#The Penguin Season 1 finale review

[tfgadgets]

The Penguin Season 1 finale review: Colin Farrell finds the wizard in Oz

A still from ‘The Penguin’ Season 1 | Photo Credit: @StreamOnMax/YouTube ‘A Great or Little Thing’, the terribly beautiful title for the final episode of The Penguin, is a line from Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’. In the poem, while “a voice behind me whispered low, That fellow’s got to swing”, is oft quoted, it is the line ‘The man had killed the thing he loved’ that succinctly…

[dconscreen]

Superman: Hopeful and Joyous | News/Trailer Reviews

Leading up to SDCC, we have a short news roundup that we recorded on July 21 -- but due to technical difficulties, we didn't get it completed until today. Apologies! Here's what we talked about:

KITE MAN: HELL YEAH!

Kite Man: Hell Yeah is Now Available on Max

Producer Discusses Lance Reddick's Posthumous Lex Luthor Role

Matt Oberg Wants to Play Kite Man in Gunn's DCU

BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER

First Batman: Caped Crusader Clip Released by DC | https://twitter.com/i/status/1811838084083818833

THE PENGUIN

The Penguin: DC Revives The Batman's Viral Website

The Penguin will premiere exclusively on HBO on September 19th

SUPERMAN & LOIS

Superman & Lois Final Season Teaser Trailer Released | https://youtu.be/JkQNzCL9yVU

SUPERMAN

Superman Movie Logo Unveiled by James Gunn

Superman Wraps Filming In Cleveland With Cast Photo

Superman: James Gunn Teases How Much Filming Is Left

James Gunn Already Knows Which DCU Film He's Writing After Superman

Superman: James Gunn Confirms Timeline With Creature Commandos and Peacemaker Season 2

The Boys Star Jack Quaid Reveals He Auditioned for James Gunn's Superman

WATCHMEN

J. Michael Straczynski Wrote Script for Animated Adaptation

Watchmen Chapter 1 Animated Movie Trailer Released | https://youtu.be/j-s-cxTnH2

MY ADVENTURES WITH SUPERMAN

My Adventures With Superman Season 3 Begins Production

BOOSTER GOLD

Bull Crap Rumor About Kumail Nanjiani Playing Booster Gold

Gunn Says Nothing is in Production Unless It is Greenlit

THE BATMAN PART II

No, it's Not Canceled.

Join Our Riotous DC Debauch!

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A Special Thanks to BossLogic for this week's show art!

[tumblydove]

Donkey Hodie Season 2 Mid-Season Review + Episode Predictions

With new episodes coming in a little over three weeks, I wanted to go over my overall thoughts on Season 2 so far while we're in the middle of a hiatus. I also wanted to discuss the episode titles for the rest of the season, revealed on the WGAE website, and my predictions for what the episodes may be about.

Overall, I think that Season 2 of Donkey Hodie has been an improvement over the first one. This season took what Season 1 established and ran.

One of my biggest complaints for Season 1 was that there were a lot of characters and pairings that we didn't get to see enough of, such as Duck Duck, Grampy, and Stanley. I don't put this too much on the creators, since the pandemic did limit the stories they could do, but seeing Donkey and Panda every episode gets tiring. Luckily, this season fixes this issue. We get a much more diverse cast in each episode, and we even get to see all four pals together much more often!

Speaking of characters, we got one major new one so far: Cousin Hodie! Cousin is a perfect addition to the show- he fills the gap as the little brother character, but not too little that he can't have specific traits or join in on Donkey's fun himself.

The puppetry also took a big step up this season. Woth no restrictions, the creators had the option to go full-out, and they certainly did. We have probably had more green screen and crowd shots in this half that we did in the entirely of Season 1.

I've been taking so positively about this season- what is it in this season I don't like? Well, the character designs and their updates were a bit jarring at first, but I've since gotten used to them. Some morals have been reused from the first season, which comes off as repetitive.

Favorite Episode: This was a hard one. Ultimately, though, I think that Cousin Hodie's Rainy Day and its pair episode, Grampy's Guppies are the encapsulations of all of the good merit Season 2 has going for it. We get all four of the pals, Cousin Hodie, the Rainbow Tree, great songs, and even better puppetry from the latter episode's fishing.

Honorable Mentions: Ruff Night, How Does it Feel, Best Ball Fest, and Bob Dog's Balloon Bother, purely out of the fact that they are Bob Dog episodes and he is my favorite of the pals. Any episode with all four of the pals in it also counts, since I love seeing all of them together!

Least Favorite Episode: While I didn't outright dislike these two episodes, The Goalies/Mousy Hodie were the least memorable to me, which is a shame since Alice Dinnean returned for them. Avid DH fand know that she was the original choice to play Donkey, but dropped the gig because of time constraints. As for which one was worse, I'd say Mousy Hodie. Mousy's selfish behavior was never really addressed, even after Donkey took her break. Yeah, they took a break from each other but Mousy never apologized for hogging all the turns. The episode just felt incomplete and, dare I say, "torture-esque" for Donkey.

Dis-Honorable Mentions: Purple Polka Dot Party. This episode suffers the same problem as cheesy Con by overindulging in a problem that could have been solved extremely easily with some critical thinking. Panda could have flown some of his pals to the party, than come back and get the others. Or, he could have simply refused to let Penley come since there was no room. Rather than have that be the problem, add a problem that could have no clear solution, like having Panda's spaceship break down.

I'll also mention that episode's pairing, Someplace Cold. The Puzzling Penguin is unlikeable asf and would have been more if not for her catchphrase. This episode just felt repetitive.

And, finally, I'll add in Speedy Delivery and Donkey Wonky Tea Party. I didn't dislike these ones, but the morals felt too repetitive too soon. Why doesn't Donkey just use the moral she taught Turtle-Lou to remember her pals' stuff too? Just comes off as confusing.

So, yeah! Season 2 > Season 1. If Season 1 is a 7/10, then season 2 is an 8/10. Hopefully Season 3 breaks that and gets a 9/10. Of course, this could change since we still have many Season 2 episodes that haven't premiered, but this season has been going well so far, so I'm not expecting those episodes to be awful.

Speaking of episodes, let's talk about the new ones that WGAE revealed!

Meemaw Heehaw's Recipe Mystery: Grammy Hodie??? It can't be! I wonder what the recipe is- maybe Flying Flapjacks lore? anyways, I'm thinking this might be a nice wholesome Donkey family episode. Maybe Cousin (or even more shockingly, Dodie) will be in it.

Extra-Large Crunchdoodle: Another Crunchdoodles episode! Looking forward to the lucid sequence with the characters dancing that we've gotten in every Crunchdoodles episode so far!

The Great Wait: Oh, look, another waiting episode. These episodes are notorious for being either fairly entertaining or extremely boring. I have a theory that we may be seeing Mike in this episode (as you may recall, he is a mouse with muscular dystrophy that was revealed in a casting call last year.) My initial thought was that we'd be seeing him in Gameshow Gaffe. September is Muscular Dystrophy Awareness Month, the episode's plot talks about fairness and fun, and the episode is written by Jill Cozza-Turner according to the WGAE, who wrote Hee-Hee Hide and Seekers. This may still happen (and I would be a bit disappointed if it didn’t), but if now my second thought is him appearing in this one. The casting call also mentioned he likes looking for new creatures with his binoculars, so maybe he and Donkey are waiting to find a new creature? Excited for this one! (Please don't bore me out as much as Acornball did.)

Hee-Hee Hide and Seekers: I don't have many predictions for this one since we kind of already know what it's about. The Everything Explorers are back, and Mike is here guaranteed! I wasn't a big fan of Everything Explorers in Season 1, so maybe this and a new character will change my mind. I'm looking forward to seeing how the show tackles the topic of disability.

A Donkey Hodie New Year: New Years' Special! Maybe the pals are trying to stay up long enough or coming up with resolutions? I can't help but feel disappointed this isn't a Christmas episode, but I can't say I'm not excited for this one regardless. The last half-hour special, A Donkey Hodie Halloween, was great, so my expectations are high for both of the specials we'll get in this season.

A Donkey Hodie Road Trip: My original prediction for this episode was that this would be the one where we'd get the Daniel/Donkey crossover. Maybe the pals go on Trolley to The Neighborhood of Make-Believe? Obviously, that won't be the case, but I still think Trolley will be in this one. We know he'll appear in three Season 2 episodes, and we only have two with him in them so far. The question becomes, where are the pals going? Maybe to Another Place, where Dodie lives, or to wherever Cousin lives.

Quick-Quack Pack: I am reminded of Quack Pack anything I look at this episode title. Outside if this obviously being a Duck Duck episode, I really don't know what to expect from this one. My expectations are high though, since this would be the last Season 2 episode produced, and the Season 1 finale, Return of the Golden Crunchdoodles, was fairly great.

Find A Way to Fix It: This episode could really be about anyone or anything. The ambiguity makes me look forward to it, but I really don't have any thoughts on what it may be about.

That's it for my thoughts on Season 2 and the upcoming new episodes so far. Thanks for reading my long tanged about an anthropomorphic donkey and her friends!

[morganee]

I posted 1,458 times in 2022

That's 1,399 more posts than 2021!

50 posts created (3%)

1,408 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@will80sbyers

@kittykat940

@theonebyler

@jazz-penguin

@willthecleric

I tagged 1,392 of my posts in 2022

Only 5% of my posts had no tags

#stranger things - 1,039 posts

#byler - 773 posts

#will byers - 92 posts

#mike wheeler - 77 posts

#f1 - 66 posts

#sebastian vettel - 45 posts

#this - 39 posts

#😂😂😂 - 38 posts

#asdfghjkl - 37 posts

#!!! - 33 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#like??? do you really think directors didn’t notice those looks???? didn’t ask him to stop if they didn’t want him to look at noah like that

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

you know what the perfect scenario would be for me for s5 byler-wise?

El and Mike break up right at the start of the season and that’s when Mike realises he actually likes Will but doesn’t do anything about it because he’s scared

THEN we get the time jump (I always think it’s going to be like two years) and we get Will and Mike obviously pining after each other and we get cute moments and hopefully they end up together before the season finale so we can also have like a full episode of byler being boyfriends

as much as I’d love for Mike and Will to get together as soon as possible, I’d also like to see Mike single for a while because I think he needs that too, just as much as El does

51 notes - Posted October 7, 2022

#4

what if Will stays with the Wheelers because obviously they can’t all fit in Hopper’s cabin

and one day Will is just sitting on Mike’s bed, drawing something, and Karen enters the room with Mike’s clean laundry and before she leaves the room she goes “Oh, I almost forgot. Here” and she hands him the letter and Will’s confused and she just smiles and says “I found it in Mike’s blue shirt. That boy, he probably forgot it was there, thank god I always check the pockets before doing the washing”

and she leaves and Will is so confused but he can’t help but open the letter because his name is on it and he reads it and it ends with Love, Mike

and that’s how Mike finds him hours later, sitting on his bed with the letter open in front of him and his breath stops at that sigh and he just says “you weren’t meant to find it”

60 notes - Posted August 28, 2022

#3

well, we won the poll

78 notes - Posted August 11, 2022

#2

See the full post

247 notes - Posted July 23, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

no but just imagine Mike going to Nancy after El breaks up with him because he's just so confused and he asks her what it's like to be in love with someone and Nancy tells him that being in love with someone is feeling your true self around that person and just needing them and wanting them to be happy and just basically lists all the things Mike feels when he's with Will and then Nancy asks if that's how he felt with El and he just answers "no" a bit too quickly and she asks "do you feel like this with someone else?" and Mike tells her yes but he doesn't specify because he's just so confused, he's always felt like this with Will and never thought it was anything more than friendship but now it feels like love and he's scared and he just blurts out what this person makes him feel, how right he feels whenever they are around, how beautiful they are, how he thinks he might love them, and when he's done Nancy just goes: "Mike. I think you should tell him all of this"

and that's it, that's Mike coming out scene and he cries and Nancy cries and I'm crying

966 notes - Posted August 7, 2022

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[esonetwork]

The Earth Station DCU Episode 370 – Bodies Series Premiere

New Post has been published on https://esonetwork.com/the-earth-station-dcu-episode-370-bodies-series-premiere/

The Earth Station DCU Episode 370 – Bodies Series Premiere

This Week on Earth Station DCU! Drew Leiter and Cletus Jacobs review the baffling season premiere of Bodies! Batman finally confronts Joker in Batman: The Brave and The Bold #9. Oswalt and Batman form an alliance to take down Falcone in The Penguin #6. The Wonder Girls investigate the missing Amazons, while Queen Nubia and Faruka unravel the mystery surround Eris in Amazons Attack #4. Simon Hurt challenges Batman in the desert, while the Question solves a murder back in Gotham in Detective Comics #1081. Jai discovers he has new abilities in The Flash #5. The President of the United States reveals Amanda Waller to the nation while Dr. Hate reveals his secret identity to the Titans in Titans: Beast World #5. All this plus, DC News, Shout Outs, and much, much more!

————————

Table of Contents

0:00:00 Show Open

0:01:00 DC News

0:06:00 Batman: The Brave and The Bold #9 (Tom King Story Only)

0:13:02 The Penguin #6

0:18:18 Amazons Attack #4

0:25:34 Detective Comics #1081

0:35:45 The Flash #5

0:41:28 Titans: Beast World #5

0:49:30 Bodies S1 Ep1 – You’re Dead Already

1:00:27 Show Close

Links

Batman: The Brave and The Bold #9 (Tom King Story Only)

The Penguin #6

Amazons Attack #4

Detective Comics #1081

The Flash #5

Titans: Beast World #5

Bodies (Cletus’s Read More Comics Pick)

Green Lantern/Flash: Faster Friends #1 (Drew’s Read More Comics Pick)

Earth Station DCU Website

The ESO Network

If you would like to leave feedback, comment on the show, or would like us to give you a shout out, please call the ESDCU feedback line at (317) 455-8411 or feel free to email us @ earthstationdcu@gmail.com

[laresearchette]

Tuesday, February 27, 2024 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES? SHOGUN (Disney + Star) AS WE SPEAK: RAP MUSIC ON TRIAL (Paramount+ Canada) GOD SAVE TEXAS (HBO Canada) 9:00pm THE LOST U-BOATS OF WWII (History Canada) 10:00pm

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

AMAZON PRIME CANADA THE PAINTER AND THE THIEF SHE DIES TOMORROW TOTALLY UNDER CONTROL

CRAVE TV GOD SAVE TEXAS (Episodes 1-3)

DISNEY + STAR SHOGUN (Episodes 1-2_

NETFLIX CANADA CHAPPELLE'S HOME TEAM – DONNELL RAWLINGS: A NEW DAY

NHL HOCKEY (SN) 7:00pm: Sabres vs. Panthers (TSN2) 7:00pm: Coyotes vs. Habs (TSN4) 7:00pm: Knights vs. Leafs (TSN3) 8:00pm: Blues vs. Jets (TSN5) 8:00pm: Sens vs. Predators (SNWest) 9:00pm: Kings vs. Flames (SNPacific) 10:00pm: Penguins vs. Canucks (SNEast/SNOntario) 10:30pm: Devils vs. Sharks

NBA BASKETBALL (TSN) 7:00pm: Mavericks vs. Cavaliers (SN1) 7:30pm: 76ers vs. Celtics (SN1) 10:00pm: Rockets vs. Thunder

THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES (CBC) 8:00pm

HUDSON & REX (City TV) 8:00pm: Charlie and Rex go undercover in prison to investigate the murder of David Aziz.

MARY MAKES IT EASY (CTV Life) 8:00pm: Toot, Toot. We're Going to Beantown!

SON OF A CRITCH (CBC) 8:30pm: Mark takes directing the school play too seriously and finds himself without a cast and crew; Mark stubbornly tries to perform the play alone but realizes he's not a one-man-show.

COMFORT FOOD WITH SPENCER WATTS (CTV Life) 8:30pm: The lake may be frozen, but Spencer knows how to dress seafood for a cozy night by the fire; Spencer creates succulent stuffed salmon, crispy coconut shrimp, and mussels in a thai-inspired sauce.

ONE MORE TIME (CBC) 9:00pm: After reading an angry store review, DJ sets out to hire another disabled employee.

THE FOOD THAT BUILT AMERICA (History Canada) 9:00pm (SEASON PREMERE): Food conglomerate Campbell's kickstarts what will become an Italian American food revolution, launching SpaghettiOs and then Prego and along the way, transforming everything from home cooking to casual dining.

WATERFRONT RENO (Magnolia Canada) 9:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): Two fixer-uppers along Alabama's scenic shores become showcases for their million dollar waterfront views.

RUN THE BURBS (CBC) 9:30pm: Camille confronts her old bully at Leo's taekwondo school, while Andrew tries to bond with Khia at life drawing class.

BEACHFRONT BARGAIN HUNT (Magnolia Canada) 9:30pm (SEASON PREMIERE): A family from Philadelphia has been vacationing for years along the shores of Ocean City, Md., and now it's time to claim their own slice of paradise; they're hoping to find an affordable property that overlooks the bay with room for a future boat.

RENOVATION ALOHA (HGTV Canada) 10:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): Kamohai and Tristyn track down the owners of a home that's been abandoned for 20 years and purchase it; the house is in a great location but in rough shape with a tree growing through the roof.

RUSSELL PETERS: IRRESPONSIBLE ENSEMBLE (CTV Comedy) 10:30pm (FINALE): Russell gives extended commentary on vegans and vegetarianism; featuring Lachlan Patterson, Adrienne Iapalucci and The Lucas Brothers.

[space-and-galaxies]

I posted 4,715 times in 2022

67 posts created (1%)

4,648 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@delta-fox

@splashtail

@willthecleric

@artykyn

@jazz-penguin

I tagged 216 of my posts in 2022

#stranger things - 17 posts

#the owl house - 15 posts

#stranger things 4 - 11 posts

#byler - 11 posts

#mike wheeler - 10 posts

#bobs burgers spoilers - 6 posts

#luz noceda - 6 posts

#bobs burgers - 6 posts

#will byers - 5 posts

#kings tide - 4 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#like gene and tina probably remind him of his mom too but we can infer from that hat story that louise does the most and its dkofijhdnxfjbds

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

so i just finished season three and mskfdjdhsjfknd THIS SHOW WAS SO AMAZING!!!! 

let me start by saying that i knew there was a twist coming, but i got it wrong. i thought the ppg were working with the biker in black and that they were trying to isolate kid so he could get revenge or something, but what we got WAS SO MUCH BETTER! like, it explained so much!! i thought the first episode didn’t really feel like kid cosmic so them being in a fantasy world made so much sense! and then papa g’s behavior changed from episode one to episode two, i didnt really notice it but it was definitely in the back of my mind and then we find out that he figured out it was fantasy world and he wanted kid to be able to see his parents again and fdjfhdjkfndrfuhn WOW. 

i also really like that they subverted the ‘hero sacrifice’ trope because oh my god when i thought papa g died i started bawling. also also papa g and kid’s relationship is now my favorite of the show, sorry tuna. 

overall a really good season with a very strong finale, its definitely up there in my ranks. i love these characters, i love their development, and i am very sad to see them go but so glad i gave this show a chance. to my followers, if you havent seen this show i HIGHLY recommend it. 

thank you for everything kid cosmic and craig mccracken. it was a wild and wonderful ride. 

73 notes - Posted February 6, 2022

#4

something something mike feels like he loses will every season something something vol2 ending with all the characters losing

91 notes - Posted July 3, 2022

#3

some byler things i noticed in vol 1:

-Mike once again apologizes fairly easily (he doesn’t actually say the words but i still count their second talk in epi4 as an apology). 

-Mike listens to Will’s concerns but not El’s (once he gets out of his own head he’s engaged with Will whereas he just completely brushed El off.) 

-They demonstrate that when they’re on the same page shit gets done. (the van, the phone booth, the pen) (also i just love how Mike clearly thinks of Will as his quote-on-quote second in command). 

-They’re more vulnerable with each other than anyone else (even if it’s not completely vulnerable they’re not having conversations like that with the others).

97 notes - Posted May 28, 2022

#2

ok but louise reminding bob of his mom being one of the reasons theyre so close is actually so sweet

174 notes - Posted July 21, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

i just think having a moment between Joyce and Mike where he tells her he likes Will and she’s so supportive and tells him she couldn’t think of anyone better for her son than him would be so sweet actually, and be great juxtaposition to Hopper despising mileven. 

175 notes - Posted May 1, 2022

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[redsamuraiii]

My Japanese Books To Read List

I have been browsing some Japanese Books to read and here is a list of what appears to be interesting based on the plot, reviews and recommendations from my fellow Tumblr followers. If you have some to recommend, please do tell me! :D

1. Soul Lanterns by Shaw Kuzki

The haunting and poignant story of a how a young Japanese girl’s understanding of the historic and tragic bombing of Hiroshima is transformed by a memorial lantern-floating ceremony.

Twelve-year-old Nozomi lives in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. She wasn’t even born when the bombing of Hiroshima took place. Every year Nozomi joins her family at the lantern-floating ceremony to honor those lost in the bombing. People write the names of their deceased loved ones along with messages of peace, on paper lanterns and set them afloat on the river. This year Nozomi realizes that her mother always releases one lantern with no name. She begins to ask questions, and when complicated stories of loss and loneliness unfold, Nozomi and her friends come up with a creative way to share their loved ones’ experiences. By opening people’s eyes to the struggles they all keep hidden, the project teaches the entire community new ways to show compassion. Soul Lanterns is an honest exploration of what happened on August 6, 1945, and offers readers a glimpse not only into the rich cultural history of Japan but also into the intimate lives of those who recognize–better than most–the urgent need for peace.

Review by Penguin Random House

2. How Do You Live by Genzaburo Yoshino

Anime master Hayao Miyazaki’s favorite childhood book, in English for the first time.

First published in 1937, Genzaburō Yoshino’s How Do You Live? has long been acknowledged in Japan as a crossover classic for young readers. Academy Award–winning animator Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle) has called it his favorite childhood book and announced plans to emerge from retirement to make it the basis of a final film.

Copper, fifteen, who after the death of his father must confront inevitable and enormous change, including his own betrayal of his best friend. In between episodes of Copper’s emerging story, his uncle writes to him in a journal, sharing knowledge and offering advice on life’s big questions as Copper begins to encounter them. Over the course of the story, Copper, like his namesake Copernicus, looks to the stars, and uses his discoveries about the heavens, earth, and human nature to answer the question of how he will live.

This first-ever English-language translation of a Japanese classic about finding one’s place in a world both infinitely large and unimaginably small is perfect for readers of philosophical fiction like The Alchemist and The Little Prince, as well as Miyazaki fans eager to understand one of his most important influences.

Review by GoodReads

3. Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami

Shortlisted for the 2013 Man Asian Literary Prize, Strange Weather in Tokyo is a story of loneliness and love that defies age.

Tsukiko, thirty–eight, works in an office and lives alone. One night, she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, “Sensei,” in a local bar. Tsukiko had only ever called him “Sensei” (“Teacher”). He is thirty years her senior, retired, and presumably a widower. Their relationship develops from a perfunctory acknowledgment of each other as they eat and drink alone at the bar, to a hesitant intimacy which tilts awkwardly and poignantly into love.

As Tsukiko and Sensei grow to know and love one another, time’s passing is marked by Kawakami’s gentle hints at the changing seasons: from warm sake to chilled beer, from the buds on the trees to the blooming of the cherry blossoms. Strange Weather in Tokyo is a moving, funny, and immersive tale of modern Japan and old–fashioned romance.

Review by Penguin Random House

4. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

Convenience Store Woman is the heartwarming and surprising story of thirty-six-year-old Tokyo resident Keiko Furukura. Keiko has never fit in, neither in her family, nor in school, but when at the age of eighteen she begins working at the Hiiromachi branch of “Smile Mart,” she finds peace and purpose in her life. 

In the store, unlike anywhere else, she understands the rules of social interaction ― many are laid out line by line in the store’s manual ― and she does her best to copy the dress, mannerisms, and speech of her colleagues, playing the part of a “normal” person excellently, more or less. Managers come and go, but Keiko stays at the store for eighteen years. It’s almost hard to tell where the store ends and she begins. Keiko is very happy, but the people close to her, from her family to her coworkers, increasingly pressure her to find a husband, and to start a proper career, prompting her to take desperate action… A brilliant depiction of an unusual psyche and a world hidden from view, Convenience Store Woman is an ironic and sharp-eyed look at contemporary work culture and the pressures to conform, as well as a charming and completely fresh portrait of an unforgettable heroine.

Review by GoodReads

[medea10]

My Review of The Rising of the Shield Hero: 2nd Season

Season One Review

Lord, if we can make it through this entire season without seeing Bitch, I will become a believer for about five minutes.

A few seconds later…

AH-HA! I’m going to remain agnostic. As you can see, Bitch is still there and has her head still in tact.

I think we all know why we came into Rising of the Shield Hero. You were either an Isekai lover and jumped into this series, a devoted follower of the light novel, or you came out of curiosity after everyone screamed in fury over a certain character. Regardless, we’re in this for the long haul. Okay, maybe it isn’t that stark. Many people, myself included liked the story of the shield hero. The first season was nearly top-tier perfection in modern-day isekai animes. We’re not just watching some twat transferred to another world and having him automatically be an OP hero! This guy started at less than zero.

HISTORY: Naofumi Iwatani was once a regular college boy reading light novels when he was transported to another world. Naofumi and three other boys (Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu) from three different dimensions of Japan were sent to the Kingdom of Melromarc where they were seen as saviors. The role of the hero must save people from these ongoing cataclysm events known as “waves”. Once they save them from these waves, the people will revere these heroes. Except for Naofumi! While the other boys had different and more powerful roles, Naofumi’s power was the shield and because of that he was treated worse than dog shit. He was shunned and later tricked by the royal family leaving Naofumi alone and penniless. This story is about a young lad who must rise up, form a party, and survive in this unforgiving, new world. Along the way, he buys a slave, a demi-human named Raphtalia and hatches a filolial egg where he makes a pact with the hatchling named Filo. And every now and then, Naofumi gets help from one member of the royal family who is on his side, Princess Melty.

SEASON TWO: For now, there is peace throughout the lands. But that does suddenly change as the heroes lost the ability to tell when the next wave is going to hit. And then there’s word of a tortoise god about to give trouble. Once again, it’s up to the queen of Melromarc to count on the four heroes. And once again it’ll probably be all up to Naofumi’s team because Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu are still arrogant cucks. Meanwhile, Naofumi made it official with the addition of a new member to his team. Rishia was once on Itsuki’s team, but was ditched for being too weak. That still doesn’t stop her from mentioning his stupid name several times an episode. We get it, you have a crush on him and he spurned you. Could we all move on now?

Oh and Rishia wears a filolial and penguin costume because, fuck if I know. It’s not brought up; we just see this in episode 1 and accept it. And we see two people hanging around and training Naofumi’s crew like we’re supposed to know them. There’s only one explanation for that!

Rush job!

Guys, we waited three years for a continuation. The least you could do was…NOT give us a rush job!

NEW CHARACTERS INTRODUCED: Hmm, let’s see if there’s anyone worth mentioning here. We meet several characters that seem to be in good with Naofumi this season. It’s just that their introduction was sloppily given to us. Oh well, let’s see what I can do with this category without sounding snotty.

Let’s start with Rishia since I really didn’t talk about her in the previous review. She was introduced in the final couple of episodes as an abandoned member of Itsuki’s team. Rishia was not at the castle at the very beginning where everyone was choosing which hero they were going to serve. Instead, Rishia joined Itsuki later down the line when he saved her. Because of that one heroic act, Rishia was forever smitten over this ass. Even after he ditched Rishia, she continues to praise him. Rishia ends up being a somewhat helpful member to Naofumi’s team.

Next, I’ll talk about Éclair. We’re introduced to her and this old granny that we’re suddenly supposed to know without any true introduction in the anime. Éclair kinda resembles an OC of mine from a Pokemon fic I wrote back in the day. So, she’s kind of a bombshell. Éclair serves the queen and will occasionally be there to help Naofumi this season.

Ost is the human incarnation to the spirit tortoise that seems to be causing havoc. But other forces are behind that. Again, this season was pretty piss-poor when it came to explaining things.

And finally, there’s Kizuna! She wasn’t introduced until the last couple of episodes of this season. Much like Naofumi, she came from some alternate version of Japan and was dubbed a hero in this world. And she’s friends with Glass, L’Arc, and Therese. But again, like Naofumi, she found herself in a lot of trouble and was imprisoned until Naofumi saved her.

With all that said, here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Rishia is played by Natsuko Hara

*Éclair is played by Ruriko Aoki (known for Onemine on Komi-san)

*Ost is played by Kana Hanazawa (known for Chloe on Pokemon Journeys, Kanade on Angel Beats, Mayuri on Steins;Gate, Nadeko on Monogatari, Anri on Durarara, Shiemi on Blue Exorcist, and Rize on Tokyo Ghoul)

*Kizuna is played by Miyu Tomita (known for Riko on Made in Abyss, Crim on Interspecies Reviewers, Miko on Kaguya-sama, and Ebisu on Dorohedoro)

ENGLISH CAST: *Rishia is played by Kira Buckland (known for Jolyne on Jojo’s Pt. 6, Beatrice on Re:Zero, Setsuna on Yashahime, Mary on Kakegurui, Izumo on Blue Exorcist, Luculia on Violet Evergarden, and Mitsuri on Demon Slayer)

*Éclair is played by Dawn M. Bennett (known for Yamada on Zombieland Saga, Kale on DB Super, Sister Lily on Black Clover, Frieda on Attack on Titan, Frederica on Re:Zero, and Neiru on Wonder Egg Priority)

*Ost is played by Amber Lee Connors (known for Komi on Komi-san, Pieck on Attack on Titan, Fortuna on Re:Zero, Brandish on Fairy Tail, Kotegawa on To Love Ru, Emi on My Hero Academia, and Mei on Citrus)

*Kizuna is played by Lizzie Freeman (known for Chizuru on Rent-A-Girlfriend, Trish on Jojo’s Pt. 5, Hinata on Tokyo Revengers, Chisato on Lycoris Recoil, Sumire on Love Live Superstar, and Mujika on The Promised Neverland)

LICENSING: Crunchyroll and FUNimation have control over this series. Crunchyroll has been a big driving force with this series. After all, they’re the company that assured us sometime after season one aired (in 2019) that not only were we getting a season two, but a season three. And better yet, they were going to continue giving us dubs as the simulcast began several weeks after the season two premier. Unfortunately, it came upon some grim news about one of the stars. More below!

A BIG CAST CHANGE: I’ll say more on the matter at the end of this review, but as everyone should know by now Billy Kametz is not voicing Naofumi anymore. This is something we have to accept and respect.

Naofumi is now played by Stephen Fu (known for Weather Report on Jojo’s Pt. 6, Douma on Demon Slayer, Henry on Black Clover, Mr. Sawaki on Wonder Egg Priority, and Pax on Mushoku Tensei)

ANY CHANGES IN DISLIKE…

Nope. I still hate Bitch. Kyo can be an ass-hat all he wants this season, but if I see even one second of Slutty Bitch over here, she’s going to be on my hate-radar.

ANYTHING TO ADD WITH SHIPPING: Naofumi always seems to be surrounded by the ladies. But as we all know, Naofumi never once spoke of romance about anyone at any time. He’s got other shit to deal with. No matter how many cute outfits Raphtalia wears or how many hints she drops, we’re not seeing anything this season.

While I’m here, Rishia, girl, please stop with the love for Itsuki. Bro has absolutely no interest in you. He dropped you like a sack of hammers. You can do so much better. You can respect the fact that he saved your life, but other than that just let it go.

ENDING: At the halfway part, Naofumi and his crew were about to take out this asshole named Kyo who was manipulating the spirit tortoise and they were all transported to another world. This world is the place where Glass, L’Arc, and Terese came from as heroes. There, everything is reset for Naofumi. All his stats are back to one, Raphtalia is tiny again, and no one knows where Filo is. Add to this, there’s a wave attack going to occur in one week’s time. At least they know when they’re going to hit here in this new land. But there seems to be a bit of betrayal against the heroes in this land as well. They meet Kizuna, a hero like L’Arc, Terese, and Glass but was being held against her will. After saving her, that ass-hat Kyo is back at it by making shady deals with other ass-hats in this world.

Naofumi was able to rescue Filo, but also lost Raphtalia when she took the brunt of an attack. Raphtalia wound up imprisoned (again) and lost the slave crest that Naofumi bound to her at the very beginning of the series. On the plus side, she was able to seek help from L’Arc and the others and was blessed with a new weapon. She eventually returned to Naofumi and I suppose is seen as a comrade more than a slave. Now to stop Kyo and stop the upcoming waves! As it turns out, Kyo has been trying to find a way to stop waves himself. At least that’s what his childhood friend turned cult follower says.

Now is Kyo a good guy with bad intentions or just a dick? If he’s creating his own waves and unleashing them on the people, I say the latter. Kyo is like Rudeus from Mushoku Tensei if Rudeus was an evil prick. Kyo committed suicide in his previous life (where he was a fat shut-in) and was reincarnated in another world where he can do as he pleased. So he created waves that caused a lot of havoc and killed people to turn them into loyal chimeras. Bro needs a good ass-kicking right about now. Naofumi and crew were able to take out this prick in less than one episode. Let me guess, another rush job?! Okay, let’s see what’s up with the final episode of the season. After killing Kyo, Naofumi’s mission was complete so he and the girls head back to Melromarc. Best of all, they’re no longer in feuds with Glass, L’Arc, or the others. But waves are still a thing and they still have to figure out how to get rid of them. But not for the last episode!

The last episode was as fillery as you could possibly get. You had fanservice, you had a Tom Hanks in Cast Away montage, and sex talk. But they end the episode with Naofumi and the crew honoring their comrade that passed away (Ost). And the anime says it’ll be back, we just don’t know when. Crunchyroll announced there’d be a season 3 two years ago. They didn’t think we’d remember. Pepperidge Farm remembers. At least they gave us a promo poster at Crunchyroll Expo and assured us all that season three is happening.

For someone who didn’t read the light novel, this season didn’t impress me. When I go into an episode asking more questions than getting answers, you know I’m in trouble here. I’m seeing characters socializing with the main characters you don’t remember ever seeing and we get no information about other crucial things (including Rishia). And tell me if I’m wrong but don’t you think Raphtalia’s growth and getting the new sword should have been longer than half an episode? Maybe it’s just me. I think they were trying to smush this entire tortoise arc into a 12-episode season and it just didn’t sit well with many of us fans.

Sorry guys, wasn’t feeling this season. Didn’t really have a fascination with it as much as I did with the first season. That sucks because I gave the first season a glowing review and put it on my top 20 list of best animes of the 2010s. That’s great considering this anime also had one of the worst characters ever created. I guess that’s a blessing with this season as we only had to see Bitch once. Probably best if we all read the light novel’s telling of the tortoise arc. I’m going to hope for a better third season and possibly read up on what happens that the anime neglected to touch upon.

If you do want to venture on to the second season, Crunchyroll has it available for watching in multiple languages.

IN MEMORIUM: When it was announced in April that Billy Kametz was relinquishing all of his roles due to a grim cancer diagnosis, I held out hope that he could beat this thing. Yes, stage four colon cancer is nothing to fuck with, but still! Sadly, this cancer was very aggressive and it wound up taking him faster than anyone could have anticipated. It’s always tragic to lose someone to cancer, but to lose someone so young hits you pretty hard. This guy had so much ahead of him and I betcha he would have gone down as one of the best English voice actors like Johnny Yong Bosch or Crispin Freeman. Hell with that, he was that great! Billy Kametz was one of those people who was loved throughout the entire community. Fellow voice actors always loved working alongside him and fans cherished him with the roles he brought to life. I’ve heard him in several roles including Ren from Pokemon Journeys, Jousuke from the fourth part of Jojo’s, and Metal from Boruto. But the two roles I really loved him in were Aggretsuko and Shield Hero.

In the days following Billy Kametz’s death, I looked at so many responses from his fellow voice actors and was surprised by how much love there was. I’m really upset I never got a chance to meet him at a convention. I think I had an opportunity to see him at Sakura Con in Seattle, but it was cancelled due to Covid. But that didn’t stop me from listening to his performances and they were stellar. In fact, I don’t think I ever hated anything he played. I am going to miss his neurotic Metal Lee. I’m going to miss Ren’s geekiness on Pokemon. I’m going to miss Anai’s rap skills on Aggretsuko. I’m going to miss the style and flare Kametz brought to Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and Promare. But most of all, I will miss his Naofumi Iwatani. Thanks for bringing all of these roles to life.

[rwbyconversations]

RWBY Volume 7 Review

Two weeks out from Volume 8 and I finally cared enough to write this. Go team I guess. 

Part of it came down to my feelings on Volume 7. It’s a complicated season that’s made me realize a lot of my overall feelings on RWBY as a series, particularly a lot of the less flattering feelings. Volume 7 is just... frustrating in general, as for all the good that it does have, and it does have a lot of great elements to it, it’s let down by a frustrating script and writing choices that feel distinctly amateurish, especially as the series moves on and gets better and better looking each year. There’s elements and kernals here of great character writing, season-wide arcs that land in a really good way and get me emotionally invested in the characters. But on the other... Ren only has two hundred words the entire season and you can tell! 

Volume 7 is a season of dizzying highs, some of the best moments of the entire franchise... and some of the series lows. It’s a season where there’s no production reason for its shortcomings... it just comes down to an awkward script that focuses on the wrong elements far too often. Let’s talk about that. In a very long and drawn out manner.

Thanks to @jamesbranwen​, @h-e-m-o-goblin​ and @retro-riffraff​ for help with GIFs and consultation on this review.

1) The Good Stuff!

A) Atlas is very pretty!

I cannot stress enough how on a set level, Volume 7 is leaps and bounds above the other seasons in sheer environmental detail and setting dressing. Mantle has a great atmosphere with its New York influences, the smog covered backgrounds and oppressive streets and alleys. Ironwood’s office which is deliberately designed to evoke astronomy themes to represent James’ love for the stars. The cold oppressive atmosphere of the Schnee Manor and how Jacques has begun warping it to glorify him with only lip service paid to Nicholas in public. Penguins! 

There’s a lot of great set design work that went into this season and the crew deserve props for it. Genuinely. 

B) Ironwood’s arc is the best character arc in the entire franchise

Yeah just wearing my heart on my sleeve there, I fucking love Ironwood and his character arc here in Volume 7 is the best written arc of the show. I simp for the tin man who just wants to do the right thing. This one season of content is better than a lot of the series-wide material being honest. I went back to James’s big volumes in the last month to rewatch the show and it’s interesting to see the early seeds in retrospect for where his arc goes. His need to protect everyone he can and the brutish measures he considers necessary for such an act, his conflicting loyalties towards Ozpin that manifest in both frustration at Oz’s seeming apathy to the growing conflict, but also desperate desire for validation from Ozpin that what’s he doing is the right call. After the Mistral seasons set up James as going off the deep end following Volume 3, having him open the season with an earnest smile, an immediate apology for the team’s arrest and trusting them with his plans for Amity and Salem is a jarring but pleasant surprise. He’s not been slacking off, he’s been trying to keep the world together in the way he thinks is best. He lets his guard down around the heroes and we see the good man underneath, which makes the moments where he raises his walls hurt all the more. While Em and Merc are still probably my favorite characters period, James is absolutely my favorite character in Volume 7 and Top 5 favorite characters series-wide. I’m very eager to see where he goes from here. He also rocks the beard and fixed his T-Rex arms so James came out of the washing machine that is Volume 7′s costume design. He truly is the Best Boi, and I cannot give Jason Rose enough credit for his performance this year. He hit every note of Ironwood’s character perfectly and I wish the fandom would give him more credit for giving James as much life as he does.

Oh, and as the obligatory comment on mlm rep that I am known for getting obsessively weird anon hate over: IronQrow hug nearly had me crying on a convention floor from how goddamn soft it was. Remember conventions? Ah good times.

This just... hits me... ya know? Seeing him lower his guard so much to come in for a hug just shows how isolated he’s let himself become to let himself have this moment of contact... Godamnit James. Also this is the second time after Martial Arcs that two guys hug and I really liked their ship for the following hiatus. 

C) Soft Qrow hours are nice

Qrow’s a good guy, he went through a lot of bad stuff in Volume 6 but now he’s on the other side and purged his voice of the demon within. I think Volume 7 was a very good year for Qrow overall. It was great to see him interacting with more characters his age and lowering his own guard. His moments of letting the facade drop around James and Clover especially are great expansion for his character. Jason Liebritch hit the ground running as Qrow and gave him a far more dynamic range than I think Vic could. While I wish Qrow going off alcohol had been given more of a focus as it’s kind of done off-handedly that he’s gone cold turkey and otherwise doesn’t get brought up barring his revulsion at the wine in the Schnee Manor, he overall had a great year. And trust me I’ll get to the fights later, I have a lot more I can say about the bird boi there. 

D) I liked the Ace Ops! 

I was ambivilent towards the Ace Ops on first watching. They’re kinda underdeveloped in the context of the season at large and most people immediately pegged them as a miniboss squad/fodder for Salem to kill. But in rewatch they do still get to shine, if not as brightly. They’re very enjoyable. Clover especially is just really fun in retrospect, I love cocky fighters in general, and he was infectiously enjoyable (I’ve already covered the FG stuff in the past, not doing it again). Marrow came a close second because... well it’s Marrow, he is The Best Boi. Harriet got points for being a punchgirl which is always cool, I liked how her Semblance was shown and being cocky while being able to back it up is always a win. Elm and Vine are tied for dead last, I like the body diversity Elm introduces with her muscles and Vine... existed... but overall I think with the time they had, they did get to establish themselves well. I wish I could say that about their relationship with Team RWBYORNJ but this is the Nice Section so we’ll leave it there for now.

This is one of the best shots of the entire season. I adore it. God I like the Teryx design.

E) God the villains rocked this year! 

I am a villain whore. I own that. I will embrace that monkier. But when they’re as cool as this, I feel validated in this Chilli’s tonight. Watts and Tyrian really make the season shine and don’t have a dud scene all season. They have great chemistry together, shining bright in even the weakest or most mediocre episodes. Watts went from “Oh yeah you exist” tier to “Oh yeah you rule” tier. His vendetta against Ironwood feels so real and pre-established, even though this season is the first time it’s ever come up. Watts just ozzes style in everything he does. The animators bring him to life and make every step, every flick of his twist and even just how he moves his eyes all bleed contempt. He’s such a rat and I love him! Chris Sabat finally gets to stretch his wings after a few years playing Watts as just Evil Scientist Guy, and he makes the most of it. 

And Tyrian remains an absolute treat. He didn’t get much in V6 but here he takes center stage with Watts and also gets so much impact because of it. All the little twitches, and tilting of his heads, and dramatic gestures, he’s still just so goddamn cool to watch and we even get a little backstory of him. I know he’s irredeemable. But I just want to watch Tyrian kill people and scream. Like hot damn his line “THE GRIMM SHOULD HAVE DESTROYED OUR ENEMIES, NOT MADE THEM FRIENDS!” is so fucking raw. He’s having fun destablizing a nation with his boyfriend! 

“You want more chaos than a Grimm invasion?” “If anyone on Remannt can do it, wouldn’t it be you?” There is no heterosexual explanation for how these two look at each other and yes this is me outing myself as a Nuts and Volts fan.

Watts and Tyrian really do become the absolute highlights of the season alongside James. They have a great dynamic and even during their more slower moments there’s so much care and thought put into their every mannerism. Animators, seriously, great job, I love what you did. And their fights... we’ll get there. But they’re so goddamn good. 

Look they even run the same! They’re soulmates! 

Honorary mention to Salem by the way. She’s only in two scenes but her presence is felt throughout Ironwood’s arc and his growing fear of her and she damn well delivers when she shows up. That shot of her arriving in person is a killer shot to end on as well.

Oh and I guess Cinder and Neo exist don’t they? Eh, we’ll come back to them. 

F) Oscar got a character arc!

Finally! He did it! He got an arc that began, continued and ended all onscreen! It only took four tries! 

But yeah Oscar had a really good set of scenes in Volume 7. I like him being the first to confront Ruby on the Ironwood lie, bringing up the hypocrisy after their condemning of Ozpin just last season. I like him having a more forward role (outside of not getting to be part of the celebration in episode 4 what the hell guys), and that he’s the big link between RWBY and Ironwood was a great call. Having Ozpin shelved for one more season so Oscar can take center-stage was an inspired choice. I love his dynamic with Ironwood, and how James closing himself off emotionally gets reflected in how he begins slipping in how he refers to Oscar, starting off as treating him and Oz as separate, ending with him gunning Oscar down as he doesn’t care anymore to differentiate the two.

My big issues with Oscar’s arc are that I’m first of all annoyed at the lack of followup on the Oscar stuff from V6, I’m still waiting for Qrow to apologize for punching Oscar guys! I also really wish Neo’s first attack wasn’t offscreen. CRWBY’s cliffhanger fetish meant I got to break out the Offscreen Pine jokes again. And of course, the Neo hallway punch was a bit bullshit.

G) (Most of) The fights are amazing

There’s no punchline. These fights are great, two of them are in my Top 10 Series Wide fights list and at least the duds aren’t Volume 5 bad.

If you’d told me before Volume 7 that Watts would get an extended firefight with James, I’d have felt that a bit cheap as Watts to me doesn’t feel like a fighter, more a planner who hides behind armies of mechanical soldiers. But damn if they didn’t sell me on Watts “You’ve yeed your last haw” Watts whipping out a Glock just to spite James. 

This is another one of my favorite shots in the entire series.

Ironwood vs Watts is potentially my favorite fight in the entire series, and if it’s not, it’s easy Top 3 alongside Yang vs Mercury and Pyrrha vs CRDL/Mercury. It makes great use of Amity in the abandoned gravity biome meant for SSSN vs JNPR, with Ironwood and Watts deftly moving around in a manner that very easily could have been difficult to track with the constantly shifting gravity, but the crew do their best to keep it coherent as to who’s where. The credits showed their dedication also stretched into visual continuity, as James and Arthur’s route throughout the Arena was carefully considered so they’d loop around organically. 

This is what I mean when I say the crew went above and beyond to keep things clean.

Ironwood vs Watts could have easily failed to impress, given its lack of choreography on the level the series usually does, but the team’s efforts went instead into showing a situation that lets Watts get a dragged out battle: James wins whenever he closes the distance here, so Arthur’s constantly on the run and being forced to tamper with the arena. Great camerawork, a GOD TIER song from Caleb Hyles that I’m still listening to today, and two characters with a fantastic history coming to blows makes for easily the best fight of the season and a series-wide highlight. Watching it develop from storyboards, to mocap, to animations and the full version is a delight to see. This is what CRWBY can do when everything comes togehter. The orchestra’s all tuned. It’s a goddamn symphony.

THIS is my favorite shot of the season.

Tyrian also gets to shine with his two battles this year. His alley fight with Qrow, Robyn and Clover is short but sweet, the corvid and the scorpion especially trading brutal blows in the cramped space. Qrow goes full Devil May Cry with his style-switching here, Harbinger being swapped between sword, tonfa and gun forms freely alongside Qrow applying The Power of Punching. His 1v1v1 with Clover and Qrow though is the true highlight of the season in terms of choreography. It’s lighting-fast, and has some impeccable shot work. Qrow gets to use his scythe with deliberate nods to the Red Trailer, Clover gets to shut up everyone who doubted his weapon, and Tyrian is just along for the ride and he makes the most of it. It’s frentic, it’s heart-pounding, it’s everything a fight should be. 

Honorary mentions as well go to Ace Ops vs the Geist, which is just really fun and has a great backing music choice, the opening battle with Sabre having Ruby’s obligatory ten seconds of fighting that come at the start of every new era of the series, and the Ace Ops vs RWBY fight which has some good choreo in places.

H) Winter and Penny have good chemistry

I don’t have a ton to add here, I just like their dynamic and how they advance each other’s arcs. It’s nice writing. I also like Winter apologizing to Penny when she’s angry at Jacques and takes it out on Penny by accident with the “You wouldn’t understand” line.

Penny as a Maiden is a nice idea, I think her new design is cute. Penny says trans rights.

Those are a lot of my favorite things about Volume 7. It’s a killer season when it’s firing on all cylinders but unfortunately... it often misfires in frustrating ways, many of which are unfortunately due to core emblematic problems with the series that won’t go away.

2) The Bad Stuff

A) The costumes

It’s been a over year. It’s low hanging fruit. I don’t care. Most of them are still not good and they’re ludicrously over-designed.

Blake’s in a fetish suit and I wonder how she even goes to the bathroom. Weiss just looks like an abino Sabre alt, Yang is what a Halloween costume site would describe as “Sexy UPS Driver,” (why does she have a thigh window) Ruby... looks fine, it’s one of her better costumes. Jaune’s hair is silly, Ren’s model has lost some muscle definition and he looks like an e-boy, Nora’s costume really doesn’t fit the Atlas visual design and looks like a rejected Kingdom Hearts costume. Cinder’s is too black and I actually can’t track her in darker scenes because of it (which is kinda bad during... a fight scene... where I need to know where she is...), Neo looks like a Ren Fair cosplayer doing a bit for her OnlyFans, Winter’s is anatomically weird with super skinny arms and legs, and Blake’s hair is a fucking hate crime. 

Qrow’s is one I liked at first but in retrospect it does feel like a downgrade. To quote @h-e-m-o-goblin​ from a Discord chat:

in a show like rwby, where color is such a vital defining aspect of every character, a cohesive colorscheme goes a long way. qrow's original outfit works great in this regard. neutral tones. greys, whites, and blacks, with red accents that pop against the otherwise sparse color. it's good! it's distinctive! it doesn't feel cluttered and it doesn't look like a clown vomited on him! the subdued colors really lend themselves to the grey, cynical energy qrow seems to carry with him. a literal lack of color in his life. the outfit itself feels like something he would wear; a combination of "clearly trying to look cool" and "a little disheveled and laid back." the design breathes, it isn't cluttered. let's contrast this with his vol 7 outfit. a lot of outfits in vol 7 suffer from this problem, but first and foremost it doesn't look like something he would wear. where his old outfit had a casual feel to it, his new look feels like someone dressed him up for a family christmas dinner. it's too... tidy. now of course you could argue this is him "cleaning up his life," but i dont feel like you have to sacrifice his own personal style in order to convey that. if that's really what they were going for, they easily could have just, oh i dont know, given him a cape that isn't tattered???

remember how i said qrow's original outfit really made his colors pop? how less is more when it comes to having a character with a specific color theme? vol 7 butchered that. we suddenly have articles of clothes that are tinted with greenish blue tones, browns, and with gold trim? on TOP of the old colors he already had in his design. it's muddy. it's ugly. the burgundy vest is fine, if they wanted to work more color into his outfit they should have done it that way throughout, shades of grey and different tones of RED. his COLOR. it just feels like they tacked so much on there without a second thought and i really think he deserves better. its just. such a mess.

The ones I did like were Watts’ new coat (I like the puffy hood), Penny’s is fine, the Ace Ops look great, Ironwood’s new outfit is stellar (those last six are great examples of how to do a lot with just primary colors of white and red), Neon’s Jolyne cosplay is cute and Flynt is slick. Otherwise, Volume 7 feels like it’s taken a lot of the wrong lessons from the costume design of the earlier seasons. Less is often more but now it feels like they have a pathological aversion to empty space on the costumes, leading them to feel like... costume vomit for lack of a better word. I didn’t love the Mistral outfits, but their modifications at least were carried by how many of them called back to the Fall of Beacon and emphasized the themes of loss in Volume 4. The new Atlas outfits... don’t have that shared theme. It feels like a hodgepodge of different design influences without trying to find a way to unify them. It’s like putting Baki the Grappler beside My Little Pony, they just fail to mesh.

Also for fuck’s sake already CRWBY just give the girls muscles already.

2) JNR suck and Ren’s arc is glorified character assassination

I don’t love JNR. They’re fine, but the show has arguably not needed them for a while and while I’ve liked them all at different points, it’s never been adoration outside of Ren in Volume 4. I was cool with the idea of them staying in Argus to help cover Mistral after its Huntsmen were wiped out, and Volume 7 has... made me wish they did that.

Jaune is just comic relief, and it kinda blows for later reasons but the big one is that he’s just not very funny. His big role in Volume 7 is basically to crosswalk some kids so we can have a joke scene during the Mantle Battle where Jaune uses his tactical genius to teach people to walk in single file. I feel like at this point Miles is just actively trying to kill Jaune’s fandom out of spite for how badly Jaundice was received. He’s never allowed to be cool or try and redeem himself. His hatedom aren’t going to stop hating Jaune because he gets more comedy guys. They’re going to stop when you write Jaune well. It’s a bummer he got some genuinely great upgrades for his sword and shield and never gets to use them outside of the opening. 

Nora exists. She got a surprising amount of focus this season in that she got focus of any kind. I liked her confronting Ironwood over his choking of Mantle because we know she was once the kind of person Ironwood would have been stifling. I like her being the one to realize the loophole in Jinn’s “You can’t” line. I don’t like much else about Nora this year, or at least the Nora the writing team are pushing. She’s not funny like Jaune but Nora just absorbs so much screentime in the first half with her constant shrieking. Sam Ireland has good range but making Nora into Discount Harley Quinn is pushing her out of it. She sounds shrill, making Nora sound like she has no heart outside of the election rally. A shrill voice is one thing. A shrill voice that never lands a single joke? Yeah that character is tainted by association. 

And Ren... oh God Ren what happened to you.

The Volume 7 commentary confirmed a suspicion of mine that Ren’s arc was heavily cut down from what was planned. Even watching V7 I could tell his arc was bare-bones at best, and it’s downright character assassination in places. Why is he suddenly so cold to Nora? Why is he now so obsessed with training? Why does he side with Ironwood for all of... one line which is this last between episodes 7 and 11. Ren only has two hundred words of dialoge in Volume 7 and they feel so weird in places. Ren goes from seemingly disliking Nora, to kissing her, to never referencing the kiss, to partaking in the Worst Scene Of The Season, all with no consistency. It’s not even threadbare. Ren’s arc just has no connecting tissue for so much of it! It’s insane how badly Ren was hurt by this, and I shudder to wonder how bad his Volume 8 arc will be because you know that was one of the first plotlines they cut down on when they inevitably overreached again. 

I don’t know how they made Renora kissing feel unearned? But by God they found a way with how much of a trainwreck Ren’s writing is in regards to tainting this. 

If Ironwood is an example of RWBY doing character writing well, Ren is the mirror image of how badly they can do. JNR really suffered from Volume 7 (also fun fact, Ren has about 200 words of dialogue? Ironwood has 4400). Maybe not to the level of irredeemable dislike? But very close to being on the same tier as Cinder of “Just go away already.”  I’m not looking forward to their content in Volume 8. 

3) RWBY themselves are poorly handled in Volume 7

It’s unfortunate that the actual title characters of the series are also some of this season’s weaker links. RWBY feel... superfluous to this season in a way they’ve never felt before. It’s baffling how much of the season doesn’t change if you just don’t include them, and apparently Volume 7′s first draft? Was even worse.

The commentary says that many of the RWBY moments were added later in production. Stuff like Ruby and Renora at the rally, Blake and Yang’s talk with Robyn and Ruby and Qrow’s chat were all either added in near the end of the writing or were “low priority” enough that they could have been cut which is... veyr alarming that’s stuff even the main protags have to worry about! 

Ruby feels half-baked. I was looking forward to her in V7 after how V6 gave her a more dynamic personality and the focus she got in Brunswick, and having Penny’s return had me interested in seeing Ruby grapple with her emotions about it. She watched Penny die, how would it influence her to see Penny back and OK? Good question, we never get to see it. Ruby’s just OK with Penny’s return, the one time they touch on it Penny immediately glosses over it. Ruby just goes back to her old happy go lucky persona where any and all negative emotions are immediately forced down instead of confronting them and growing from them. I’m getting a little tired of Ruby bottling her grief and being teased about finally getting her snapping like a Twix Bar. We finally got her crying and it lasted all of ten seconds. And it doesn’t help that Ruby’s still getting shafted for fights. Her scythe choreography has no excuse being as flacid as it is now after Qrow vs Clover showed they can do scythe fighting! Why is Ruby being upstaged by (let’s be real) a supporting character! Why is she being limited to ten seconds of good combat then nothing for the rest of the season outside of flimsily swinging it or shooting. It’s disappointing, especially after how good V6 Ruby was.

I swear, Gravity’s not just my favorite episode of the season just because Ruby finally cries in it.

Weiss was kinda just done dirty though. At least Ruby has a good outfit. Weiss confronting her father has been a long standing plot thread for the series, it’s been Weiss’s Big Thing since the White Trailer. And when Jacques finally appears, he’s very... bland. He’s just evil corporate dude who exists less as an obstacle for Weiss and more just a roadblock for the plot through the election. Weiss finally gets a chance to take her father down and work to redeem her family name... but instead of earning said victory and it being treated with the same gravitas and emotional weight as Blake defeating Adam... Weiss has her victory handed to her. And it’s played for comedy by her abusrdly attractive mother. 

Listen, I like I Willow Schnee. I think she’s a fascinating character and I like the idea of a person who is aware of the harm they’ve done by accident but is too broken to fix the issues she accidentally left. I love her calling Weiss out on her treatment of Whitley. But she is absolutely a Deus Ex Machina that exists to get Jacques out of the plot as fast as possible. You mean to tell me Hackerman Watts never once made sure Jacques had hidden cameras? Or that none of the staff found Willow’s cameras and reported them under the assumption they were White Fang spies? It’s so... convenient. It’s handing Weiss her victory on an unearned platter. Which sucks. I was really looking forward to Weiss beating Jacques. Instead she just gets given the plot device while JNR engage in the Worst Scene of The Season in that Whitley food stunt.

Me whenever I’m asked to rewatch Cordially Invited

Blake and Yang have much the same problems, in they never separate. I know they’re going to be together. I know CRWBY are making it canon (get it over with already). I still would like Yang and Blake to have individual character scenes. I’d like Blake and Marrow to talk about being a Faunus Huntsman in Atlas (another thing that got cut thanks to Robyn Hill). I want Yang and Ironwood to discuss their PTSD and have Yang thank Ironwood for his trust in her that he commissioned the arm despite Yang attacking Mercury. I want Blake to be well animated in fight scenes so she’s doing more than just jobbing so Yang looks better. I want Yang to stop hogging all the good Team RWBY choeography. I want them to interact with other characters and continue to grow instead of feeling like two halves of one character. And no, making a meta joke of how Blake and Yang don’t talk to other people doesn’t make it OK. It just means you’re self aware about your own faults. 

(Also give Yang better merch or quit the favoritism. If you’re gonna milk her, put effort into it beyond crapply overpriced flannel. RT’s merch store is actively making me hate Yang.)

Team RWBY’s biggest contribution to the season is the Ironwood Lie which is... a can of worms. They certainly had a point in withholding some of the bigger truths from James but I feel by Pomp and Cirumstance he’d proven himself truthwrothy enough to warrant being told the truth about Salem. But then when he’s finally told the truth, it’s offscreen’d and the consequence isn’t “Why didn’t you tell me earlier” but “Fucking Ozpin man.” Gravity has it bite them in the ass, but it’s more an accessory to Yang and Blake telling Robyn about the Amity tower. I wish more had been done with the team disagreeing on whether the lie was a good choice or not, maybe have Yang be hardline against it due to her own “No more lies and half truths” policy instead of... having Yang tell more lies and half truths (Commentary confirms she never told Ruby and Weiss about the Robyn stuff BTW). But that’s a wider problem where RWBY aren’t allowed to disagree beyond surface level “I don’t know if this is the right call” dialogue. There’s never a threat of one of them cracking and just spilling the beans to James, everyone just blindly trusts Ruby and Qrow tells the audience “No this is different from when Ozpin lied. Trust us.” 

This is the most RWBY get for content in the season finale: Ruby just nuking Cinder with no difficulty after having trouble with the eyes three episodes ago. Kinda lame tbh.

Team RWBY are just disappointing in Volume 7. They’re not given good animation, their story roles are largely insignificant, the impact of their roles on the story is threadbare and... well most of their costumes suck don’t @ me even CRWBY have admitted Blake and Weiss’s haircuts looked bad. It’s a whole barrage of a letdown for the main girls. And it’s really sad that the best scenes of the season... are usually the ones where RWBY are nowhere in sight.

Why the hell didn’t Yang get to keep the sunglasses come on guys. One job.

4) Robyn, the election plot, and the Happy Huntresses

Oh God, Robyn Hill is... not great. I could and likely will write a full meta on her character and how they bungled it but I’ll just be blunt here: I don’t like her design, the colors don’t mesh well, he head’s too small, Christina Vee is sleeping through the role and her weapon’s lame. Introducing her in a scene where she threatens to attack our heroes, and her agents are actively sneaking up on them to do it, is not a great first impression for a hometown hero. And that the commentary thinks she’s meant to be the hero in that scene is... staggering. 

RWBY’s greatest threat yet is a wine mom Karen and her Home Owners Association army. 

The election plot is less a misfire and more the engine just exploding. There’s so little good content between when it’s introduced and concluded, with it usually being individual scenes that are more good in spite of their connection to the plot (such as Tyrian’s massacre). It drags in pacing, going on for nearly half the season between episodes 5 and 10, and it purely exists as a roadblock to keep RWBY spinning their wheels while Watts and Tyrian keep going with the main plot. I don’t know why CRWBY went for this plot. They could have easily had something else fill the gap that also allowed for a lot of the character beats (such as Marrow and Blake’s talk and Ren’s entire arc) to shine, or at least condensed it to the important elements instead of letting it become bloated. It ends in such an unsatisfying way where Willow just shows up and goes “We have four episode left, here’s the plot device to beat Jacques, get back ot the main plot.” If they wanted to do the election plot, the best route would have been to give Volume 7 more episodes or stretch out its events to two seasons, but neither is realistically possible while RWBY lives off the teat of AT&T. 

Jacques and Robyn are just boring. Evil corporate man and a lame adaptation of Robyn Hood who only has fans because of thirst who also like downplaying Robyn making a racist remark at Marrow (to say nothing of that weird subsection of Robyn fans who make her a Fox Faunus who cut her tail off to join Atlas Academy which is... certainly a creative choice especially when Marrow and Neon are punching holes in that angsty BS backstory). They can’t carry this plot and the artifical attempts to make it seem more exciting with the two cliffhaners ending on Mantle under riot or Grimm attack are laughably cut short by the next episode in each case opening the morning after. On binge watch it becomes weirdly funny more than anything and that’s not a good reaction. The dual cliffhangers being cheaply resolved is a short but succint example of V7′s pacing issues, and they almost always loop around to the election plot being too bloated, slow and just boring.

Also the Happy Huntresses are just... lame. I like their Semblances but that’s it. Fiona’s OK because she gets some screentime but May’s just “the surly one” and Joanna doesn’t even get her Semblance or much dialogue (oh wow she really is just a female Sage Ayana isn’t she). Robyn should not have been leading the HH and running for Council. That’s really stupid. And kind of wrong. Having May or Fiona be running instead while Robyn leads the team in relief efforts would have been better and could have split the focus more effeciently instead of leaving May and especially Joanna feelng like roster padding. There’s also some delicious irony in the show trying to frame the HH as the resistance fighting for the people and representing individuality, only for them all to have the same boring outfit and weapons (I think even the exact same model just with different sizes) while the Ace Ops are meant to be the military drones who are “Just following orders,” only for them to be more racially diverse, more diverse body-type-wise, and have more unique weapons. It’s another one of those odd creative dissconnects between what the writers wanted and what the artists/animation teams chose to do. 

The election plot is overall toxin for Volume 7, and Robyn in my opinion, has one of the worst introductory scenes of any character in the franchise (and CRWBY have tacitly admitted that V7 had a character they were surprised at how controversial they were, which has to be Robyn). In a year where they were already juggling so much content and characters, adding in this bloated subplot was something I don’t think anyone wanted, especially now that we know we lost so much content on the sacrificial altar for this. It’s a black mark on the season and I don’t really care for the return of the Happy Huntresses or Robyn in Volume 8. None of them are interesting enough to care for outside of meta reasons like “cute.” 

Also fuck you Fiona, can’t believe you got a shirt before Ironwood. 

5) Cinder and Neo sure exist

To be fair, this is one of Cinder’s best years, easily her best since Volume 3 but that’s more because Cinder in the Mistral era was crap. (And if I wanna be cruel, because Cinder wasn’t in two thirds of the season)Her fans were finally vindicated after years of telling anyone who dunked on Cinder that “nooooo she has a super covert backstory that’s gonna be amazing when it’s revealed! You’ll see!” And well they finally got it. All of one line during a fight about how Cinder “refuses to starve.” 

It’s still something so I guess we have to take it. Seriously... how do we still not have Cinder’s backstory. 

There’s just not a ton to say about Cinder and Neo in V7 barring I that don’t think they needed to be here. They feel very superfluous and just here to have a big boss fight in Cinder’s case alongside continuing her streak of ending the odd numbered seasons fighting a female side character... which for me became an exercise in tyring to find during Cinder during the damn fight.

And this is why when most people saw Cinder’s V6 outfit they went “It’s gonna be hard to see her in darker environments,” then were vindicated when it became legit difficult to see Cinder in this scene. God if they at least just made the inside of the cape red it’d be easier.

Neo is Neo, which means she makes funny faces and mocks Cinder (I like that), but she doesn’t get a super good fight which uh... we’ll get to. I’m interested to see her finally exploding at Cinder and going for a backstab, but really Neo in V7 was kinda hit hard by the double whammy of the Oscar Hallway Punch and how humiliating ORNJ vs Neo was for ORNJ. Cinder’s definitely had far worse years and after how aimless she was in Mistral this feels like a sep in the right direction, but at this point CRWBY just need to shut up and tell us her deal. It’s been seven years guys. Come on. At least make her interesting if she’s gonna say around. They’ve had worse years, but unfortunately Cinder and Neo’s role in the finale leads into...

6) Some of the fights weren’t good

I wanna be clear, I like most of Volume 7′s fights. It’s just a bummer the worst ones are back and back and make up a chunk of the finale. ORNJ vs Neo is just crap. It’s the worst fight since the Battle of Haven. There’s nothing else I can say, it’s poorly animated, paced, choreographed and written. JNR especially are made to look like complete jokes after they spent all season training, to the point where it looks like V2 Yang could solo V7 JNR after this. Oscar I expect this from because he’s not allowed to have fun stuff onscreen after accidentally stealing the Haven budget for his fight with Hazel, but JNR were just done dirty. There were ways to make the fight work in a way where Neo still won but JNR looked good. They went for the worst possible outcome that just leaves Neo looking like she got fan-wanked and JNR looking like they’re just not allowed to be cool due to Miles’ spite at the Jaune-Self Insert stuff (and that’s not even getting into JNR being forced to run from lame rent a cops who can’t even handle a single Grimm). Cinder vs Winter and Penny isn’t much better, with her dark outfit making it very hard to track the fight because she blends into the background too well. It’s not a great showing for Winter or Penny given their earlier feats but, hey, some random female character had to fight Cinder in this odd numbered volume, carrying on Glynda, Pyrrha and Raven’s tradition. It’s at least better than ORNJ vs Neo, but that’s really not saying anything. At least Cinder’s VA work isn’t too bad this time but this fight commits the cardinal sin of a finale fight: It’s just not super interesting because we know Cinder can’t kill both Winter and Penny and she’s not becoming a Maiden, while Winter’s been too blatantly set up so it has to be Penny.

RWBY vs the Ace Ops also gets a dishonorable mention due to the choreography on display here... and the lack of it for Weiss, Blake and Ruby. Ruby never once swings Crescent Rose the entire fight and is just reduced to getting the tar kicked out of her by Harriet. Weiss barely gets to use her sword and largely just sticks to her summoning and glyphs which makes for a very visually uninteresting fighting style at the best of times. Blake just swings around and gets caught by the bad guys so Yang is motivated to fight stronger. She never dual wields (again) and her best moves are just setting up Yang to do all the hard work while Yang gets to personally KO two of the Ace Ops. There’s a lot that can be said about whether or nor RWBY earn the win, but while the animation team try to sell the Ace Ops landing heavy hits, having only Blake’s Aura even flicker really undercuts the idea from the commentary that this wasn’t meant to be a stomp for RWBY and they had to work together and be in synch to win.

Which is why Yang solos two of the Ace Ops whle Blake plays support, Weiss beats Marrow alone and then kill steals Harriet from Ruby, all while the song playing is an extended diss track from RWBY to the Ace Ops about how badass they are now, and the commentary itself says the Ace Ops are hard carried by Clover’s Semblance (because you gotta love basically saying four POC were only competent because a white guy led them, and then have them lose because said white guy wasn’t around to carry them!). Great job guys, you really sold it.

And talking of Clover, I feel it worth mentioning Qrow vs Clover vs Tyrian. It’s animation wise near perfect, but unfortunately I do feel it would be remiss to not mention that I feel the writing really has to bend over backwards to justify this fight. A lot of it is stuff I would say in that hypothetical Robyn essay, but I feel Robyn, Qrow and Clover all have to become massive idiots for this specific sequence of events to occur, and for Clover especially every retroactive attempt to explain why he prioritized Qrow over Tyrian just sounds more and more desperate. Between the references to MCU Captain America (a person whose entire arc is about learning when it’s OK to defy bad orders) or the attempt in the commentary to say “Oh Clover thought it would be easier to take out Tyrian alone instead of Qrow,” none of them land and just further drive home how much the plot had to stretch and reach to get that moment of Tyrian killing Clover. I like the fight. But I hate the road the show took to get there.

Some of the misc fights are also weak like ORNJ vs FNKI and elements of the Mantle Grimm battle, but those are the big offenders. Otherwise, again, the fights are largely good. 

7) The soundtrack wasn’t... great

I mean the vocal songs only, don’t crucify me. Trust Love is just lamer Let’s Just Live/Triumph, Celebrate and Let’s Get Real are so boring I thought they were the same song until the OST dropped, Brand New Day is boringly peppy and Jeff’s vocals are dreadful. I completely forgot Touch the Sky until I was checking the tracklist to make sure I didn’t forget any songs. War has good singers but tries to sell the RWBY-Ace Ops bond as way deeper than it was. The lack of a villain song did really sting though, those are always the highlights.

There are good songs. I really like Fear, I feel it encapsulates the themes of the volume well and serves as a good condemnation of Ironwod’s mentality. Until The End is finally the Ruby song I’ve waited for since Red Like Roses 2 and I enjoy that she got a melancholic song, and Hero is easily, hands down, best track of the record and probably best RWBY track, full stop. Caleb killed it, I loved the second verse, opening opera was strong, guitar riffs were a plenty. Stellar work all around for that one.

The OST has great work from Jeff and Alex as usual, but the Jeff and Casey songs are really starting to lose their appeal. Going for a peppy feel this year didn’t help cover the cracks that are beginning to show with RWBY’s vocal songs (especially Jeff’s vocal range), and while a few standouts remain such as Fear and Hero, they are the slim minority in an otherwise very boring vocal tracklist that barely scrapes above Volume 5 for weakest set yet.

8) It wasn’t as funny as it thought it was

Comedy is subjective but man a lot of these jokes didn’t land. RWBY really needs to realize that does work in traditional 2D does not translate into 3D and just comes off as making official reaction GIFs for your Twitter account. Making characters SUDDENY SCREAM LOUDLY is not good banter. Please stop making Nora into Harley Quinn. Marrow was probably the most consistently funny character but that was it. Also I dunno why CRWBY thought Forrest was funny or what the deal was with that FRWBY crap. 

“Honorary” mention to the JNR food scene in Cordially Invited which is genuinely one of the worst scenes in the entire show and I hope whoever animated it has their save files deleted for a game where they were about to beat the final boss. Nothing sums up JNR’s pointlessness in the series more perfectly than this.

C) Conclusion

See what I mean about Volume 7 being frustrating? 

It’s weird that I overal think of Volume 7 as a mid-tier volume. There’s so much here I genuinely adore, with some of the best stuff to do with the show coming out of this season (barring lame, overpriced merch that feels like clothing gacha), but simultaneously the whole thing is let down by outside circumstances that unfortunately are ones the show can’t ever really recover from. Put bluntly, Volume 7 is the most technically proficient season of the show with the best lighting, backdrops, (some of the) character models, etc. CRWBY definitely didn’t slack off this year, but the problem isn't with them. It’s with the writing. A wider reaching problem is just that Miles and Kerry can’t really improve to the level that the series now requires. Eddy and Kiersei’s first season could have gone far worse, but it definitely was notable whenever they took over. Volume 7’s core problems are fourfold: The comedy is terrible and none of the jokes really land, the season focuses on the wrong plots and gives them too much effort, too many episodes are spent building up to new plots only for them to be weakly resolved (especially the Mantle Riot/Grimm attacks that are shoved off-screen), and the character bloat strikes hard here and leaves a lot of the cast feeling like dead weight. CRWBY don’t need more writers. They need more editors willing to tell the team what has to go instead of them hemming and hawing themselves on if they if they can include a plotline. The election never should have gotten past its first draft, there was too much already in this season before adding that.

When this is an unironic shot in your series... you’ve got character bloat issues.

At this point, I think JNR need to go. The show had no idea what to do with them throughout the season, leading to Jaune just being comic relief while Ren and Nora became characters I actively dislike. Renora was the easiest ship in the show to land, and they still managed to blow the engines and ram at least three icebergs just to prove that RWBY can’t romance to save its life. Team RWBY themselves are little better, with Ruby’s feelings about Penny’s return being shelved, Weiss’s victory against Jacques feeling un-earned and undercut by comedy, while Yang and Blake are benched for the volume and become a singular entity with how tied at the hip they are. Maria basically yeeted herself out of the show and I didn’t notice, Pietro is just a death flag, and while the Ace Ops had a good intro, it was undercooked by how they had to play the villain role to give RWBY something to do in the final hours. Cinder and Neo didn’t need to be here. Robyn had one of the worst introductions for a character I’ve ever seen, I never enjoyed her moments and it genuinely feels like she only has a fandom because RWBY’s community are in fact that desperate. 

On the brighter side, Ironwood’s arc is fucking perfect and Jason Rose deserves all the love. Great fight, great song, great design, love the beard, it was a perfect downfall for Volume 7’s true protagonist. Qrow had a fun volume and I loved his dynamic with Clover (I don’t see the ship stuff but that’s more because I’m an IronQrow main so my blinders were on). Clover was also way cooler than I remembered. His fights stood out but the guy’s just really cool at the end of the day, with Chris doing great work as a VA. Oscar even managed to do stuff this year which was a shock and a half, but a welcome shock and a half. I didn’t mention it, but the Ozpin fear monologue is one of my favorite scenes in the entire show and it and the Ironwood/Oscar confrontation in the vault save the finale. And of course, Watts and Tyrian were the MVPs. I don’t have a bad word about either of them, they fucking nailed their roles and I can’t wait to see them again. 

And that’s kind of what I mean when I say Volume 7 flummoxes me. It’s frustrating at times with how it handles seemingly easy tasks and drops the ball. Renora went from “everyone liked that” to wondering how badly Ren’s stuff got butchered for him to be the way he is. RWBY themselves could be almost entirely cut and so little would change, and the fact that the finale basically hinges its entire emotional stakes on Winter, Penny and Oscar is a staggering call. And it really feels like the season was compressed beyond necessity because they decided going in that Volume 7 had to end on Salem’s arrival. There’s two volumes worth of material here, and maybe it would have been best to have broken up these events. Volume 7 does too much in too little time, and RWBY especially suffered from it. But when it works… it’s good. Never close to the highs of Volumes 6 or 3, but there’s genuinely good material here. The fights are mostly getting better with far less missteps than previously, the acting (mostly) continues to improve and it’s obvious that RWBY is a very good looking show at this point. Ironwood’s arc is franchise-wide highs, I loved Clover, and Marrow remains the best boi. But it’s frustrating that despite all the tech advances Volume 7 has made, it still makes such threadbare, rookie writing mistakes in cast management, comedy and character arcs. I’m glad Miles and Kerry finally realized that they needed more writers, but it won’t mean anything if the show just continues to circle the drain on the core mistakes it’s been making since 2013. Volume 7 has good in it. But I can see where it could have been great.

Thanks for reading, stan IronQrow and please get Whitley a therapist.

And for the love of God already make an Ironwood vs Watts shirt! 

[sometipsygnostalgic]

Adventure Time Reviewed: Season 1 part 1

As promised, I’m going through the Adventure Time series. I’m going to write brief reviews for each of the eps as I watch them, in groups. 

Slumber Party Panic to Prisoners of Love

S1E01: Slumber Party Panic

This made an outstanding choice for a first episode, even if it wasn’t the intended premiere, because SPP shows you a brief package of what themes the show would keep through its run, rather than just a brief adventure.  It’s really funny that the first appearance of Princess Bubblegum in the series is her raising the dead, it being a big mistake, and her lying to the candy people to protect them and describing them as ignorant, then making a 12 year old keep a royal promise.  This ep shows Finn’s early season character - an amped up, anxious kid who wants to keep everyone happy but sometimes can’t. And it has Jake trying to pry the information from him, because from Jake’s perspective it is out of character for Finn to keep secrets, and he is also messed up after finding Dead Mr Creampuff’s sock with Finn. (Mr Creampuff and Manfried are both in this ep, and they will continue to be the funniest retcons of all time to me)    What was absolutely retconned after this ep was the brokenness of the Gumball Guardians. It’s hilarious that Bubblegum programmed them to go apeshit if someone breaks a promise to her. If only they could have frozen time during the final battle against GOLB. I liked the part in ETDBIDK where you have to answer a maths question while dodging their attacks, even if it went on a bit too long.   The ep also subverts its message. Bubblegum asks Finn if he learned about the consequences of breaking promises, but Finn says that if he breaks promises he can go on AWESOME ADVENTURES and REVERSE DEATH ITSELF, and PB goes whatever, youre too cute to yell at.  

The music in SPP is surreal. Seriously, listen to this ep. The tension it creates when Finn is told to make a royal promise because the zombies will explode, and how the music so naturally swings with the mood of the ep. Excellent score!

As Jake said,“This is messed up, but cute!”  

S1E02: Trouble in Lumpy Space

This is the introduction to LSP and to Lumpy Space. Lumpy space is a beautiful if rather barren environment. I do think more could have been done with it in AT, because there are not many episodes that take place in space.  One design choice I found SUPER COOL in this ep is the sun has a green halo around it. I can’t actually find the sun again, I even looked on the wiki but there are no images, so it must have appeared for a brief instance. But it looked great!  

LSP as a character was always incredibly selfish, but she also has this vibe of being a teenager who dwells far too much on teenager feelings. She NEVER takes anything seriously, unless it’s teen drama. And you can see that in full effect here.  I love LSP. I love how much of an asshole she is, yet she has this sort of charm, because she’s so spiteful but in the teenage idiot kind of way rather than in a genuinely malicious way. It’s like she doesn’t understand right and wrong and is driven by pure instinct. And she’s voiced by Pen Ward! His LSP voice is the best. 

I love Finn and Jake getting lumpified. There is some great voice acting on behalf of Jeremy Shada to pull this off. 

Favourite joke: When Jake talks about how he might get lumpified, and if it happens Finn says he’ll bury him next to the treehouse, but Jake is alarmed and says he just wanted to be accepted, what did Finn think he was going to say? LMAO  

Other good one: “We were drawn back by your directionless fury. Here! PCHOO! Get your girl back!” “Yeah there’s no girl.”  

Finn in this ep is having some issues communicating. He ends up having an outburst at LSP, even though it wasn’t entirely her fault that the smooth posers took away the orb, it was theirs too. Finn was having a bad day. 

I wish Jellybeans Have Power started with PB and SP bouncing on marshmallows like in this episode rather than having tea in her room. That would’ve been a nice callback. 

Anyway, Trouble in Lumpy Space is great. These two eps are really good introductions to the series. 

S1E03: Prisoners of Love

I love the joke with the snow golem’s cat head. There is an immediate callback to the Pilot, with Finn and Jake having fun in the snow. I always liked how fun these scenes looked, they are very very rare later in the series.  There’s even a homage to penguin surfing, but the penguins are surfing on Jake this time.  Finn and Jake act like jerks to the Ice King for like no reason. “Do you know what Ice King means?” “A big nerd!” “Oh, holy cow!”  *fistbump*  

“There’s a big sleepy lava man in our front yard, and he is SO hot.” “Mmmhmm....” “Nonono I take it - I mean, not like SEXY hot--” “No, no you DO mean sexy hot!”  “NO! I mean---”  Oh Adventure Time. Gay jokes on episode 3, and these would continue throughout the show. But as soon as you imply two of your main girl characters are or were in love, suddenly the network hounds onto you like dogs :/ Rebecca Sugar herself said that it’s much more likely you’ll get gay content in if it’s presented as a joke, or Wrong somehow, like Jake and Ice King getting married later in the season. 

“Now now, I brought you a baby! And a PUPPY!” In his twisted way, Ice King thought the princesses would want to have Finn and Jake there. It’s also a good thing Finn and Jake got kidnapped because otherwise they wouldn’t have discovered Ice King locked up a bunch of princesses. 

Ice King himself is a fun character already. He’s not shown as doing outright evil stuff to Finn and Jake for the sake of it. He seems heavily misguided, and idiotic, trying in his weird way to make friends. Then again.... “IceKing - let the girls go! They don’t want to be here.” “Of course they do! I’d have killed them already if they didn’t want to be here! Right ladies?” Ice King I’m increasingly certain the only reason you haven’t been dissected on Bubblegum’s lab table is because of your connection to Marceline, but that is some late series lore. As for the early seasons, wtf dude!  

The flute song Finn plays in this ep is very similar to the one he plays in Lemonhope part 2. The Lemonhope version is more complete. “You broke it when we tried picking the lock to that sad ogre’s heart!” Oh my god that is such an AT line, you can imagine an entire emotional adventure based on that. 

Ice King has a drawing of Bubblegum on his keyboard... 

I love how the princesses are clearly quite traumatized by this affair, having been held for weeks, but the most Ice King did was ask them about their favourite sports, while threatening to kill them if they didnt play the keyboard..... it’s like a parody of a twisted serial killer. AT’s dark humor is my favourite.  

Finn is a hot headed kid. He knows that the Ice King needs some kind of help but doesn’t know where to start. He knows he’s probably too young to understand. But Jake hasn’t got the patience to help. 

Cosmic Owl’s first appearance!!!!!

[starsinyourskyes]

2020 Year in Review

Rules: Answer some questions about 2020 and tag some people!

I was tagged by the lovely @immortalpramheda. Thank you, Rebekah!

Top Five Films you watched in 2020: 

We Have Always Lived in the Castle

A Knight’s Tale

Easy A

The Holidate

The Fellowship of the Ring (Re-watch with my little sister. Still such a good movie!)

Top Five TV Shows in 2020: 

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (I cried for most of the 2 hour finale, but in a good way. That’s how you do a final season!)

The 100 (I binged seasons 1-6 this spring because a post-apocalyptic show felt very appropriate for the current situation, and it caught and kept my attention in a way that few other shows have)

Schitt’s Creek (I laughed, I cried)

Brooklyn 99 (Rosa Diaz could kill me and I would thank her)

Community (*Ben Wyatt voice*: it’s about the found family)

Top Five Songs/Albums in 2020: 

all of folklore, Taylor Swift

ditto with evermore, Taylor Swift

Never Come Back Again, Austin Plaine

Dance Music, The Mountain Goats

Jealous, The After School Specials

Top Five Books of 2020: 

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress by Marissa Meyer

Are those the only books I’ve read this year? I know I’ve started multiple others, but these may be the only ones I’ve finished.

Top Five Fanfictions of 2020:

Towards the Sun by MuffinLance (with an honorable mention to Salvage) - AtLA, Zuko-centric

lightning in a bottle doesn’t happen twice by bellamysgriffinprincess - The 100, Bellarke

Seeing Stars by Penguin of Prose (or basically anything by this author) - The 100, Bellarke

I’ll tell you the truth, but never goodbye by catefrankie - Community, Jeff/Annie

Last Last Chance by AJzkitten69 - Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Skyeward, Fitzsimmons

Five good/positive things that happened to you in 2020: 

Bees! My mom got honeybees this year (we picked them up the day the US went into lockdown), and it’s been a really fun experience learning how to care for them. Hopefully they survive the winter!

I joined a thesis lab to do my PhD research in!

I’ve started to connect more with my little sister. She’s 10 years younger than me, so for a long time hanging out with her felt more like babysitting, but now I would actually consider us friends.

I got a leather jacket! Up next, combat boots.

I (also) started giffing this past year, and it’s turned into a really fun creative outlet and a wonderful way to participate in fandom!

Tagging/saying hi to: @jedidragonwarriorqueen @shut-up-merlin @anneeshurley @hondagirll and anyone else who wants to do this ❤

[popculturebuffet]

Toons for Our Times: Star Vs: Demoncism

Halloween Havoc BEGINS! And with Tomtober this same month, i’m taking another of my on and off looks at Tom! Tom tries to tackle his literla nd figurative  personal demons the natural way: by having a creepy anti-demon cult that’s never explained suck them out of his body. For some reason Star has a problem with this. We also get Ponyhead in a robe, the wonders of reflectcor and free toys from the toychest for being such a good boy. Face your demons under the cut. 

Welcome boys, ghouls and that bootiful technicolor rainbow inbetween, to halloween havoc! MUAHAHHAHA.  You might be wondering a few things. What the hell that is, isn’t that also the title of a bunch of old wcw pay per views, and have I gone insane. In order it’s usually my catchy term the past two years and this current one for my binging of halloween films and logging and reviewing them on my leterboxd account, but I decided to expand it to here since while it’s not my first halloween on here it’s the first both reviewing animation and planning ahead, I decided why not reuse a good title here.  As for the wcw thing.. well yeah. It’s a great title, neither WWE, who I think still owns the copyright, nor WCW”s Heir Apparent AEW are using it right now despite being one of the best recurring Pay-Per-View titles either promotions had. Maybe not in actualy MATCH QUALITy but that name.. it just sings to me so i’m using it for my weird blog. I’m not making any money of this so why not. And as for my sanity that left a long time ago. So prepare for a month of ghouls, ghosts, goblins, lichs, scooby doo parodies, long forgotten characters, and some suprises and pies of all sizes. THIS... IS....

So to start us off, every year my pal @jess-the-vampire​ does a monthly event known as tomtober, a celebration of all things tom lucitor. And since I started hte tomtropsective for that and still am behind, I figured why not celebrate that, and the fact I can’t draw so I can’t do day 1 as a chat or anything, by continuing the tale of everyone’s faviorite teen demon.  Thankfully unlike last time, or next time wink wonk, there’s not a TON of other plot stuff to fill in. There is one important bit not to this episode but to the series as a whole: Eclipsa is here, since Moon trying to screw her out of the deal she made backried once toffee actually died... as did you know keepiung him alive instead of dealing with eclipsa being free and having the comissoin to back her on it. Nice job moon. Real nice. So yeah Eclipsa’s around.. dosen’t effect this episode but given tom’s involved in two of the biggest plot important episodes in the show, AND one deals with the direct fallout of one of those episodes i’m probably going to have to cover her soon to get to more tom anyway so might as well prepare for that now. 

So yeah this episode’s entreily a straight line from last time and opens picking up on the end of that episode: Star is calling tom wondering when their gonna get that Cornshake. Thankfully she gets an answer. Unthankfully.. it’s from a VERY sweaty ponyhead. 

So that was my own personal hell. Anyways she’s so.. sweaty.. GAHHHHHHH, because she’s keeping a secret and much like me she can’t keep her mouth shut about something she wants to talk about for very long, so we find out what she knows: SHe ran into tom who swore her not to tell Star he was getting a Demoncisim. Which suprises me.. not the demoncism thing the fact Pony would actually listen to anyone else.. Star included. LIke it’s the one thing about this episode that dosen’t quite fit: She’s such a selfish, toxic asshole, though Jenny Slate bless her makes her at least entertaining at times but even she has limits, it just dosen’t track she’d care what Tom thought unless we saw it for ourselves. Pony is ONLY capable of carring about star so while I could see tom framing it as for her own good, it’d be nice if the episode just came out and said that. It’d also be nice if we didn’t get sweaty ponyhead because that’s probably someone’s fetish and I.. OH GOD. 

Okay now i’ve mentally snapped from that revelation, Star lasso’s pony when she tries to escape, and we find out the demoncism is pretty self explanatory: A cermony that removes demons from one’s body.. and given tom is you know, a demon, this could end bad. So with no idea where it’s being held and it going on now, giving them little if any time to figure it out, Star suggests going to pony’s ex.. she dosen’t remember which one and apologizes for how bitchy that sounded, but we find out it’s Seahorse, Pony’s love intrest for the rest of the series and a hardcore emo rocker who even made her a song.. which is just him destroying everything and screaming. Eh i’ve seen people in emowear do far dumber. 

If those are m and m’s their pretzel. Trust me I’m a professional lardass, I know my delcious candy coated choclates. Anyways our dynamic-ish duo head to Seahorse at his job at a relfectcor store, basically a phone store, and is basically a hollowed out shell of a human being with no real personality or free will of his own.. so THAT’S how we got Ted Cruz. Ponyhead natrually breaks down when he dosen’t recognize her at all, which is one of the few time’s i’ve actually cared about her feelings: I mean having your ex just.. forget you exist.. tha’ts rough buddy. I feel bad for her.. I didn’t know she had emotions. I thought her heart and brain were both a black hole.. mostly becasue I thought ponyhead’s hearts and brains were the same organ. Star does however manage to get the map they need to Tom. 

Our heroines find the Demonicsim site and a bunch of creepy guys in robes iwth red glowing eyes.. who are never explained honestly. More on that in a minute. So ponyhead distracts them with one of the greatest  gags in the series history

I mean just.. look at it. The way the robe drapes, the way her nose sticks out much like a certain penguins, the way she decides to distract everyone with petty minute like voting on robes.. it’s fucking great. I may not like pony a LOT but she can be really damn funny> The issues that she often isn’t funny enough to ofset her jackassery. Here though even with my jabs at her.. she works and I like it.  So Star confronts Tom, wondering AGAIN if this is another half assed tactic to win her back.. and her flip flop attitude with tom is starting to annoy me. It fits her personality, and don’t get me wrong as i’ve made abudnatnly clear in past reviews his actions in blood moon ball and ESPECIALLY mr.candle cares were super not okay, so i’ts okay NOT to forget how badly things went last time when your considering getting back together with someone. It’s NOT okay however to hold it over someone’s head forever like any moment their going to snap back into being a manipulative doucheweasel when they’ve left you alone for around 8 months.. and Id id my calcualtion. The timeline of the show is pretty solid up to season 4: Season 1 was star’s 1st semister at echo creek academy, season 2 was her second and as it turned out final one, and season 3 covers Summer , fall and part of next spring. Though again how another summer dosen’t happen until towards the end of season 4 is dumb and I’ll probably rant about that at a later point. Point is since MCC was at the start of season 2, that means it happened around say january or feburary, with Demonicsim probably happening around say march. So he’s left you alone for around 8 months, silver bell ball included. It’s unfair to assume he’s still schemeing when he let you go months ago. H’es made it obvious via his .. everything he’d take you back in an instant, he’s just being patient and not pushing it because he’s no longer as big an asshole, and trying to be respectful. Cut him a break.  Thankfully this gets put down quick with Tom explaning he wants to be better for himself: Like last time he was inspired by her trying to be better herself, and wants to.. but as we’ve established.. he dosen’t know HOW to be nice or a better person. He wasn’t raised in an enviroment that was really condusive to that as nice as his own parents are. Their the exception to the underworld being mostly dicks not the rule, as we’ll see next time. I.. can relate with my own issues with anxiety , depression and, yes, anger. I too have trouble keeping it in and hate feeling bitchy all the time or depressed and just want it to stop. I think anyone with a mental ilness just wants it to STOP to be gone and to be able to live a happy life. But there’s no magic button that fixes your issues, your traumas or your mental health like that. No pill that can fix it just ones that help ease it down to managable. And as i’ve learned the hard way YOU have to work at it, YOU have to make the effort. There’s no easy way out. And while Tom thinks htere is here, it’s very clear it’s a huge risk, and Star’s right that he shoudlnt’ go thorugh with it and that he could seriously hurt himself. But Tom’s in pain and just wants to be happy, to be normal, to be not angry anymore and I gotta tell you if , even if it was risky, there was a way to cure my depression or anger issues or anxiety, not my atuisim tha’ts part of me and not something that needs a fucking cure just more understanding and awarness, but if I could cure those other three things? I would. It’s paart of me sure but it’s a part of me I HATE. So I understand why tom’s doing this even despite the danger: because he’s at his wits end, desperate and this will help he hopes.. it can’t get WORSE, so why not? Evne if he’s wrong here i’ts hard not to understand why he’s so stubborn about it , for me at least.  Star leaves, and takes Ponycloak with her and they go to punch trees: Both to relive and because Pony hates tree. Probably because she went to tree court once and they tried to send her to tree jail. 

I mean she’ll probably get thrown back in there for this but still. Anyways the exerocisim comes. And NOW we can talk about this cult and.. while I understand why they never came back, they were really only necessary for this, I wish they had. I mean a mysterious cult with the power to restrain someone as strong as tom, acess to anti-magic chains the ONLY time we see something like this outside of the comission, and a hatred of demons includign referring to Tom as “Son of the blight” meaning they clearly hate and would destroy Wrathmelor if they could, yet also function as a perfectly legal orginzation the comission or the lucitors themselves haven’t swatted yet. There’s a LOT to unpack here they never did. The leader is also hliarious alteranting between creepy overlord and your dentist after a long apointment as a kid. But the ritual begins and it .. dosen’t go well with tom getting glowy blue lines and thrashing about.. just like me when i watched Ridciulous 6. I also felt my soul was leaving my body but that was just wishful thinking. The cultists run and star runs back to Tom and we get a truly powerful and romantic scene. Unable to free him, Star just.. holds him and is there for him as he goes through this. If she can’t help him she’ll be there for him. And it’s really touching.  We then cut to the hosptial tent at the cult, where the leader goes back to dad mode. Tom feels .. well worse, he just had surgery, as someone who had a tooth yanked out last month I can relate, and is suprised to see only one tiny soul demon as the sum of his anger. But it turns out, NOPE, being you know, the son of a rather powerful demon with a rather pwoerful b loodline, he’s FULL of them, and it woudl take 13 years to do this.. and tom’s naturally bummed because no one wants the equipvlent of having a wisdom tooth pulled a week for over a decade. Also because he now can’t get better.. but Star gently reassures him he’s already on the right track just by wanting to. As I said with most mental issues.. there’s no easy way out but it can get better if you put the work in and tom realizes.. there’s no quick way out after all. Just a long road.. but h’es not alone on it anyomore. But he at least gets a tiny demon in a jar and a toy out of the toychest for being a good boy.. and that’s nto me making shit up that’s the actual episode with him and star taking pinwheels and holding hands to Ponyhead’s annoyance. Which okay yeah they had a bad time last time I get tat Pony.. but your the last person to question ANYONE’S life decisions. Still I wish we’d had ane pisode of pony growing to accept them so we at least know WHY she’s so against it but oh well. 

Final Thoughts: This was a good one. Is it hte best the show’s put out? Probably not as the first part drags slightly but the second half at the demoncisim is just good character stuff, good comedy, and has a good payoff. I honestly like this way more on the second watch.  Though part of that is the context of the time: I admitted to being a starco shipper and having her get back with tom just felt like your standard “put a character in a relationship to complicate the main pairing” bullshit I always hate at this stage. Before anyone relaizes they like each other? Sure but at this point it was clearly just to drag things out. However with Marco getting progressivley worse and the two having good chemsitry.. I grew to like em.. and by the season finale, I just shipped all three together, before pivoting to marco and kelly. This couple grew on me for reasons w’ell geti nto as we go, even if it ended bad for reasons we’ll again get into. Oh we’ll get into them. With a knife. But yeah overall a great episode with a great concept, good character stuff, and some REALLY fucking funny gags. The show is damn good at comedy and I forget it sometimes. Next time we look at Tom, he’ll be in the background as Marco tries to help Kelly with a breakup. And sometime this month we’ll be looking at the halloween special which i’ll be watching for the very first time! So stay tuned, stay safe and Happy Halloween. 

[laresearchette]

Sunday, May 16, 2021 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: 2021 MTV MOVIE & TV AWARDS (MTV Canada) 9:00pm GOOD WITCH (W Network) 9:00pm RUN THE WORLD (Starz Canada) 9:00pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT     SORORITY SISTER KILLER  (TBD - Lifetime Canada)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME/CRAVE/NETFLIX CANADA/CBC GEM:

AMAZON PRIME BALI RUN THE WORLD SHIVA 143

CRAVE TV RUN THE WORLD (Season 1, Episode 1)

NETFLIX CANADA LITTLE

NHL HOCKEY (SN) 12:00pm: Islanders vs. Penguins (SN/SN360) 3:00pm: Wild vs. Knights - Game #1 (SN) 7:30pm: Lightning vs. Panthers  - Game #1 (SN360/SN1) 10:30pm: Flames vs. Canucks

MLB BASEBALL (SN1) 1:00pm: Phillies vs. Jays   (TSN2/TSN3/TSN5) 7:00pm: Cardinals vs. Padres

NBA BASKETBALL (SNNOW+) 1:00pm: Hornets vs. Wizards (TSN3) 1:00pm: Pacers vs. Raptors (TSN2) 3:30pm: Celtics vs. Knicks (TSN3) 3:30pm: Grizzlies vs. Warriors (TSN4) 10:00pm: Lakers vs. Pelicans

MLS SOCCER (TSN/TSN4) 2:00pm: Sporting KC vs. Whitecaps FC (TSN) 4:00pm: Cincinatti vs. Miami (TSN) 9:30pm: Seattlle vs. LAFC

THE WRONG ISLAND REAL ESTATE AGENT  (Lifetime Canada) 8:00pm: A single working mother and her teenage daughter rent a beautiful house on several acres of land from a friendly real estate agent who they know well and lives nearby.

MYSTIC (Super Channel Heart & Home) 8:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): After moving from London to New Zealand, a girl uncovers a series of secrets surrounding a mysterious injured horse.

MASTERCHEF CANADA (CTV) 9:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE):  In this penultimate episode, the remaining competitors face a three-round skills test, and one final cook to determine who will earn a spot in the finale.

JUNIOR CHEF SHOWDOWN (Food Network Canada) 9:00pm: Chef Jordan Andino gives a demo in flavour building by creating a classic Caesar salad with a balance of salty, crunchy, savoury and umami components.

SCOTT 'S VACATION HOUSE RULES (HGTV Canada) 9:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): Real estate expert and contractor Scott McGillivray shows homeowners how to take their vacation property purchase and unlock its full rental potential.

THE CURSE OF OAK ISLAND: DRILLING DOWN (History Canada) 9:00pm/10:00pm:  Rick, Marty and the team allow viewers behind the scenes to see how every moment on Oak Island is captured. In Episode Two, Matty travels to Travers City, Mich., and meets with Rick, Marty, Craig, Alex, and Jack to review the incredible discoveries made in Season 8, and hear what might be in store for Season 9.

CORAL GHOSTS (Documentary) 9:00pm: An impassioned marine biologist uses his family's extensive archive as the catalyst to save the world's reefs.

ISLAND OF BRYAN (HGTV Canada) 10:00pm: Bryan and Sarah focus on the guest experience, while the Baeumler kids navigate living at the hotel with guests on site.