#THIS IS ABOUT THE PARODY NOT THE ACTUAL SAO

[eerna]

“How can I hate you? I don’t even know you anymore!”

Is INSANEEEEE, UTTERLY INSANE, SIBLINGS WHOSE ROOMS ARE NEXT TO EACH OTHER WHO DON’T KNOW EACH OTHER ANYMORE,

WHO WOULD DIE FOR EACH OTHER BUT MAKE THEIR TIME TOGETHER HELL AAAUGGHHHH

IT IS CRAAAZYYYYY like the ENTIRE TIME Kazuto spends convinced Suguha hates him, and for a good reason! She is horrible to him and rejects any and all attempts of his to reach out!! But that's just because it's a gut reaction, in reality she is as sad over their dead siblinghood as he is. She is alarmed bc he disappeared for 2 years and returned emotionally available, his issues solved because of the people he met and loved during that journey, while she stayed the same bastard bitch she'd been. And even before that, they spent years at each other's throats, not talking about that one thing that forced them apart, him completely oblivious to her pain and her unwilling to reveal it to him. Their rooms are right next to each other, but even that can't bridge the years separating them

[khruschevshoe]

OFMD Critique: Bad Faith, Fandom, and Respect

All right. You know what? Screw it. I saw one post I just cannot ignore anymore that encapsulated all of my problems with the fandom right now. Personal rant incoming.

I understand that there's a nuance to the discussion of season 2 of Our Flag Means Death, and that there are people going a little too far with both their critiques and their support of the show. But oh my God, I'm tired of being straw-manned and made fun of for legitimate critiques of the show.

I just used the block button on someone in this fandom for the first time. Some of you might think I'm overreacting for this, but I saw a post that I could not on any level stand. This person, who I will not name names of, because I'd rather just block them and never deal with their level of bad faith again, took their one legitimate criticism of those of us who critique the show, the back and forth on whether or not Izzy's death was homophobic or not, and used it as the first in a literal list of straw man critiques that no one I've read in the OFMD Critical tag has made (and I check it like once a day bc I like reading meta, sorry), proceeding to absolutely make fun of the legitimate critiques that people have of the show, parodying them in the worst possible ways. They took our legitimate critiques about everything from the sexist handling Zheng Yi Sao's character, the absolute ableism of the finale, the questionable optics of the handling of trauma, etc. and stretched them into things that they very much were not (two examples were that we were crying ableism bc of something to do with seagulls and that we thought the problem in the Stede&Zheng dynamic was the "emotional labor" involved).

Now I'm pretty sure this post was a joke. I *think* it was a joke. But how in the world am I supposed to feel comfortable in the main section of a fandom like this when the comments and replies to this post were full of people agreeing sincerely that this is what the critical section of the fandom is like? How am I supposed to feel when I just see people making fun of me for my analysis of the show? I love this show. I adore season 1 and I'm clearly still making fan related content (moodboards) for season 2 along with my critiques.

Sure, I vibe way more with fanfiction than the actual canon at this point, but I still genuinely engage with the show. And to have the critiques that I made in good faith, regarding issues that I sincerely care about such as ableism, sexism, homophobia, and the handling of trauma, made fun of and taken out of context and straw-manned to their extreme, makes me feel so absolutely unwelcome in this fandom.

Other than keeping up with the couple of fan series that I'm currently still reading, I don't know if I can stay in this fandom any longer. I can't say that I'm excited for the new season if this is the kind of response that any good faith critique of the show is going to get. I can't say that I feel safe or comfortable when there are this many people ready to dog pile on me for a critique I made with ACTUAL TEXTUAL EVIDENCE to back it up.

I would like to thank all the people who have been making excellent critiques of the show. Their meta-analysis is what got me into making my own critiques, which I was nervous about making in any other fandom. I don't think I've in any way tagged them all, but just a few I can remember off the top of my head. Go read their critiques/meta- it's really good!

@sky-fire-forever @carrymelikeimcute @blue-b-bro @bougiebutchbinch @treesofgreen @sixstepsaway @alex51324

And from the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who has engaged with my mood boards or my critiques or anything else that I've made, as well as the amazing writers and artists in this fandom (such as @ruecrown, @aletterinthenameofsanity, @fool-for-luv, and @possumsmushroom). You guys have kept me going with my love for the show and engaging with it for a while now. Despite the stuff that is making me take a step back now, I really did love this while it lasted! I'm still planning on making a few more mood boards, but other than that, I'm going to take a step back from engaging.

Hope this post can spread enough support/joy your way to counteract the ache I'm currently feeling!

Sincerely,

Ashley (aka @khruschevshoe)

[princess-of-the-corner]

SAO Abridged compensated for Kirito's canon Gary Stu status by making him be an absolute LOSER in the real world, to the point that GETTING TRAPPED IN A DEATH GAME is referred to as the best thing to ever happen to him, with Season 2 exploring what kind of home life he'd need to actually LONG for the death game he escaped from as much as his canon counterpart apparently did (I've not watched it).

Also, instead of his skills in the game translating to skills in the real world, his muscles have realistically atrophied over the two years he spent with his mind in the VR world, meaning his younger sister wipes the floor with him when they spar in the real world.

And abridged!Kirito himself is a pretty big jerk in Season 1, because the parody series ALSO asks "What kind of person would ENJOY being trapped in a death game?" and gave us someone who is like a reverse harem protagonist. Whenever they adapt an episode where one of his auxillary love interests falls for him, the episode is about them STARTING OUT having superficial attraction to him, only to fall out of love after getting to know the real him.

(Oh yeah, SAO canon gave Kirito a harem for some reason.)

Honestly that makes sense.

[nerice]

Fall Season 2023 Watch List >:3 !

detailed thoughts >>

protocol rain. happy first esports anime. unsure if this will last the season but for now there's a core of smth in there that keeps me watching. also the op/ed are gorgeous rly where they put their priorities lol bc the main show does look like ass

100 girlfriends/hyakkano. the harem parody i didn't know i needed. the setup is so genuinely stupid but it fires thru jokes at such a rapid pace you barely have time to remember the ones that don't land as well. THE ANIMATION IS SO BEAUTIFUL. also inch rested to see if they can get to 100 girlfriends polycule without becoming boring (komi san i am looking at u......)

apothecary diaries. everything i hoped it would be <33 some say the mysteries are too easy but since im not big on detective stuff im actually happy with the pacing (compared to raven of the inner palace which could drag a lil imo) it just looks soooo good maomao is so fun her cat emotes... <3 ((also ngl. there's elifauve angle to the main duo which i am. delighted abt ww))

ragna crimson. do the character designs look like a b-tier anime from the early 2000s? yeah. does it slap all the fucking way? YEAH. ragna and leo are extremely whatever but crimson (damiacore!!) and angel dragon are SO DOPE. aots no doubt <3 (<- biased i cannot be trusted) it just scratches an itch that hasn't been scratched since the isekai game inspy fantasy scourge took over. bar is on the ground etc

shangri-la frontier. heel turn but. scratches the video game fantasy world itch and it's just stupid enough to be annoying. no isekai bullshit. fight animation that's exactly what made sao fun but without the harem bs that made sao.... sao. (i know there's more girls coming i just hope we stick to fun beat em up with it.)

sousou no frieren. ANIME OF THE DECADE. absolutely no question about it this is the best thing i've ever seen every second of animation is jaw-droppingly beautiful all the characters and the fkcin story the cycles the grief the humanity behind it all. i cry every single ep ;-; i am too enamored by it to even be annoyed abt the german names of everything and everyone. it's awkward but as someone who also gave all their first ocs telling japanese names I'LL LET IT SLIDE <3

spy x family s2. excited to get to boat arc. exactly what you know ur gonna get from it and i love getting more sxf. it's fun!!!!

undead unluck. it has the kill la kill energy (idiocy) we have no choice but to stan. took me actually till ep 2 to clock it was made by shaft guys and now i cannot unsee it anymore. all the chars and gimmicks are stupid and fun and it perfectly fills the niche left empty by zom100 being in production hell. ive watched anime for long enough that i can ignore the sexual comedy bits but it is becoming stale (in which it falls short of what klk was able to pull off. god i miss klk) lol

dropped tier

-shy (technically havent dropped this yet but unless ep3 gets interesting real fast... it's not doing anything well enough to care)

-kamonohashi ron/forbidden deductions (i hate detective shows sorry. was gonna stick it out for his cute disheveled design but i simply do not care enough for the gimmick or the genre)

-kamierabi (what happens when you let yoko taro of nier fame and jin of kagepro fame make a series together? nothing worth watching unfortunately. made me wanna rewatch mirai nikki tho lmao)

summer season leftovers

-jjks2 (U KNOW WHAT IS ABOUT TO BE DONE TO ME)

-zom100 (pour one out for production issues)

[scaip]

When villainesses take the lead

We are the generation that grew up watching shows such as Digimon, Inuyasha and The Vision of Escaflowne. There is something attractive about works that involve journeys to other worlds with fantastical settings and exciting adventures. Let’s say, you have your normal fantastical plot: a common person falls into another world. There, they may develop or discover the possession of magical powers, live lots of magical occurrences and even may end up finding love! Magic Knight Rayearth, SAO and Zero no Tsukaima come to my mind, among others.

What’s so interesting about this type of fictional works? We receive the chance to explore themes of our interest, fulfil personal fantasies and escape from our common lives (the real world is already complicated on its own). This article shows how Escapism has its value.

There is a very interesting paradigm going on on Asiatic media concerning travels to other worlds. In fact, according to TV Tropes, this type of fictional work is called Isekai in Japanese media and it’s treated as a genre of its own. And yet, nowadays I find a very interesting twist in this type of media, a twist that makes things very entertaining.

The names of the works I’m talking about sound cliché and melodramatic: ‘My Next Live as a Villainess’, ‘Death is the Only Ending for the Villainess’, ‘The Villainess Lives Twice’, ‘The Villainess reverses the hourglass’. Others are more indirect, such as ‘The Abandoned Empress’ and ‘Your Throne’. Most are told from the point of view of females who have a traditional antagonist role.

I’ve always enjoyed ironic consumption, and these titles worked as magnets to me. What I ended up finding was a refreshing surprise: common women who fell into fantastical worlds made from the plots of novels and games they consumed in their free time, or more traditional ‘villainesses’ who travelled back in time to fix what was wrong in their first lives. In the first case, we would see normal girls who found themselves inside the bodies of ‘villainous’ characters and desperately trying to avoid their bad endings by the use of their knowledge of the plots while commenting on clichés and traditional tropes. In the second case, we see female characters who more or less identify with their ‘villainous’ role and try to change their bad outcomes while learning about themselves and what drove them to make their bad choices.

What do these types of works have in common? They are genre deconstructions. According to TV Tropes, deconstructions happen when a fictional work takes its elements apart and shows how certain elements would work in real life, by contrasting them to ‘real situations’ or parodying them. Sarcastic main characters help, too.

There is a very interesting trend among Asian Media (mainly works made by Korean authors, but there are Japanese too) concerning the deconstruction of traditional stories directed to the female public.

Why is this expression of the isekai genre so interesting?

First, because most stories deal with settings of historical fantasy, where we can indulge ourselves with beautiful Period dresses, gorgeous mansions and attractive love interests. One can’t help but remember the works of Jane Austen or the Brontë Sisters.

Second, because the twists of these works feel refreshing. We consider other points of view. We see why villains become what they become. We get to learn new plot points. Deconstructions give an interesting dose of realism and pragmatism to stories. They are refreshing because they give new angles to an old genre and we can identify with the situations.

But let’s not forget: the focus of this essay is villainesses. We get to see the story from the point of view of female characters who don’t portray themselves as good people and some even feel content with their roles.

Raised in a world where women receive lots of double standards, being pressured from young ages to be proper and good and yet receiving worse punishments than guys for doing the same things like them as a result of unrealistic expectations, along with some unhealthy extremes of social justice culture, where we are oddly pressured to change ourselves and learn from our mistakes yet we are not allowed to fully grow from them, it isn’t hard to identify with villainesses. After all, it is unavoidable to find ourselves as the villains of someone else’s life events. We are not perfect people and we fuck up sometimes. Especially when we are young.

So, why are villainesses so interesting? Because they fuck up, too. These characters don’t try to be saintly good girls and they acknowledge their situations. There is an interesting dose of cynicism underlying these works, in some, it’s more open than in others, such as ‘Your Throne’. Some female leads are noble demons who try to not drag third parties into their schemes, like Medea Belial in the work I previously mentioned. Others define themselves as villainess yet behave as anti-heroines are their worst, such as Aria Roscente in ‘The Villaines Reverses the Hourglass’. And others are heroes who still place themselves in the roles of villains, like Catarina Claes in ‘My Next Life as a Villainess!’’.

What do these three have in common? The leads also have internalized in themselves some moral standards about good and evil.

I don’t think it is surprising to find these types of works during the current fourth wave of Feminism we are living in. Terms such as internalized misogyny, double standards and deconstruction are concepts I learned these past years thanks to social media. So, why do I believe these types of Isekai novels that focus on villainesses are so relevant? Because we see other females’ points of view, we understand their positions and sometimes get to see that the true villains are other characters. Most of the villainesses of these works are, in fact, women with terrible social reputations who behave as anti-heroines at their worst.

There is a reason why the social settings of these stories are during past times. The authors of these works are deconstructing tropes from both old and new media. They are giving voices to Other Characters and show them in a realistic light, they write about flawed women who try to survive in a world full of unrealistic expectations, and that is true for both past and actual times.

It isn't hard for me to recall works such as Northanger Abbey or Jane Eyre. There are reasons why Period novels are still relevant these days, but that it’s not the topic I want to address in this essay. Here is this interesting article that analyses the success of Jane Austen works, while this note from the Guardian does the same for the Brontë sisters. Of course, experts and critics would get annoyed at me for putting Jane Austen and the Brontë Sisters on the same page, but please, bear with me: I’m talking about fictional works that deal with abuse, machismo, dysfunctional families and difficult childhoods, subjects still relevant to today. So, what’s so interesting about recalling these themes? It’s the way some Asian authors knew how to retake these stories, added some fantastical elements and still deconstructed others, providing us with a refreshing result.

Most of the isekai works I mentioned above are told from the point of view of young girls who are isolated for their social positions, because they come from other worlds and know that their ‘new bodies’ are doomed to die and more.

Imagine being reincarnated as the pretty daughter of a noble family and yet... you find yourself hated and isolated from others, in a situation you cannot control. And you can be murdered in cold blood if you don’t make the right choices. These works make it very clear some situations are ugly and dangerous. They are not painted in a romantic light. And the main characters acknowledge it.

Naturally, there are aspects we could criticize of these works. For example, the main leads usually are white thin ladies in gorgeous period dresses, who despite their issues still benefit from privileged backgrounds. And few of these works address LGTBQ+ representation, as most of the endgames are attractive male leads.

But then, this is not about pitting people against each other. It’s about acknowledging a new paradigm in story-telling, one that subverts and parodies plots.

Change is brought over by small steps. And I think we are going on a good path.

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

Update (July 22nd): I see this post is reaching some people. If you feel like it, what about buying me a coffee?

[welcometomy20s]

June 12, 2022

#246 - Glad You’re a Lolicon~ (Takebo3) [Hatsune Miku]

Achievement Date: 16-03-21, Upload Date: 12-03-10

One of those forbidden songs you might hear about. You can hear it from a mile away, that poppy happy song usually indicates some disturbing otaku thing. Apparently the song isn’t that disturbing as the title indicates, a kind of cynical take on the whole thing.

#247 - Suki! Yuki! Maji Magic (Mitchie M) [Hatsune Miku]

Achievement Date: 16-03-27, Upload Date: 14-02-01

One of my favorite winter songs, and one of… two Snow Miku songs on this list. Snow Miku always get such interesting, but this song is the most popular, and I think it’s because it’s made by the most commercial VocaP, Mitchie M. I think this is most acoustic of Mitchie M, which actually adds to the significance of the song.

#248 - The (Week)end is coming! (sasakure.uk) [Kagamine Rin]

Achievement Date: 16-04-01, Upload Date: 10-06-04

The last of Lalala Apocalypse series, but the first in the chronology, as it depicts the apocalypse arriving. Given the year, it makes sense this song hit a million in ‘16. Really interesting tuning, kind of sounds like cicadas, but it’s not obtrusive and the combination of chiptune and jazz is a really fascinating combination. 

#249 - Cirno’s Math Class (eiki) [Hatsune Miku]

Achievement Date: 16-04-06, Upload Date: 09-05-20

Parody of Cirno’s Perfect Math Class (the joke gets lost, because the original is actually ‘arithmetics’, so it’s of a lower class) it’s about Cirno being an adult and reflecting on her old days… Yes, it’s the slow sad version, but it really works, though.

#250 - Magical Girl Happiness Theory (Tohma) [Hatsune Miku]

Achievement Date: 16-04-12, Upload Date: 13-04-02

Speaking of sad magical girls… this one has a Utata-P like twist, the beginning is very cutesy, before turning into that frantic synth rock that Tohma is known for. That bridge is really dark and the PV is really something. The ending kind of wraps everything, though, in that speculative ‘are you sure’ kind of way.

#251 - Petenshi ga Warau Koro ni (Nashimoto Ui) [Hatsune Miku]

Achievement Date: 16-04-14, Upload Date: 09-05-12

Hard rock is always a bit of a challenge for Miku, but Nashimoto Ui makes it work by having Miku sing like a 90’s drawl rock, and topping it a socially critical commentary. Kind of funny having Miku do this, but oddly it doesn’t feel too out of a place.

#252 - Madara Cult (Tohma) [GUMI]

Achievement Date: 16-04-22, Upload Date: 12-05-06

Kind of a turning point for Tohma, his most deranged and dark song. I can’t read too deeply into these kinds of subcontinent-influenced songs, the reference tends to be obscure. This is Tohma at his most cynical and worrisome. 

#253 - Soar (minato) [Hatsune Miku]

Achievement Date: 16-04-24, Upload Date: 08-03-19

Epic Eurotrance that resembles the Anime OP from that time (think Log Horizon or SAO). Might be minato’s most tame song and most simple song, although I guess all of his songs are pretty direct. He does get the feel and vibe right on the money, though.

#254 - Just a game (takamatt) [GUMI]

Achievement Date: 16-04-28, Upload Date: 10-06-03

Kind of a dramatic dance song, kind of like those early KuroUsa-P songs. People like to cosplay GUMI’s dress, although mostly as other VOCALOIDs, which is amusing. I think this is a rhumba song, which is different from the type of latin dance from before…

[jupitermelichios]

On a more possitive note, I’ve started watching Sword Art Online. It’s one of the worst things I’ve ever seen (and the last film I saw in cinemas was Cats to give you context for the scale i’m working on here) and I kind of adore it in much the same way I love garbage like Smallville or Twilight. It’s so stupid on so many levels. You could challenge someone to write the worst anime, and it would almost certainly be better than SAO. It’s almost hypnotic how terrible it is.

No one should watch this terrible terrible show so I therefore don’t feel at all bad that I’m about the spoil absolutely everything, but honestly if you do also hate-watch this please come talk to me about how terrible it is. I don’t know anyone else who watches it.

Highlights of Season 1 include:

everyone is trapped in an MMO, and if you die in the MMO you die IRL. but if you were a beta-tester you’re probably fine because they just let them keep all their levels and items from the testing, so they’re all massively OP and everyone just accepts this as a normal and non-game-breaking thing

it’s a fantasy MMO but there’s no races, no magic system, no weapons except swords and maces, and not even an option to dual wield - literally all you can do in this fucking game is stand in front of an enemy and mash the attack button. I’m pretty sure they’re trapped there because the devs realised no one would play this post launch-day otherwise because it’s boring as shit

when the villain traps everyone he also just changs all their avatars to look like they do IRL for absolutely no reason, like actually none, he doesn’t even say he thinks it would be funny, he just does it and no one questions it and it is literally never mentioned again because this is the worst TV show ever animated.

in the second episode the main character deliberately witholds information about how to defeat a boss, indirectly causing multiple deaths. there is absolutely no reason for him to withhold it, he was just being a jerk because he doesn’t like people

in the third episode they reset his entire personality and he’s now a selfless hero pretending to be a lower level than he really is so people will find him more relateable and be his friend because all he wants is to help people. this is not a consequence of episode 2, they just decided they didnt like the character as he’d previously been written.

he makes some new friends who are all objectively terrible people who have decided for no season that the twelve year old who doesn’t really know how to play and keeps having anxiety attacks about the very real possibility of death has to be the guild tank. the MC is high enough level to be functionally immortal in like half the levels, but doesn’t tell anyone this he just lets them go on bullying this child

none of his friends survive that episode, in the game or IRL. which is also a christmas epsiode. a child dies in battle because she’s a terrible tank and then a man commits suicide out of guilt, so then the main character murders santa to try and bring them back from the actual dead but it doesn’t work because again, this is a video game and they are dead IRL, so then he walks off into the snow alone. Christmas!

we meet the best character in the entire show in episode 4, Rosalia, who has gone evil and started just straight murdering people because she’s sick of being an attractive adult woman who can’t get a date because she’s surrounded by lolicons who are only interested in the preteen characters (not a joke, that comes up, the show is firmly on the side of the lolicons)

in the same episode we get an extended bra and panty sequence staring an actual fucking child, like canonically this character is maybe 13 at best. this is one of only 2 occaisions when they feel the need to undress a character and it’s the fucking 12 year old, it’s so gross it reads like a parody of itself

literally every single named female character aged over 8 who talks to the MC falls in love with him after like 5 minutes (and in season 2 this includes his actual sister). he shows absolutely no interest in any of them (including his sister, thank god) until...

the main character gets engaged to a girl he only knows from an MMO after a virtual single date (he doesn’t actually win her in a PVP match but only because he looses the match, he 100% canonically tries to win her in a match, which she is apparently fine with). he then doesn’t bother to ask for her real name until the final episode, he just calls her by her screen name

(that’s okay though becuase it turns out that this moron of a love interest used her real name, on a local server, in a game where your character looks like you do IRL, because apparently getting doxxed is her hobby)

they then get in-game married off screen. there’s not even like a still of a wedding photo. nothing. the main character proposes and then the show immediately jumps to the honeymoon, it’s fucking bizarre.

they find a creepy child dressed all in white with no memory alone in the woods a week into their honeymoon who starts calling them mommy and daddy literally seconds after they first meet her, and they don’t suspect anything suss is going on and adopt her

for hilarity bear in mind the main character may only be 15 at this point (he says he’s only just turned 16 in the last epsiode, but his actual birthday is never mentioned), and his virtual wifu is 16, but no one ever questions the marriage or the adoption, even though ‘hey marriage in a video game is as important and meaningful as marriage in real life’ is an actual conversation people have multiple times. also they think the child they adopt is an actual IRL 8 year old who thinks these randos she met in an MMO are her mum and dad and everyone just goes with that like it’s a totally normal thing

a character called ‘Thinker’ agrees to meet an enemy faction leader for peace talks. the “peace talks” take place in a high level dungeon and he is told to come alone with no weapons and no fast travel. he does this. no one ever comments that his name is ironic, and in fact they seem to think that being betrayed and trapped in a dungeon with a boss is a totally unexpected turn of events Thinker could never have planned for

they take their new baby into the dungeon to rescue thinker, because they went to the jean grey school of baby rearing, and she imediately reveals that she’s actually a magical maggufin with infinite power, murders the grim reaper, and then dies. In literally the second episode she’s in

after she dies the MC hacks the admin account of the game, converts her corpse into an in game item, and saves to the local storage on his console, with the intention of bringing her back to life as a robot once they’re saved from the game. I’m not joking, that’s an actual thing that happens.

the fact that the main character can just access the main admin account and make massive game-breaking changes isn’t used again in that game and he never thinks to try and use it to force log people out or give himself infinite life so he can just rush the game and free everyone. nope, convert a corpse into an item and then never think about it again.

there’s an entire episode where all they do is go fishing. its the only filler episode in the season, and it immediately follows the death of a small child. it’s the most tone-deaf beach episode in writing history

it turns out this game, this game where they didn’t bother coding in any difference races, weapons, or any kind of magic system, was intended to have fully sentient AI therapists, because why the fuck not at this point honestly

oh also the game has PVP and you can trick the game into thinking a sleeping player is in PVP with you in order to actually murder a real person without it flagging in-game as a murder making the crime impossible for the real life legal system to investigate even though you just murdered a person. and they expect us to believe this game had actual beta testers. at least cyberpunk wasn’t played on microwaves you connected straight to your brain (also not a joke, the VR consoles canonically work by sending microwave radiation into your brain, no wonder VR never caught on)

the set up for the show is that they have to reach level 100 of a dungeon in order to win. At level 75, the writers got bored and the show just ends.

it turns out the power of love allows you to just break the fucking game and the main villain literally has a line about how ‘love allows you to remove debuffs, huh, we didn’t think to plan for that’ because again, there’s no metaphors in this show, everything is 100% literal including the fact that falling in love with another player means you’re immune to the paralysis status effect

power of love also allows you to very briefly become a poltergeist after being killed, but only for like 2 seconds. again not a joke or a metaphor, main character is killed but then gets to hang around as a ghost for a little bit to enable him to defeat the boss. he also doesn’t die in real life despite that being the entire fucking premise of the show, again because power of love.

the bad guy literally has no plan, he’s just doing shit for the sake of having something to do. His actions directly cause the deaths of more than 4,000 people, and it’s not even in aid of anything. they ask him why he trapped 10,000 people in an MMO and allowed them to slowly die, and he’s just like ‘huh, i forgot i did that, random’ and then just fucking peaces out

the fact that he committed one of the largest mass killings outside of war never really comes up again, as far as we know he doesn’t even go to jail. i think the show actually kind of thinks he’s a good guy, which is a fucking WILD moral stance to take on the deaths of 4000 completely innocent people for absolutely no reason

If this sounds hilari-bad but you don’t want to invest the time to watch a show which is objectively garbage, it has an abridged series which is famously better than the show it’s parodying (i’m dead serious, people have character arcs, the getting married after one date thing is properly addressed, the mc has to deal with PTSD because of all his friends dying in epsidode 3, they don’t immediately follow the death of a child with an extended fishing montage, the villain has an actual plan). It’s mostly actually pretty good, but this is the internet and it’s an abridged series, so while there are a lot fewer yikes moments than most it still has enough that I’m not comfortable recommending it without the caveat. that said I still enjoyed it a lot, although possibly not at much as pointing and laughing at the garbage that is the actual show.

[simon-newman]

Newman’s Anime Reviews - Kimetsu no Yaiba

Hello Everyone and welcome to my first anime review in… Nearly 4 years?

*Cough*

Yeah - I know - I am still supposed to write the Seven Witches review… I have no excuses. I will get to it. SOMEDAY!

But today I’m going to talk about another anime. The first title from my 2021 anime challenge.

Actually this is the only anime from the challenge list that I’ve picked myself because I’ve been intending to watch it for a while now.

I’m talking about

Kimetsu no Yaiba

Now - I didn’t really know what I’m getting myself into. I’m not sure if this counts as an achievement but I didn’t know shit about this title outside of:

Some people I know highly recommended it to me,

Nezuko is the best girl (and a demon)

There’s some dude wearing boar’s head as a mask,

Swords

Apparently it’s about killing demons

This is everything. EVERYTHING I knew when I started watching.

First things first however - let's start with the premise.

We meet our protagonist - Kamaboko Gonpachiro as he’s living his harsh but happy life with his large family. Monjiro takes on the responsibility of caring for his mother and younger siblings as the oldest male in the family after his father’s death before the start of the plot.

We join our protagonist as he goes down the mountain to sell charcoal at the nearby village and promises to come back with a lot of goods and food for the New Year’s.

Right off the bat we’re presented with beautiful scenes of  a loving family life our protagonist enjoys and I’m not going to make any anime veteran jokes about it.

Long story short - Tontaro’s trip lasts longer than he expected and he ends up staying the night at the village. It is then that we learn about demons that prowl the night of Kimetsu no Yaiba world. Evil creatures of darkness that feed on the flesh of humans. We also learn about demon hunters who protect people from those demons.

Gengoro resumes his trip back early in the morning but thanks to his keen sense of smell soon realizes that something is wrong. Very wrong. He rushes forward to get back as soon as possible but it is already too late.

There was a demon attack during the night and his family got killed with the sole exception of his sister Nezuko who was turned into a demon.

Surprising a demon hunter who appears shortly after Nezuko manages to regain her senses and has strong enough will to resist attacking humans. Thus begins Kanjiro’s journey - to become a demon slayer himself, avenge his family, protect others from what happened to him and find a way to turn his sister back into a regular human.

Sounds easy, right?

  I’ll be honest here that while the beginning was executed beautifully I must admit that I wasn’t really feeling this anime right away.

It seemed like your standard shounen anime from the start. Greatly executed despite being very cliche but still not outstanding.

Tragedy to set our protagonists on their way followed by the training arc and Jangoro finally becoming a demon slayer while Nezuko changes in her own way to be able to live without consuming humans - surprising experienced demon slayers.

It is only after that that the real story begins and we follow Tanjiro as he starts his mission as a true demon slayer himself.

Truly basics of the basics if I were to be honest. At that point I couldn’t really complain about anything in this show but at the same time nothing really stood out. As mentioned - the story was cliche. The fights so far were so-so. Animation was good but at the same time I knew that Ufotable isn’t showing it’s best yet. Somehow however it all just worked - together with music which really played into my tastes - yes - I really enjoy the music in this show (make it the one thing i really liked at that point).

But then everything changed with the Asakusa Arc.

Oh no! It’s Michael Jackson! RUN!

  The introduction of the Big Bad Muzan, his Twelve Demon Moons and the possible way of turning Nezuko back into human set our vague goals in place and Kentaro finally had a clear mission to accomplish.

What’s more - from this point on the fights become far more entertaining as well.

I did get the impression that this progress might be done too rapidly but thinking back it’s a good thing actually. We got too used to 150 episodes of nothing important happening and now any sort of early development seems rapid.

Before you say that I contradict my statements from earlier reviews hear me out: While we do meet major antagonists early on we don’t really get much from it outside of direction in the story. The Big Bad doesn’t make a move himself and is not even fought directly but becomes aware of Tangoro’s existence and wants him gone.

This is a good development to happen early in the story to keep the stakes high while not resolving anything just yet.

But this is not the end of improvements.

In the following story arc (Tsuzumi Mansion Arc) Santarou meets with two fellow demon slayer newbies - Zenitsu and Insouke who add some team dynamics to our already decent story and IMO further improves the fights we get to see.

As for the new team members… Zenitsu starts out pretty annoying at first with his extremely cowardly demeanor while Inosuke is the polar opposite with a fearless, rash personality.

I might be overthinking it but I see Inosuke as a parody - of sorts - for a character I personally dislike - Kirito from SAO. Both are dual-wielding master swordsmen with a feminine face (and for added bonus they’re both voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka) but while Kirito’s strong because he’s the protag (Gary Stu) Inosuke is insanely ripped from his harsh life in the wilderness and… Well… Pretty much insane.

Pretty amazing, aren’t I? Pretty amazing, aren’t I?

  This change of pace - going from just Gentaro and Nezuko to a 4 man team with Zenitsu and Inosuke - marks the difference between the first and second half of this anime (and i forgot to mention it’s a whole 26 episodes show - not the 12 episodes short we got used to in recent years).

While the first half was kinda decent but not outstanding the second half is really, really entertaining to watch. Both the characters get a lot more chances at interaction and development and the action steps up from what we’ve seen before.

In short - two story arcs I’ve mentioned above supplemented what was lacking before. Things I wasn’t even clearly aware of initially.

Without a clear mission for Tenpachirou to accomplish we’d just descend into a monster-of-the-week formula and without more team members we’d be left with no means to explore our protagonists’ character in full.

What’s of Ponjirou extreme kindness if we don’t get to see him affect people with it outside of one-time-only interactions and his good relationship with his sister?

Yes - you can show it time and time again but from this point on it comes out more naturally and as I’ve mentioned already - we get to see it affect people in the long run - something I hope we’ll see further in the story.

Left to right: Boss Honey Badger, Sleeping Badass, Best Girl and Cinnamon Roll.

  Which brings me to this sad point…

Despite being a full 26 episodes show it still feels more like an introduction. We barely get to the right formula in the midpoint and conclude the fight against the first real enemy shortly before the anime is over. Souchirou’s journey has only just begun.

I’ve really wanted to write this review after watching the following Kimetsu no Yaiba Movie: Mugen Ressha-hen. That’s for multiple reasons.

At this point I know that this story arc is going to further up the stakes with the Upper Ranks of the Demon Moons getting into action but at the same time I’m really excited to see if Ufotable is going to show us what they’re capable of in terms of animation.

Because I think this anime deserves it.

Sadly - while the movie was out already I didn’t manage to watch it before writing this review.

Kamado Tanjirou vs Lower Moon One - Enmu.

  To sum it up - It was an interesting experience to see the anime develop in front of me - from a decent cliche show that didn’t make any major mistakes and played all the tropes just right into a really good and entertaining show in it’s own right.

My final assessment of the show is also the result of a certain niche this anime fits into. Namely the enjoyable sword fight scenes.

I’m definitely going to watch the movie when I’m able to and dive right into the following seasons of anime if they are made.

At this point something with this anime resonates with me - this show feels “just right” for some reason.

There’s also an added benefit of it not being dragged into infinity. From what I’ve heard the manga is already finished and we could get a definite end line before the story gets watered down into tasteless money grab.

Something to be appreciated when it comes to shounen manga…

Well. It is time to wrap up this review as well.

With all the above being said my final verdict is...

  Final Score: 8/10  +Newman’s Mark of Quality

Status: Completed

Sentence: Butterfly Mansion rehabilitation training (I bet I’d enjoy it after a while).

 Next: Code Geass

[collisiondiscourse]

Do u have a list of your favriote animes?? Top 10 maybe? My watch list is already down to the floor but ,, I’m curious

OH GEEZ I HAVE A CONFESSION TO MAKE IM A FAKE WEEB AUS I HAVENT WATCHED MANY ANIMES MUCH LESS FINISHED THEM UHH SWEATS

off the top of my head though i can list anime series and movies that ive liked and also ones that im looking out for!! (admittedly though... bnha is probably the longest running series ive ever kept up with)

ANIME I RECOMMEND (5+1)

1. The Great Pretender

listen. listennn. i love heist movies almost just a little bit more than the next person (nervously shoves huge oceans 11 obsession behind my back) and the great pretender basically?? feeds me that. the humor is excellent, the story is fun, and i just think that the blond cocky one should kiss the dorky dark haired one. i havent finished it but it has EVERYTHING u could want. french thieves, con artistry, hot characters, and RIVALRIES.

2. Assassination Classroom

ok. i. havent actually even finished season one of this. but listen its really good so far and if you havent watched it yet id be really really REALLY surprised. koro senseis kinda cute but i wont think about the implications of that too hard

3. Hello World (movie)

I WATCHED THIS ON MY BIRTHDAY AT 4 AM IN THE MORNING BUT THIS MOVIE IS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL TO LOOK AT AND WHILE I HAVE A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP W THE PLOT, YOUD ENJOY IT IF YOU LIKE THE IDEA OF TIME TRAVEL AND LIVING IN A SIMULATION (the girl love interest gets like. 0 screen time and that fact will upset me til i die)

4. Kimi No Na Wa (movie)

(oh god these are all mainstream im so disgusting dont look at me yall have probably seen this all) this movie made me cry real tears. the character development and relationship development in this movie is actually excellent and youre going to want to rewatch this about 70 times. by FAR my favorite anime movie and the fact that some people still havent watched it is HAUNTING. its about two people who keep switching bodies randomly over the course of many years.

5. YURI!!! ON ICE

ok ivE BEEN YELLING ABOUT THIS ANIME FOR THE PAST WEEK AND I KNOW YOUVE PROBABLY WATCHED IT BUT PLEASE GOD I JUST LOVE THIS SERIES SO GD MUCH IT HAUNTS ME

(+1). RWBY

this... is technically not an anime LOL. its american and while the art style is very anime-esque, its ultimately modelled w 3d software and made by a texan studio. If we were to count this as an anime, then this would be the longest ive ever sticked with at a whopping 9 seasons. Ive followed rwby since i was like. 10 years old and im not gonna say much about it except that youll love the premise if you love bnha AND that the animation gets WAY better with time.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

- absolutely ANYTHING by satoshi kon. sets u up for a mind trip and the art style is BREATHTAKING. a few examples are perfect blue and paprika

- Free! but not like. actual free. i recomment the octopimp version named 50% off just bc its funnier

- kidding aside, if you include parodied and abridged animes,,, PLEASE WATCH SAO ABRDIGED. I HATE SAO SO MUCH BUT SAO ABRIDGED MAKES ME NOT WANT TO BEAT UP KIRITO

- ok i know manga doesnt count but if u want psychological horror i recommend anything my junji ito AND doubt (the one w the bunny people—its been a while i forget who made it)

[untapanimedraw]

Anime of the Decade 2018

Oh boy, we’re getting close to current day. So much anime, where to start? How about the beginning of the year? Lets get started!

Winter:

Darling in the FranXX - Oh man, what a way for Trigger to drop the ball. For what was set up to be such an interesting show with a cool premise and a variety of characters, they just had to go and pull a typical Trigger ending with SPACE! There’s a lot to like about this show and it gave us an iconic best girl in Zero Two, but the ending is just so lackluster and disappointing that it really casts a sad pall over the whole show. 

Skilled Teaser Takagi-san - I have never seen such a heartwarming, wholesome, calm, low-stakes, enjoyable show like this ever. It’s a just budding romance between a couple middle school kids where all the flirting is cloaked behind Takagi-san’s teasing and Nishikata’s naïveté . Truly a show worth watching. 

Yuru Camp - Speaking of chill shows, this was definitely the laid-back (pun intended) show of the season. This is a very nice slice of life show about a bunch of cute girls camping in the winter. Lots of yuri undertones and a fun cast make this a really fun show to watch. Also season 2 in 2020!

After the Rain - A romance show that’s all about to very different and lost people who come together and find romance, but not in each other. They use their connection to find what love means to them, and it’s a fully underrated and sweet show. The art style is really nice and unique and the sound design is A+. 

A Place Further Than the Universe - And here we have my AOTS and a very strong contender for AOTY. The story plot is really just a group of girls go to Antarctica, but like in almost all things: it’s not the destination, it’s the journey. And that goes doubly so for this show where it’s fully character driven, and the four main girls are all different enough and unique in their own ways that there’s a lot comedy and growth and maturity. So fucking good. 

Ms. Koizumi-san Loves Ramen Noodles - I’m including this for 2 reasons. Number 1, like always, cute anime girls. And Number 2, you get a fairly decent education in styles of ramen. If you like ramen and anime girls, watch this show. I learned there are so many types of ramen in different regions and really just whatever the chefs want to create to make something unique. 

Spring:

Last Period - This is an action/magic/fantasy show that’s not really any of that. It is, but it’s really more of a full on comedy parody of gatcha-games and the related tropes. It’s a really fun comedy with excellent ED and OP songs. 

Megalo Box - Hot damn, how do we in the year 2018 get a show that’s straight out of the 80′s and still look and sound like the best of the year? Absolutely unique and excellent in all regards. It’s my AOTS for sure. 

Comic Girls - This is a show all about finding confidence in what you want to do. Lot of cute girls, fun comedic situations, and just a nice feel-good show. 

Golden Kamuy - Ever been vaguely interested in Japanese history? No not samurais and stuff, but like late 19th and early 20th century Japanese history and some of the indigenous peoples who kinda got pushed out. It’s a story about war, the Ainu people, and a legitimate Gold Rush! Fantastic show that got a second season and I’m holding out hope for a third. 

Hinamatsuri - Definitely the comedy of the season for me, though in the end it almost ended up more heartwarming and adorable than full on comedy. 

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online - Ever wanted to explore the ideas and games of SAO without the main characters holding the story back? This is the show for you. It’s a legitimately good SAO show without any of the drawbacks and baggage the main story carries with it. 

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku - One of the most relate-able and honest adult romance stories I’ve even seen. This isn’t some shitty high school rom-com that spends the whole 12 episodes building up to a confession that may or may not turn into anything. This takes care of all that in the first 2 episodes and then spends the rest of its time exploring the ins and outs of an actual relationship. All while both work together and have their own otaku hobbies. 

Summer:

Attack on Titan S3 - The political navigating begins! This aired in 2 parts with a couple seasons between them so I guess it’s technically 2 seasons though not. And part 2 is rightly hailed as the best of AOT so far, but this part 1 has one of the best action scenes I’ve ever witnessed. The Levi chase scene is so fucking good. 

Overlord S3 - There is a whole lot of interesting story that happens in this season and a lot of good, but it almost all gets brought down by some absolutely terrible CGI in the last couple episodes. 

How Not to Summon a Demon Lord - That a stupidly trashy show. I fucking love it. 

Grand Blue - Grand Blue is a diving show! That is like 90% college shenanigains and drinking. It’s also quite funny and has some fantastic faces. 

Asobi Asobase - I’m a big fan of comedies, and somehow this one seems to top everything I’ve seen. The scenarios, the voice acting, the art, the timing, the OP and ED... literally everything about this show is cranked to 11 in order to provide the best comedy experience around. AOTS. 

Fall:

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime - This is a super fun isekai show that is done well. No there’s not an overpowered, black-haired, generic MC; in fact the MC isn’t even human, he’s a slime! Who just so happens to befriend an elder dragon and use the unique slime characteristics to kinda become stupidly overpowered. He just wants to chill and have some fun and ends up building a nation of monster-kin while he’s at it. Lots of comedy, lots of fun, enough well-animated action to keep you entertained, and a lot of heart for this little slime and his family that he builds. 

Sword Art Online: Alicization - More SAO! This is supposed to actually be good though... and I have to agree! 

Goblin Slayer - Goblins are a menace, but they’re not flashy so most of the adventurers just ignore them. However the titular Goblin Slayer knows better, when they gather en masse they are a force to be reckoned with and can even wipe out whole cities not to mention any little villages along the way. He will not stand for that and has specialized in goblin hunting. Are there goblins to kill? He’ll do it. Souka. 

Bunny Girl Senpai - The romance/mystery story that took the anime community by storm. The movie that came out later was a heartwrencher too. So good. 

Run With The Wind - Here we get to my AOTS and strong contender for AOTY. I never thought that an anime about a bunch of boys working towards running a relay marathon would be one of my favorite shows of the entire year, but here we are. It just has so much heart and soul that’s it just ends up being a greater than the sum of it’s parts situation. 

Alright, so we have A Place Further than the Universe, Megalo Box, Asobi Asobase, and Run With the Wind. Like with every year so far, the AOTY comes down to personal preference and this year goes to Run With the Wind. 

[twilightvolt]

My Favorite Anime OPs and EDs from 2010-2019

No one asked for this, but i’m doin’ it anyway cuz there’s so many songs out there that i’ve never heard anyone talk about. like, y’all sleep on Yu-Gi-Oh! apparently. lmao

Going by release year, here’s all the OPs and EDs i can remember that i luv (and still do to this day). i may or may not have gotten all the years right. hell, i’m not even sure i got the OP and ED numbers right.

It’ll go by: Song Name - Artist (Name of Anime and Which OP/ED it is) an asterisk means i REALLY like it above the rest.

Hopefully this’ll help introduce you to some new jams you missed out on! ^  ^

2010

Going My Way! ~Road to Tomorrow~ - Masaaki Endoh (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds OP5)*

Close to You - ALvino (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds ED4)

Future Colors - Plastic Tree (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds ED5)

Gravity 0 - Aqua Timez (Star Driver OP)*

Never Give Up! - Sonar Pocket (Digimon Xros Wars OP)*

Period - Chemistry (Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood OP4)*

Rain - SID (Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood OP5)* THE. FEELS.

Uragiri no Yuuyake - THEATRE BROOK (Durarara!! OP)* Y’all remember this one? Lmao

Trust Me - Yuya Matsushita (Durarara!! ED)

Ice Cream Syndrome - Sukima Switch (Pokemon Zoroark: Master of Illusions ED)*

My Soul, Your Beats! - Lia (Angel Beats OP) WAIT HOLD ON, ANGEL BEATS WAS THIS DECADE? I THOUGHT THAT WAS 2009 OR SOMETHING. DAHEQ?

ChAngE - Miwa (BLEACH OP12)

Calling - FLOW (Heroman ED)*

SHIVER - the GazettE (Black Butler II OP)

2011

Samurai Heart (Some Like it Hot!) - SPYAIR (Gintama ED17)* And on this day I realized….SPYAIR is lit.

New World - Twill (Digimon Xros Wars OP2)

Masterpiece - Mihimaru GT (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL OP)

Boku Quest - Golden Bomber (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL ED)* I luv watching the actual ending sequence. It fits my cyber aesthetic to a T.

BRAVING! - KANAN (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL OP2)

Setsubou no Freesia (Longing Freesia) - Daizystripper (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL ED2)* I’ll be completely honest, this song has been my favorite anime theme over most, if not all others, ever since. It’s kinda held a special place in my heart as it’s got memories of what transpired during 2012 that i don’t think i’ll ever forget. From the summer trip we took down south to me creating my very first OCs, Takuya and his Charmander partner Drake, on paper, i’ll luv this song with all my heart. ^  ^

Lovers - 7!! (Seven Oops) (Naruto Shippuden OP)

Counter Identity - UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (Soul Eater Repeat Show OP)*

Ai Ga Hoshii Yo - Shion Tsuji (Soul Eater Repeat Show OP2)* WANTCHU WANTCHU, I WANT CHUU~

SHINING STAR - 9nine (Star Driver OP2)*

Crossover - 9nine (Star Driver ED2)

Sky's the Limit - Shihoko Hirata (Persona 4 the Animation OP)

We’re Not Alone - coldrain (Rainbow Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin OP)

One Reason - Fade (Deadman Wonderland OP) I can bet you right now half of y’all forgot about this show. I mean i did. Lol

Mayonaka no Orchestra - Aqua Timez (Naruto Shippuden ED16)

Hacking to the Gate - Kanako Itou (Steins;Gate OP)* THIS SONG CLEARED MY SKIN AND RAISED MY GRADES.

Ranbu no Melody - SID (BLEACH OP13)* That main chorus tho. N o i c e .

LISTEN TO THE STEREO!! - GOING UNDERGROUND (Katekyo Hitman Reborn OP8)*

Core Pride - UVERworld (Blue Exorcist OP)

2012

Mask - Aqua Timez (BLEACH ED30?)

Soul Drive - Color Bottle (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL OP3)*

Wild Child - Moumoon (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL ED3)* Whenever I hear this song, I either think of school shenanigans or, if school isn't a thing in their world, a high school AU. Lmao

Unbreakable Heart - Hideaki Takatori (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL OP4)

Artist - Vistlip (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL ED4)*

Stand By Me - Stereopony (Eureka Seven AO ED)* Ok I know some people don't wanna remember AO, but hear me out here. Lmao 

Brave Blue - FLOW (Eureka Seven AO OP2)*

Key Plus Words - Shihoko Hirata & Yumi Kawamura (Persona 4 the Animation OP2)

Harukaze - SCANDAL (BLEACH OP15)*

Crossing Field - LiSA (Sword Art Online OP) I like making SAO jokes as much as the next guy, but let's be real here. Crossing Field was still a pretty good song.

STAND UP! - Twill (Digimon Xros Wars Hunters OP)* Hunters sucked, but the OP slaps.

Kyomu Densen - ALI PROJECT (Another OP) This show gave me a temporary fear of umbrellas, but this OP is good.

Complication - ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D (Durarara!! OP2)

Light My Fire - KOTOKO (Shakugan no Shana III Final OP)

Mite Mite Kochichi - Memoiro Clover Z (Pokemon Best Wishes ED3)

2013

Dualism of Mirrors - Petite Milady (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL OP5)

GO WAY GO WAY - FoZZtone (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL ED5)

Challenge the GAME - REDMAN (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL ED6)* I swear to god, this should’ve been the final OP rather than Wonder Wings. I really don’t like that song.

Oh, and if you wanna hear more of the lead singer's voice, he's the lead singer of GIRUGAMESH. They didn't do any anime songs while they were still active afaik, but totally check it out if you like J-Rock.

Sakura Mitsutsuki & Genjyou Destruction - SPYAIR (Gintama OP13 and Gintama: The Final Chapter OP)*

After Cherry Blossoms (all quartets lead to the?) - UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta OP)*

Non-Fiction Compass - UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (Yozakura Quartet: Tsuki ni Naku OP)

Sayonara Memory - 7!! (Seven Oops) (Naruto Shippuden ED)

BLOODY STREAM - Coda (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Battle tendency OP)* I mean, how could i NOT put this song on here? Lmao

Be An Arrow! - Rica Matsumoto (Pokemon Best Wishes! OP2)

Natsumeku Sakamichi (Summerly Slope) - Daisuke (Pokemon Best Wishes DA! OP)* While the Black & White series was absolutely terrible, I can thank it for spawning some nice OPs.

Egao - Ikimono-gakari (Pokemon Genesect and the Legend Awakened ED)

Take Your Way - Livetune adding Fukase (From SEKAI NO OWARI) (Devil Survivor 2 the Animation OP)* I swear I will never get tired of this song.

Be - Song Riders (Devil Survivor 2 the Animation ED)*

Watashi no Bara wo Kaminasai - ALI PROJECT (Rozen Maiden 2013 OP)

Moshimo - Daisuke (Naruto Shippuden OP)

Burn My Dread ~Spring of Birth~ & More Than One Heart - Yumi Kawamura (Persona 3 the Movie #1 Spring of Birth OP and ED)*

Eden - Aqua Timez (Magi: the Kingdom of Magic ED)*

Out of Control - Nothing’s Carved in Stone (Psycho Pass OP2)*

HERO -Kibou no Uta- - FLOW (Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods ED)

2014

Silhouette - KANA BOON (Naruto Shippuden OP16)* Everyone rise for the weeb national anthem.

BelievexBelieve - Bulletrain (Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V OP)

ENAMEL - SID (Black Butler: Book of Circus OP)

Masayume Chasing - BoA (Fairy Tail OP15)

STRIKE BACK - BACK-ON (Fairy Tail OP16)*

Burn! - Bulletrain (Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V OP2)

DAYxDAY - BLUE ENCOUNT (Gintama OP)* Before Polaris, there was this. lol

Goya no Machiawase - Hello Sleepwalkers (Noragami OP)* I swear Noragami has great taste in OPs. lmao

Fate is in Our Hands - Lotus Juice (Persona 3 the Movie #2 Midsummer Knight's Dream OP)* Y'all know Lotus Juice makes EVERYTHING badass.

One Hand, One Heartbeat - Yumi Kawamura (Persona 3 the Movie #2 Midsummer Knight's Dream ED)* I swear I literally feel like crying every time I hear this song. It's just that powerful.

Unravel - TK from Ling Tosite Sigure (Tokyo Ghoul OP) Ok, lemme explain. I used to hate this song cuz I thought TK's singing voice was whiny as hell. But after a long, LOOOOONG time, it finally started to grow on me. I think it's because of all the song covers I've listened to and, after understanding the meaning behind the lyrics, I appreciate this song a bit more nowadays. 

V (VOLT) and MEGA V (MEGA VOLT) - Yusuke (Pokemon XY OPs 1&2)*

daze - Jin ft. MARiA from GARNiDELiA (Mekakucity Actors OP)

Monochrome - Dancing Dolls (Soul Eater NOT! OP)

2015

Saigo Made ii - Aqua Timez (Gintama ED15 i think?)

Kyouran Hey Kids! - THE ORAL CIGARETTES (Noragami Aragoto OP)* IN THIS HOUSE, WE JUST WANNA HOLD YOUR HAAAAAAND~

Getta Ban Ban (Mad-Paced Getter) - Tomohisa Sako (Pokemon XY OP3)*

XY&Z - Rica Matsumoto (Pokemon XY&Z OP)*

Raise Your Flag - MAN WITH A MISSION (Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans OP)*

Hello, World! - BUMP OF CHICKEN (Kekkai Sensen OP)*

Sugar Song and Bitter Step AKA the song everyone makes fan animated parodies of it’s opening sequence - UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (Kekkai Sensen ED)

Kirifuda (Trump Card) - Cinema Staff (Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V OP4)

Speaking - MRS. GREEN APPLE (Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V ED4)* before Great Escape from Attack on Titan and Inferno from Fire Force, there was this OP and ED. both of which i feel are better songs. lmao

Tweedia - Rei Yasuda (Pokemon Hoopa and the Clash of Ages ED)*

Diver - KANA-BOON (The Last: Naruto the Movie ED)*

Butter-Fly 2015 - Kouji Wada (Digimon Adventure Tri. OP)

Sono Chi no Kioku ~End of the World~ - JO☆STARS ~TOMMY, Coda, JIN~ (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders OP2)

Lapis Lazuli - Eir Aoi (Arslan Senki ED)*

Clattanoia - OxT (Overlord OP)*

L.L.L. - MYTH & ROID (Overlord ED)

Nazo 2015 - La PomPon (Detective Conan OP41)* Hearing this brought back memories of hearing the original during my childhood back when Cased Closed was still a thing.

Just Fly Away - EDGE of LIFE (Gundam Build Fighters Try OP2)

Flyers - BRADIO (Death Parade OP) Like Another, this was one of those where i wouldn’t have touched the show itself if my anime club didn’t watch it.

X.U. - Hiroyuki Sawano (Seraph of the End OP)*

Hikari - ViViD (Magi: the Kingdom of Magic OP2)

2016

DiVE!! - Amatsuki (Digimon Universe: Applimonsters OP)*

Ai - Ami Wajima (Digimon Universe: Applimonsters ED2)

The Day - Porno Graffitti (My Hero Academia OP)

HEROES - Brian the Sun (My Hero academia ED)

RAGE OF DUST - SPYAIR (Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans OP2)*

Believe in Myself - EDGE of LIFE (Fairy Tail OP21)*

CRAZY NOISY BIZARRE TOWN - THE DU (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable OP)

Chase - batta (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable OP2)* Screw the haters. This song is a bop.

Great Days - Karen Aoki & Daisuke Hasegawa (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable OP3) As you can see, i luv all of Jojo Part 4’s OPs. lmao

Kaze no Uta - FLOW (Tales of Zestiria the X OP)* Zestiria may have been the most uninteresting experience i’ve had in the Tales series, but at least it’s OPs are straight fire.

Dream Lantern, ZenZenZense, Sparkle and Nandemonaiya - RADWIMPS (Various themes from Your Name) I'm still miffed that they didn't kiss at the end. >:v

Re:Re: - ASIAN KUNGFU GENERATION (Erased OP)

Brave Shine - Aimer (Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works OP)*

Starting Over - Mr. Children (The Boy and the Beast ED)* Mamoru Hosoda never ceases to make me smile and/or cry, huh?

GO - BUMP OF CHICKEN (GRANBLUE FANTASY the Animation OP)

KINGS - angela (K Project OP) i don’t even know how i remembered this one. I watched K at my local anime club years ago cuz one of my friends suggested it. I barely remember what it was about, though. ^  ^’

Vision - Kusou Linkai (Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V ED5)

Light of Hope - Unknown Number (Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V OP5)

Pendulum Beat! - SUPER DRAGON (Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V OP6)*

2017

Peace Sign - Kenshi Yonezu (My Hero Academia OP2)* SURE IT’S POPULAR, BUT IT’S POPULAR FOR A REASON.

Datte Atashi no Hero - LiSA (My Hero Academia ED3)

Little Pi - Ange☆Reve (Digimon Universe: Applimonsters ED3)

Perfect World - Traffic Light (Digimon Universe: Applimonsters ED4)*

With the Wind - Hiroaki “TOMMY” Tominaga (Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS OP)* I’ll be honest, this one took some getting used to, but now i luv it!

Fake Town Baby - UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (Kekkai Sensen and Beyond OP)

Tonari Au - THE ORAL CIGARETTES (Sakurada Reset ED)*

Rain - SEKAI NO OWARI (Mary and the Witch's Flower ED)* I really liked the movie and I just luved the fantasy vibes given off by the instrumentals in this song.

Baton Road - KANA BOON (Boruto: Naruto Next Generations OP)* Y'all say Boruto is trash, but at least the theme songs still boppin'.

Boku wa Hashiri Tsuzukeru - Melofloat (Boruto: Naruto Next Generations ED3)

FEED THE FIRE - coldrain (King’s Game OP)* Thank you Fire Force for introducing me to this wonderful band. ;w;

2018

PAiNT it BLACK - BiSH (Black Clover OP2)* Never thought I'd ever find a band actually named bish. Lmao

Black Rover - Vickeblanka (Black Clover OP3)

Guess Who is Back - Kumi Koda (Black Clover OP4)* Now, if this ain't a bop fit for a triumphant return like "SURPRISE BISH I'M BACK." then idk what is. Lmao

Gamushara & Tenge Tenjou - Miyuna (Black Clover OP&ED5)* i’m mainly referring to Gamushara, but i luv Tenge Tenjou too.

ODD FUTURE - UVERworld (My Hero Academia OP4)*

Make my story - Lenny code fiction (My Hero Academia OP5)*

The Future is Now - Straightener (Digimon ReArise OP)* Yes, I know I'm cheating cuz it's a video game, but it's an opening sequence much like an anime, so yeah.

Breath - Porno Graffitti (Pokemon the Power of Us ED)

Katharsis - TK from Ling Tosite Sigure (Tokyo Ghoul OP3?)*

Here - JUNNA (The Ancient Magus Bride OP)

Renai Circulation - Kana Hanazawa (Bakemonogatari OP4) Imma be honest, i found this song through those Coldplay mashups and other memes. Lmao

I Wanna Be - SPYAIR (Gintama Shirogane no Tamashii Hen OP)

Hana Ichi Monme - BURNOUT SYNDROMES (Gintama Shirogane no Tamashii Hen ED)*

2019

Hana ga Saku Michi - THE CHARM PARK (Black Clover ED7)* I SWEAR NO ONE’S COVERED THIS SONG YET AND I’M SAD. I LUV THIS SONG.

Inferno - MRS. GREEN APPLE (Fire Force OP)

Veil - Keina Suda (Fire Force ED)* This ED gives me feels and i luv it. ;w;

MAYDAY - coldrain (Fire Force OP2)* This sounds like a song i’d hear at Hot Topic and i feel blessed. lmao

Nounai - Lenny code fiction (Fire Force ED2) I swear this anime doesn’t have a single song i don’t like. I’m not kidding. lmao

WILD SIDE - ALI (BEASTARS OP)* IN THIS HOUSE, WE DO NOT SKIP THIS OPENING I STG.

Le Zoo - YURiKA (BEASTARS ED)

Nemureru Honou (Sleeping Instincts) - YURiKA (BEASTARS ED2)*

Kawaki no Ameku - Minami (Domestic Na Kanojo OP)

Polaris - BLUE ENCOUNT (My Hero Academia OP6)* THIS IS THE BIGGEST BOP SINCE PEACE SIGN OML

Touch Off - UVERworld (The Promised Neverland OP)* This show was too creepy for me to continue, but I luv it for what it is. Also NAA NANANANANANAA NANANAAAA~

Sangenshoku - PELICAN FANCLUB (Dr. Stone OP2)* Sorry, but Good Morning World didn’t totally do it for me. I luv this OP way more tbh.

Suisou - Megumi Nakajima (Hoshiai no Sora OP)* The bits before the chorus are just so good.

1•2•3 - After the Rain (Pocket Monsters 2019 OP)

Dark Crow - MAN WITH A MISSION (Vinland Saga OP2)

MOTOR CITY - Kenichi Asai (No Guns Life OP)

Game Over - DATS (No Guns Life ED)

[antagonistchanremade]

Some character descriptions of the Stellar Grievances cast.

Stella Greenfield, our main protagonist, is a 20-year-old black woman. In her “civilian” form she’s got long black hair in a ponytail and wears a sweater, leather jacket, miniskirt, thigh highs, and sneakers. In her “Logged In” form, Mechaniisms, her hair is drastically shortened and gets more boyish, and her clothes are replaced with dress pants, combat boots, a really nice dress shirt, a vest, and a cravat, not including her equipment. Her eyes are purple and she’s average height. She was a strategy game nerd in the real world, and upon being thrust into the game world she suddenly essentially had a shit ton of in-universe (since the game world and real world rely on different laws of physics; notably, Newton’s laws are specifically stated to not necessarily be true in the game world) engineering knowledge dumped into her head, so strategy and technology are her two big hobbies. When not giving orders or dealing with a situation herself, she can usually be found tinkering, either on the team’s ship, the GSF Headstrong, or on her own equipment and drones. Also, she comes from an interracial family and has a white stepmom and stepbrother (her stepbrother, Tyler, actually got her into Stellar Grievances in the first place, and he’s part of the main cast for a brief period of time in the beginning). And she’s bi and has ADHD. Her Wrench is called the Gauntlet Wrench.

She’s also regularly joined by her sidekick of sorts, an AI she programmed named Eve. Eve is fully conscious (which is rare but not unheard of in the setting), and usually refers to Stella as her mother. She sometimes appears as a holographic human (and can range in size depending on where she’s projected from; if she’s being projected from Stella’s own equipment, she’s usually the size of a fairy or something, but larger hologram projectors in larger machines can make her practically any size, usually life sized), but her primary function is to operate Stella’s various combat drones, so she can also appear as them instead (and some of them can get pretty humanoid; eventually, Stella even develops a drone that just... looks like the holographic form Eve takes, so Eve can basically have a real body if she so chooses). Eve acts like your typical AI assistant character- generally unemotional and analytical, but she has emotions and whatnot, she just doesn’t really have the emotional maturity to match her logical reasoning and academic intelligence and thus comes off like a computer to those who don’t really know her.

Then, Madison, our secondary protagonist. When she’s first introduced as Buttercup, she has back-length blonde hair and yellow eyes, and is wearing a fancy lolita dress; however, when Phyll dies and passes on his powers to her, her eyes turn green and she gets a green streak in her hair, and when she changes her name to Madison and joins the team, she cuts her hair a little shorter, starts wearing it in a side-ponytail, and switches to wearing jeans and a hoodie. In her “Logged In” state, Agent Yellow, she visibly matures, getting taller, curvier, and less babyfaced (since she was generally short, smol, and babyfaced in her civilian form), her voice gets deeper, her hair gets longer (and also pointier), and her clothes are replaced by beige power armor that... basically looks like Halo power armor but without the helmet. And she wears a beige cape. She also carries a green sniper rifle. Personality-wise, she’s very much the team Cinnamon Roll, though she also carries insecurities from her time with the other Awoken Agents (as she was the last one created, and shortly after her creation work fully began on the Specialist system, so she never really got to contribute much, especially since her only power was that she couldn’t stay dead); it doesn’t help that the Agent who was kindest to her, Phyll, is now dead, and the Agent who was least kind to her, Violet, had a crush on Phyll and blames his death on her (though Violet eventually gets over all this and becomes Madison’s love interest) and can often be found brooding. Her sniper rifle is called the Proto Rifle.

Lily Flowers is the team’s Medic, and the entire basis for her character back when I first envisioned her was that she toyed with general stereotypes for people who play “Healer” characters in media vs in real life. Specifically, back when she first started playing online games, she was what you’d expect from a “healer” character in anime- a moeblob who just wants to help the team, no matter what! But years and years of maining healer characters in online games has worn her down and she’s now more like someone who actually plays healer characters in real life- cynical, sarcastic, and untrusting. Her main coping method that stops her from becoming a total bitter pessimist? Being the team memelord and shitposter. She’s basically the Moca Aoba of the team, the Neptune of the team, the Yang Xiao Long of the team, you know, that character. The one who practically says “Eh? Ehhhh?” after everything they say to make sure everyone got the stupid pun they made. She’s got short messy pink hair and silver eyes, and they don’t change at all when she Logs In. What does change? Well, for one, her prosthetic, since she’s an amputee without a right arm. In her civilian state, her prosthetic is fairly normal; however, when she Logs In to become Yuyuriri, her existing prosthetic twists around to come out of her back, and a new prosthetic that’s bulkier and clumsier but has her MedTool built in is fixed in its place. That’s not the only thing that changes when she Logs In, but it’s the biggest difference; the other big difference is that she wears a big coat in her civilian form, but removes it when she Logs In. She appears to have a different outfit when she’s Logged In, but she’s actually wearing that outfit in her civilian form, too, just under her coat. Specifically, the outfit is made up of a blue turtleneck with no right arm (so it doesn’t get in the way of her second prosthetic), jean short shorts, tights, and boots. Lily’s also a lesbian, and in fact is Stella’s main love interest.

Kyousuke Tenjou, meanwhile, was originally created for two purposes. One, to be a sort of self-insert, and two, to parody/refine the character of Kirito from SAO; the former has mostly been abandoned (my idea was that he’d start out as a total Fedora Neckbeard type, but then slowly get better as he hung out with the rest of the team, and eventually even realize he was actually a transgirl, which is an exaggerated version of how I realized I was trans (I was never quite to the Broni Friendzoni level, but still), but I eventually dropped this aspect to focus more on the Kirito thing and also to keep the team more gender-balanced, though there are still hints of it). So, Kyousuke is this brooding longer swordsman dude who’s visually similar to and named similarly to Kirito, so the comparisons are obvious. But, see, Kirito is regularly rewarded by the series for being this jackass loner dude, even if it does make a token effort to have him grow out of it; the series claims that Kirito’s loner attitude makes him less happy, but more effective as a warrior. Stellar Grievances, meanwhile, makes it clear that Kyousuke’s loner attitude is a weakness and that he’s an arrogant dipshit for thinking he can play a teamwork-based game alone, and he’s mostly doing it in an attempt to look cool and badass when it really makes him look like an asshole and a dumbass. A big part of his character arc is about him unlearning all sorts of toxic masculinity, including some internalized aphobia (because he does start out as this jackass trying to get into every woman he sees’ pants, but it eventually becomes clear that he’s trying to compensate for the fact that he doesn’t actually find any of them attractive and he feels like not liking women makes him less of a man). Anyways, in his civilian form, his hair is short and messy, but longer and messier than Lily’s; his Logged In form, xX_Kyo_Xx (or Kyo for short), reins it back in to Lily levels. His eyes are blue and his hair is black, but when he Logs In his hair is dyed electric blue and he wears green colored contacts. The colored contacts are also functional, as he wears glasses in his civilian form but not his Logged In form. He’s generally wearing black jeans, black boots, and a black sweater in both forms. In his civilian form, he wears a brown jacket, but when he Logs In he trades that out for black gloves and a black cape.

Travis Bhatia was created pretty much alongside the concept of the Scout class itself, but once I’d finished deciding what the Scout class even did, I decided to flesh out his story, and his character arc ended up being about felon’s rights. Because a big part of his backstory is that when he was 19, he committed a horrible crime. And this wasn’t a case of him being framed, or it being an accident; he did a terrible thing on purpose. And he agrees that it was terrible, and even that he deserved to go to jail for what he did. And he did go to jail for three years. But when he got out, that was when the bullshit started. America treats its convicted felons very badly, even once they’ve served their time. And while Travis agrees that he deserved every second of his jailtime, he feels like he was completely screwed over when he got out. He’d served his time, but he was still being punished. And he ended up having to freeload with a cousin of his, and got addicted to online video games like Stellar Grievances. Which is why getting stuck in another world was the best thing that ever happened to him- it let him get a new start on life without the baggage of his felony. Travis is also a first-generation American, as his parents were immigrants from Britain, and he’s also ethnically Indian (for clarification, if it wasn’t obvious, actual Indian, like from India). In his civilian form, he wears jeans and a logo t-shirt; in his Logged In form, Explorer21 (or just Explorer for short), his jeans turn back, he gets his hoverboots, he gets goggles, he gets gloves, the logo on his shirt disappears, and he gets covered in belts, but most importantly, he gets a really long leather coat with a popped collar that looks totally cool when he’s flying around. He’s generally pretty chill and down-to-earth. He’s also gay and very flirty. Originally he was gonna be covered in robes, kinda inspired by the music video for Superheroes by Daft Punk. Travis is also the second tallest of the team after James.

James Reynolds was actually not originally gonna be part of the main cast. I created James to be an antivillain who became friends with Kyousuke and helped Kyosuke realize he was a transgirl, since James was himself a transman. The team’s Marine was gonna be Stella’s brother Tyler. However, I found myself mixing up Travis and Tyler’s names a lot, and realizing that I just liked James better than Tyler, and wanting explicit trans representation back in the team after I decided to leave Kyousuke a guy after all, so I decided to replace Tyler with James. But I didn’t want the antivillain angle with James to go away completely, and Tyler’s presence in the beginning of the story was very important (in fact, Tyler’s presence in the beginning was significantly more important than his presence once things get going, which is part of why I nixed him), so I decided that Tyler would be the team’s initial Marine, but he’d have to leave the team fairly early on, and the team would be without a Marine for a while until James, introduced as an antivillain, would betray his villainous allies to join the protagonists. Anyways, James is the tallest member, with blue eyes and messy orange hair in a ponytail. His general appearance can basically be described as “Bishounen”. He’s generally wearing jeans, a blue t-shirt, and an unbuttoned brown button-up shirt. His Logged In state, Don1998 (or just Don for short), wears a fedora (NOT FOR THOSE REASONS), a dress shirt, dress pants, dress shoes, a green tie, and a blazer. James is generally pretty quiet and stoic, though he does often either chuckle or glare depending on his mood. He’s also bi, and a frequent (willing) target of Travis’s flirting, though his primary love interest is a woman.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that Travis and James’ hair colors change when they Log In. Travis’s hair is black, Explorer’s is green; James’ hair is orange, Don’s is red. Don’s also got slightly shorter hair than James, but James’ hair is already pretty short. Travis has spiky hair in either form.

[perispinel]

Mellowframes Review: Is it Funny?

@mellowfilmmaker: This is not meant as a diss on you or your opinions on the show, and I can tell you do put work into making these high quality- this is just meant as some criticism, as I don’t think parodies are immune to it either. And if Steven Universe deserves it, so does a parody of Steven Universe! So let’s jump into it!

Now, just to make things fair so I don’t seem like I’m just using this as a rant, I’m going to be referring to examples of funny Mellowframes comics in my eyes and discuss why I think they succeed, and then refer to some that I find to not work on that level. It’s all my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, but tell me if you agree or disagree. 

A parody should be able to be understood and enjoyed not just by the people who watched the original, but by people who have never seen the original too. If you’re relying to heavily on the readers/watchers knowing the source material, it’ll just come off as you using the mere fact that the characters are there as a joke. It’s sort of like how a lot of CinemaSins clones call themselves ‘parodies of CinemaSins’ even though they aren’t parodies at all, they’re just using the Everything Wrong With brand to get some views and clicks.

That doesn’t mean that there should be no enjoyment to be found from fans of the source material, or even people who aren’t fans, but it just means that you have to try and make the jokes you make work in a way that’ll both be a funny premise on its own and a funny twist on the original. 

As an example of a joke that works both for people who are unfamiliar with the source and for people who are, here is a comic that was parodying the episode Rose’s Healing Tears: http://mellowfilmmaker.tumblr.com/post/125408363589/mellow-frames-roses-healing-tears

The joke of the comic (if you didn’t get it) is basically explaining why Steven has healing spit by saying that Rose actually had healing spit instead of healing tears; I present this as an example of this because it’s both a funny premise (as you can totally see why someone would prefer to tell people they have healing tears instead of healing spit) and because it gives a fun twist to the original episode. Even the joke with Pearl is funny in a non sequitur way without needing to know about Pearl’s dedication to Rose in the show!

Now, what’s an example of a comic in this series I think fails at this? Well, look none other than this recent one: http://mellowfilmmaker.tumblr.com/post/175525041409/mellow-framesrose-is-not-bad-we-swear

Some people didn’t like this because it ‘misinterpreted her character,’ and admittedly I had an overreaction to it before regretting it minutes later, but now that I’ve settled down, I dislike it for a different reason: for me, it just fails comedically. 

While it is true that you shouldn’t exactly be jumping into this comic series this late and expect to understand everything, you shouldn’t need to know everything about the show to find some humor from a parody. Look at SAO Abridged- I never watched the original, and it’s still hilarious because of its stellar writing, plus it adds in serious moments when needed which is rare for an abridged series!

On that respect, this comic (and many others) lacks in any appeal it could have for people who aren’t familiar with Steven Universe. Just look at the panel where Pearl talks about her plan to overthrow the Diamonds with their army: if you went into this comic with no knowledge of Steven Universe and you read that, would you find it funny, or just confusing? And even with the knowledge of Steven Universe, you’d need to also agree with what the writer (mellowfilmmaker) is saying, and then find it funny to hear him say it. You’ll probably be too focused questioning what you’re reading and if it makes any sense (both as an SU Fan and as someone unfamiliar) to find humor out of it.

That doesn’t mean the whole comic fails- the joke where Ruby starts saying she understands Sapphire needs space only to be cut off was pretty good even out of context- but it generally doesn’t work, and it’s not the only one to have this problem. It won’t be productive to list every comic he’s made to suffer from this issue, because at that point it isn’t really helping, it’s just pointing out things I dislike. 

Coincidentally, that’s an issue I have with a lot of the comics in Mellowframes- they can sometimes be less about telling jokes and more about pointing out things he dislikes in the episodes, while using the characters as a way to talk about them easier. Yeah, it’s not always the case, and as he’s said in response to my ask about The Question, “an episode doesn’t need to have flaws to have material.” That’s a very good way to look at it, and it gives me the idea that he’s most likely already aware of some of the issues in some of his older comics.

I think one of the biggest things that holds back Mellowframes from being great is its medium- since it’s a webcomic that just uses screenshots of the episodes to parody them, there’s little room to diverge from the original episode’s plot to make jokes about ‘what if’s. That’s actually why I believe some of the funniest comics in Mellowframes have been the non-canon ones, because they delved into very funny ideas to twist around the originals. For instance, what if the floor-triggered escape pod we see Peridot use in Jail Break turned out to be a big issue for the people who were on board the ship? You don’t even need to know who Peridot is to find that funny! He can’t exactly delve into those ideas often though, because he still wants to tell a cohesive story, which essentially means he’s stuck on a railroad track where he can just change around some dialogue. That doesn’t open doors for a lot of great humor to me.

In conclusion, I think Mellowframes isn’t a bad webcomic, but it often has problems with relying too much on the readers knowing the source material for the humor, sometimes spends too much time criticizing and not enough time writing jokes, and is limited by its medium and its lack of freedom to change things around. He can either use these criticisms of mine to change his comic, or change nothing, and either way I’m not going to get mad. It’s his comic, I can’t boss him around about how to write it. I hope he still appreciates the criticisms either way!

[felikatze]

hi i just finished ninjago art online. aka season 12. it was fun

i’m grateful for another more scifi season because i love rebooted actually. and i like everything being neon.

because of the whole (gestures vaguely) video gaminess of everything this season is really strong aesthetically. i just like the design of everything. again it’s like season 3 and i loved how season 3 looked. also yes sao jokes of course sao jokes because sao is a joke. yes

some episodes over relied on the gimmick though i think. like a dance competition episode is neat (hi season 1 dance competition) but the announcer kinda ruined it yeah? like just going “NICE” over and over. there’s a reason actual rhythm games only do it as text. and then there was one episode that was a side scroller parody which works but the design of THAT was kinda uninspired and the sequence was longer than it should’ve been i feel. i dunno man like IT’S VIDEO GAME DO YOU GET IT (just said he liked the design and aesthetic but does not like how it is sometimes incorporated and overrelied on to carry action sequences)

SPEAKING OF DESIGNS i HAVE to mention superstar rockin jay i love him. the idea of the league of jays is already hilarious enough (a bunch of gamers rp as jay for fun inside a death game) and then he just. happy tits out monday to jay walker!! congrats on the top surgery!! (officially claiming jay for the transgender agenda. the transgenda. listen if i could make myself an avatar i would also go off the shits like this and wear v cuts)

he makes group shots so fucking funny cuz everyone else is in ninja squad gear and then there’s jay. you’ve seen my character arc of accepting him as my fav of the og four. i’m gonna kill him for fortnite dancing though i’m maiming him. he’s so fucking cringe (affectionate)

continuing with jay it’s super cute how candid he is with “i love you”s. he just says it to nya whenever it’s adorable. godddd. jay and nya taking dance lessons together.... them just goofing of liking each other... working together to clear any obstacle..... take a shot everytime nya gets killed off for jay angst though.

the new sidecast were very one and done but OH BOY. i loved the npcs i love okino and racer seven. i think having one whole episode of okino being angsty was A Bit Much Tbh, but. Lloyd just telling people they’re in the matrix is so fucking funny. he just waltzes up, tells them reality is an illusion, and two NPCs use it as impetus for character development and self confidence. that’s amazing.

this is actually really super ultra neat to just take two episodes and a b plot to ask, “so how do NPCs feel about this?” because in “trapped in a video game” media, that’s typically not even a question. isn’t it horrifying that your life is scripted? don’t you want to be free? your world may not be real, but your feelings are. so follow them. ninjago actually addressed the topic of NPCs. kissing you

just like. okino basically defying his dad and racer seven the goddamn racing cpu taking home the win were incredible moments. and the two coming back in the finale.... orghrh. the finale was great more on that later.

continuing on that note. the harumi bossfight really popped off. it’s that Bit Of Horror that i love. jay and nya banging on the glass trying to get through to lloyd. lloyd reaching out to harumi, because she’s voicing his regrets. she’s saying he must regret not saving her. they could’ve been friends. and then he asks her what they did that first night and she can’t answer, because she’s a copy. a simulacrum. just the game shaping lloyd’s doubts to trick him.

harumi is my poor little meow meow excuse me i’m having a moment.

NINJAGO CONFIDENTIAL!! THE EPISODE EVER!!! JAZZ REMIX WEEKEND WHIP!!! this episode is so fucking funny oh my god. just 10mins straight of comedy gold. i can’t even decide what my favorite thing is. pixal being so fucking DONE with zane’s narration. zane downloading crime shows to solve a mystery. everyone being pissed off about zane’s narration because he keeps insulting them out loud. that one fight where he announces all his moves and is then baffled a goon predicts them. the narration being what lets pixal resolve the mystery which she only bows down to in desparation. it’s incredible.

also can you people stop fake out killing zane. stop exploding this man. he’s suffered ENOUGH. my condolences to any zane enjoyers.

speaking of the funky nindroids. i really like the conversation between pixal and dyers cuz it like, reflects a lot on how I think about robots. Dyers says pixal’s emotions are just simulated, and she responds that his emotions are just electric signals, too, so what’s the difference? and him looking at pixal, seeing her as a fully emotive sapient being, is what makes him recontextualize unagami. if pixal’s feelings are real, unagami’s are, too.

like, the attitude of, “if a ‘simulation’ of a person is sufficently advanced, does the difference matter?” because i do believe that. i don’t think we’re at that level yet, real life robotics wise, but if we ever reach it? if we ever create an AI that can think? I see no reason why it shouldn’t be human, too. That’s the general attitude toward robots in ninjago, and i like seeing it addressed like this. robots have ghosts in this series! robots are affected by curses and magic. robots are robots but also people. it’s like, “any sufficiently advanced technology is virtually indistinguishable from magic,” except with souls. kingdom hearts type beat.

UNAGAMI. he’s just a little baby boy. he’s just a lil baby boy he was just a bit confused cmon man. you cant stay mad at him. he’s baby!

once dyers realizes He Fucked Up with unagami and unagami started talking abt abandonment my mind immediatly went “wrow just like jay and cliff” and THEN the show actually brought the parallel up!! jay could talk unagami down because he gets it!! man!!! and it’s like. jay says he’s never gonna get to ask. he’s never gonna know why. but he’s helping unagami now, because it’s not too late for unagami to ask. unagami doesn’t have to miss this chance like jay did.

and i did tear up at the end when it’s like. “Unagami is where he’s supposed to be. He’s home.” i did tear up at the lego show i really did. i live for sappy happy endings like this.

milton dyers as a cliff gordon parallel is like. was cliff also “afraid of what he created?” was he also terrified of just having a new person he’s responsible for? we’re never gonna fuckin know cuz that bitch is dead. but milton does love unagami. he loves making games, and if that game is a person, once he gets over himself, he’s gonna love that person too.

unagami is just a lil itty bitty baby boy. who also perpetuated the cycle of kind of shit dads by being mean to okino. that’s so funny actually unagami gets mad at okino for following his programming cuz milton shut unagami down for also following his programming. man we’re all just like our parents fr. don’t make me think about how i take after my dad. please.

overall!! after this season i’m def sure the new studio does action scenes real fuckin good. they just look sick even if sometimes they’re hampered by being Little Lego Guys.

plot wise i’d rank this next to s7 where it was like, fun, but not overall as impressive as the top tier season, but by no means bad!! i still had fun the entire season, and that’s what counts. as you can see above, there were a lot of moments i really enjoyed here! even if the side scroller section was too long imo.

you give me any stories about robots or ai or any nonhuman being affirming its own humanity through its feelings and growing into a person and i WILL eat that shit up (<- recoded is his favorite kingdom hearts game)

the early season bored me a bit and some in the middle was drawn out but the finale slaps hard and ninjago confidental is the fuckin Episode Of All Time.

that’s all gnight.

[dewbond-blog]

Before the Dive: Isekai Stories and SAO

To talk about the next series in our harem anime examination, we must first talk about two different but intertwined things that have dominated the anime landscape for some time now. Whether you hate it or love it, there is little debate that these two items have helped define Anime for almost a decade now. 

We need to talk about the Isekai story and Sword Art Online

The Isekai story, roughly meaning “Another World” is a type of story that has completely dominated the anime and manga industry for pretty much the last decade. While it had existed long before it’s burst into mainstream use, the most obvious to people in the west being Digimon, it wasn’t until recently that such stories have come to have an almost borg like hold on the genre.

Such things are common in all forms of entertainment. We love fads and we love even more to chase them. Hollywood and the west has gripped the Superhero genre with both hands and shows no real interest in letting go. Before that, it was genres like the “Teen Post Apocalypse” or “Westerns” that were all the rage among movie makers. In terms of Anime, we have had (and still do) the Moe craze (Haruhi), the angel and devil craze (High School DxD), the mecha craze (Gundam, Evangelion), and now we are in the Isekai bubble, a bubble so thick that some Japanese writing contests where up and coming light novelists submit work in hopes of getting published, had actually outright BANNED Isekai stories from being entered in 2016 and 2017. If that isn’t a sign of how much the genre has saturated Anime, I don’t know what is.

As with all things that are popular, there has been a growing backlash of the Isekai story, mostly because it’s widespread use has allowed some authors to slack off and not try anything new. Instead, they seem to rehash the same story beats and tropes in hopes of getting published and making some quick cash. However, with trash, there has also been a handful of gems that have graced anime fans.

I’ve said it before, but Re-Zero remains one of the greatest stories and anime series of all time (in my view). It was the series that single handily relit my love for anime after years of neglect and disinterest. Overlord, currently its third season remains a favorite among the anime community for its unique take on the genre and unorthodox protagonist. And of course, there is the one series that has reached a level of popularity that almost touches the legendary status of the Shonen Big Three, Dragon Ball, Mobile Suit Gundam, Detective Conan, and the Fate franchise. Sword Art Online

How can I sum up Sword Art Online? I guess I could say...

Sword Art Online is popular, that means it’s shit.

That seems to be the overall anime community response to Sword Art Online, a show that, along with Attack on Titan, has completely enveloped the anime industry. Sword Art Online was and is so popular, so influential that its presence can be seen in almost every other Isekai show. So many of the main characters in Isekai Anime can be seen as clones of Sword Art Online’s Kirito that you would think they were parodying him (and some do). The idea of being trapped in an MMO where you are suddenly the most powerful person in existence or have your hands on some advanced tech (like a smartphone) have become staples that authors use to sell their shows. Sword Art Online has been that rare anime that, despite being extremely popular has been able to reach out beyond itself and touch every corner of the industry. Not since shows like Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Evangelion has a show (at least in my experience) had such a ripple effect. Not even current darling My Hero Academia has yet to have such an impact.

Of course, that has led to the backlash and you only need to visit youtube and type in “Sword Art Online is shit’ to find a total cottage industry dedicated to ripping the show apart from every to the characters to the plot. I’m not going to tell you what to think though, that is up to YOU to decide. I have watched little of Sword Art Online, as it crossed my radar during my time away from Anime, however from what I have seen, I can both agree with the criticism of the show, and appreciate what it right. Most notably the development of the Kirito and Asuna romance.

But I’m not here to talk about Sword Art Online or Isekai shows. However, I think it was important to get this information out before we dive into our next anime. Next time I’ll give you my thoughts about other worlds and smartphones. Don’t miss it.

[animereviews]

Sword Art Online

Sword Art Online has a great story which will keep you hooked, the dialogue is great and the art is really well done. I knew I would like it as soon as I heard about it. Set in the year 2022, virtual reality gaming has been developed to the point which all gamers dream of, being able to actually enter a game. Kirito beta tests Sword Art Online and later is one of many to play the game on the day of release. However the log out option has been removed from the game by the creator as an experiment to see if the players can reach the 100th floor of the game. However if their characters die in-game, the virtual reality helmet will fry their brain and they will die in real life. This is one of the most popular animes out there. I loved it from the first episode, and I've watched it several times. SAO also has a season 2, which I was a little apprehensive about because I knew that Kirito has a female avatar in the manga. Turns out they actually managed to pull this of in the anime, though it is still a little weird, but it allows for a lot of comedic moments which make it ok. The abridged version on YouTube is hilarious! It's called SAO Abridged Parody by SWEabridged. - The link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6kJKxvbgZ0 _________________________________________ Genre: Fantasy, adventure, romance Episodes: 49 My overall rating - 9/10 You'll see :) Completed - 2013 Dubbed and Subbed - Both good