bit more relaxed when he was with his Shitennou brothers and Endymion (and with Rei, if we’re going with SenShi fanfics). Sure, he might troll people every once in a while because being with the rest of the Shitennou has to rub off on him after a while. So basically, I see him more as an even more serious, more rash, and more sarcastic version of Ami. 

Oh, Nephrite is definitely the Casanova type with a love for being over-dramatic in everything he does. Seriously, you’re from the Dark Kingdom and the leader of youma, what are you doing riding around town in a freaking red sports car and having a mansion in the middle of some spooky forest? Are you seriously trying to tell me that you can’t look at stars elsewhere? LOL! 

Zoisite is a whole other can of worms, imho. I don’t get when people make him introverted. To me, he’s the refined version of Nephrite? Like ... he’s dramatic but more in the peacock way while Nephrite is more the Lion King way, I guess. LOL!

No, I get what you mean. Though I admit that I’m a fangirl of the traditional pairings, I do see why mixing things up will be fun. :)

I still think that it’s because they were trying to stuff everything into 13 Acts. I agree with what you said about the reveal. Like perhaps let the Senshi somewhat feel something after they’d defeated the Shitennou? Like even if they’d wanted something stupid dramatic like having Metallia blast the Shitennou, they could’ve done something along the lines of:

[Mercury freezes Zoisite, harming him significantly. However, before she could proceed to permanently dust him, a voice resounded in her ears, that sounded suspiciously like Zoisite, but with a lot less malice and with more friendliness, and even endearment, if the production team wanted it to go that way.

That pause proved to enough time for Zoisite to break free of his confines and escape back to the Dark Kingdom.]

Something similar for the rest of the girls and then the girls discuss this with Venus, who then reveal that yes, they had relationships before, but she didn’t want to tell them in case it got in the way. So the girls know that the Shitennou were good people before getting brainwashed. Then the Metallia scene and they mourn that good people were killed, rather than for relationships that could never be.

Well, it broke my running record of shipping pairings that are never canon, so there’s that. My friend joked to me that it must be some kind of phenomenon that I actually liked a pairing that became canon. LOL!

(Oh, the musicals are great. I still need to go through all of them, but nearly every one I’d watched was immensely entertaining.)

ROTFLMAO! Oh no. Now you’re going to create a monster. As if this reply isn’t already long enough without me complaining about the break-up arc. ;)

Anyhow, let’s see ...

For one thing, Mamoru was stupid in there.

There is absolutely no other way around it or to say it kindly. Like yeah, a voice that you don’t know (or is vaguely familiar with) tells you that if you don’t break up with Usagi, she’s going to die.

Let’s look at the statistics here, shall we? Starting from the Silver Millennium, it was YOU, Mamoru Chiba, who’d died first. Okay, fine, 90′s anime, you died together, but still only evens the score to Mamoru: 1, Usagi: 1. Then we go to the Dark Kingdom era where you got yourself fatally injured which then got you brainwashed. Mamoru: 2, Usagi: 1. During Alan and Ann’s period, you forget about Usagi, while she had a full set of powers, and you had to become schizophrenic to save her. Remind me if I’m wrong, but you could’ve easily died near the Doom Tree if Ann wasn’t fond of you. So, I’ll be nice Mamoru: 2 1/2, Usagi: 1.

Hell, with those statistics, I don’t know, maybe YOU’RE the one who should be worried about dying, instead of worrying about Usagi dying? It’s pretty much established that though she’s klutzy at times, she’s not the damsel in distress here. More often than not, it’s YOU, Mamoru Chiba, who’s the damsel in distress.

Let’s move on the the scenes - not the artwork, of course. Some of the angsty parts were well-drawn. Seriously, I love a regency romance as much Ami-chan, and I’m guilty of shipping crack pairing that are very controversial and in which there’s nothing redeemable about one of the parties in said pairing.

However with Sailor Moon, you want me to believe that she’s the strongest warrior alive and then you made her become Twilight!Bella. Sure, Bella came after her, but still. What’s up with Usagi nearly wanting her life to end because Mamoru dumped her?

Seriously, I don’t need my female heroines to super heroes. I belong to the HP fandom, and while I do believe Hermione is strong, I click on the X button out of the fic whenever someone makes her stronger than Voldemort, shit rainbows, and barges into Death Eater meetings in order to ruin their plans. However, with Usagi in the break-up arc ...

Seriously, I know that she’s heartbroken, so of course, she’s under depression. My problem is that she doesn’t walk OUT of it before she knows she has a chance with Mamoru again. Without even knowing why he was breaking up with her in the first place.

I know that there are women out there who becomes completely AWOL when they go through heartbreak, but imho, this is not a good message to send out to young girls. It’s the same old trope of “If you hang on long enough, you’ll have him back again” and “If he broke up with you, there must be something wrong, not because he’s out of love with you. Just wait for him to come around and he’ll love you again because it’s TRUUUU WUV!!!” 

While it’s not explicitly said like that, the subliminal messages being sent out with that arc makes me frown.

As a disclaimer, I have to say that I adore the Usagi/Mamoru relationship in manga (and of course, now, in Crystal as well), but in Classics, I really, really wanted Usagi to just dump him. Seriously. I wanted her to go out with someone else because he was such a douche to her. Sure, we knew he did it for a reason, but Usagi doesn’t know this. Without the context, I really wanted to be Makoto so I can beat the crap out of Mamoru. 

Tanya already made wonderful posts as to why the Senshi were horrible friends in other posts, so I won’t repeat it here. I’ll just say I completely agree with her points. 

During that break-up arc, it made me wonder why the Senshi were friends with Usagi anyway. Actually, it would probably be more accurate to say: Why was Usagi friends with them anyway? I would’ve stayed away from them if they kept telling me “It’s because of ______, that’s why Mamoru doesn’t want you anymore.” Hell, if I were one of the Senshi, I would’ve either told her to get over it, gave her a makeover, go party, and hook up with some new guys or grab a bunch of ice cream, find some movies, and cry over those tubs of ice cream with her, whichever way she wanted. It’s shitty of them to put her down when she’s going through break-up. 

Hell, it would’ve made more sense for BERYL to be doing that to Usagi, but not the girls. Or maybe they’d gotten possessed by Beryl after that final showdown between Metallia!Beryl and Usagi. After all, we only knew that Beryl got enveloped by the pink light. Maybe some residue of Beryl got incorporated into the girls. :P

And I mentioned it before, but I’ll mention it again, I really, really hated when Usagi was all Twilight: New Moon!Bella-ish in the break-up arc. I mean, sure, I know they’d wanted it as a way for Usagi and Mamoru to make up, but ugh. UGGGGGGH. I’m pretty certain the break-up arc was also responsible for me rearranging my list of fave Senshi, but anyhow ...

Okay, don’t know if I’d missed anything, but if I did, I’ll probably come back and mention it, but ... yeah ... those are some of the reasons why I hated the break up arc.

Oh, I’ve been interested in villains ever since who-knows-when, although the interest itself didn’t make itself clear until I was a bit older. But yeah, I don’t really like the cardboard cutouts of villains and antagonists either. Also, I prefer them to be intelligent. Give me villains with the minds of Albert Einstein and the elegance of royalty. XDD Of course, I wouldn’t say no if they were also pretty boys, but that’s just the additional plus points at the bottom at the resume that might or might not be reviewed.

It’s really no wonder why Zoisite is my favorite Shitennou, really, regardless of whether he’s paired with Kunzite, Mercury, or whatever. He’s just so evilly delightful. (Yeah, I also see him as being a major troll with a vengeful attitude even if he returns to Mamoru’s side.)

PGSM did well with the character development, much better than most, if not all, of the different versions. This reminds me that I should go back and rewatch PGSM one of these days.

ROTFLMAO! I don’t know why, but I giggled when I read this part: “Anime wise, I didn’t get why they just didn’t take their ships and go to a different star system that has habitable planets using time travel. Or going to a distant future. Like..guys.. for real.” 

Yes, I totally agree with your assessment of the Black Moon clan, but yeah, I liked the Dead Moon Circus more than the Black Moon clan. I recall Nehellenia having different backgrounds in the anime and the manga, but nonetheless, both of them were interesting and intriguing.

LOL! Yeah, I’m not a huge fan of redemption either. I mean, if you do it every once in a while, it’s fine. But except for the Big Bads, you get nearly every mini-boss having some sob story about why they’d turned bad and that just gets annoying. 

ROTFLMAO! Same here. Well, it’s not just the Sailor Moon fandom having that problem, unfortunately. So I find myself disconnecting from a lot of general fandom and just hanging around with people with similar tastes. Though I suppose that might get me attacked as well. LOL!

[kitto-toberu-sa]

B C D W

I always forget I q these and end up with random letters or numbers or words and it’s like ??? y’all okay??? before I realise what happened lmaoB - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.Karma and Kaede (probs as friends, mostly, but anything tbh). Very cute fanart + head canons.JYOUTO?? (Matt and Joe from Digimon?? How why?) Also Yamato and Koushirou as friends since they’re both dumb and awkward lmaoC - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.Honestly I’m not into a lot of ‘the’ ships for most fandoms I’m in, even if my fave is in it. Partly it’s fandoms (usually weebs and yaoi fangirls), too much bad art work/fanfic, or people refusing to realise the flaws in their possible relationship (Sasuke’s issues, Karma making Nagisa cross dress etc) so even if I liked the ship, the fanon version becomes this weird version that I can’t handle. I still read and reblog stuff, but that’s usually because it’s the first 99999999 results you find whenever you type a character’s name :|Honestly tho, from my beyblade days (y’all shush now), Rei and Kai. Never understood it, never will. D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.None? There’s plenty of ships I’m meh about but I don’t really care if I like them or not. I don’t really get MaeIso (again, I’ll read and reblog, but I see them pretty much just as friends) so it’d be nice if I cared more about it since it’s the second (?) most popular ship, but other than that I don’t care much.(Maybe Tai and Sora from Digimon. Or anyone and Sora lol It’s not that I don’t like her as a character, but I ship her with self love lol)

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.DK if its a trope or not, but any time a female is ignored/killed/bashed simply for ‘being in the way’ of a m/m ship. In the same vein, no matter the ship make up (f/f, m/m, f/m, whatever), when the ‘weaker’ one is made to be girly and the ‘strong’ one is manly. Especially when it makes literally no sense for the characters to be changed in that sense. ’Love triangles’ which aren’t actually triangles. (A likes B who likes C who likes A is a triangle. A having to choose between B and C isn’t.) Actually pretty much most romance tropes since they’re often used in combination with bad writing and a extreme version of characters (see next point). Also, when characters are pretty drastically changed and people are like ‘it’s AU so it’s ok!’. Like, yeah some change is necessary since it’s a different universe with different rules, standards etc, but they still need to be similar to the original character otherwise you might as well have made an OC.It’s more a trend than a trope, but writers refusing to research cultures. I started reading fic back in the early 2000′s. There wasn’t the internet resources to research cultures as in depth as you can now (sure, there were some, but they weren’t as vast or easy to find as they are today). Some shows and manga simple weren’t translated, or trying to find subs and other fan translations/summaries was only possible if you sacrificed your first born. Theres no excuse for it today. (There wasn’t then, either) (It seemed to have got better for a while, but I’ve seen this a lot in the Ass Class fandom, and a few things from the Yugioh and Digimon fandoms too recently)Stop white washing everything by going ‘I don’t understand the culture so I’ll make all my fics set in America’. This IS white washing. It’s also lazy as fuck. Sure, your head canon or fic more than likely isn’t hurting anyone from the cultures those characters are from. But you’re also slowly erasing chances people have to learn in more depth about those cultures, or by saying ‘this is set in Japan’ but not involving Japanese culture, you’re erasing that and saying ‘everything is the same as my culture’. You’re also creating expectations within fandoms (’oh, these people are pretty similar to me!’) but then if they end up visiting, their expectations are dashed. (You aren’t responsible for them not doing research, sure, but you are responsible for your own interpretations and ideas) It creates new stereotypes and when people have been exposed to them instead of the ‘real’ version of that country/religion/race/whatever, some can be stubborn and try to go ‘well, no, I’ve seen all this which contradicts you’ and not see reality. I’m not sure this last point is making sense, but basically, do your research. It’ll help you be a better writer and a more educated human. It ain’t that hard folks.