#a solidly entertaining episode

[spaceorphan18]

More thoughts on XM97 - because of course I have more thoughts...

Doing some more reflection, because this is what I do during hyperfixation, apparently.

It helps to write things down and get them out of my head, I suppose. Honestly, it'll be nice to get past the last episode, because then I can compartmentalize and just push the thing away until season 2 (if the finale gives me any reason to want to come back).

DeMayo went on another tweeting spree (I just keep an eye on these things because I get curious) and during this particular bout, I feel like I've got somethings clarified. And I think my own personal frustrations come down to - the ideas of writing and creating vs fan expectations.

Overall, I do think that XM97 is a solidly good (or at least entertaining) show. The animation is good. The voice cast is good. And the ideas they are using, in theory, are more adult and mature and nuanced than the original kids' show ever was (which, I'll give TAS some credit - dug deeper a lot of times when most kids' cartoons of the time didn't).

One of the biggest issues for me has been execution. First of all, the show is way too short for the amount they're trying to pack in here. It almost feels like they wanted to do everything on their wishlist because if they didn't, they wouldn't get the chance to do it. And it feels, muddied... They really needed a full season to unpack a lot of this.

The thing about Rogue and Gambit's story.... I get the 'kill your darlings' strategy of writing. In fact, I agree that good stories are messy and have conflict and you should always put your heroes through the worst. I feel like there was a better way to do the story (I believe) they're telling.

I don't think Magneto needed to be a part of it at all, and the triangle just feels... forced in a lot of ways. I understand that they went there to give Remy some heartbreak along the way, but I truly believe the two of them, with their own issues, and the two of them being in an undefined relationship with complicated issues over touch -- still could have resulted in compelling TV, and still would kept the devastation of Gambit's death.

Episode 5 is still my favorite, and despite my distaste for the whole Magneto side of it, I think the writing there was top notch, and still the best this show has been. I get, though, that they wanted to have Rogue and Gambit "break up" for the impact to hit harder, for Rogue to feel much more guilt once he died, for that last line to be even more heartbreaking.

So, the easiest route was to add the Magneto of it all. Episode 5 is brilliant in a vacuum. But in greater context there are other ways you can get there. And, no, Magneto wasn't ultimately needed. Rogue still could have had regrets, there still could have been heartbreak, there are always things you just don't say before a tragedy.

The thing about it, had they set this up correctly, and in a way that was more satisfying and didn't involve third parties? You may have gotten way more of the Rogue and Gambit fans on board. (And I'll get to the fan side of this in a second.)

See, TAS flirted with Rogue and Gambit's romance but never pushed it too far. Not only was it a kids' show, but Rogue probably would have never had her powers under control and it just was never going to go that far. Meanwhile, the comics have moved way beyond where TAS was. Rogue and Gambit's relationship has evolved a lot in thirty years - way past the tragedy, past the will-they/won't-they, past the break ups and reunions, and in the comics, Rogue and Gambit are a relatively healthy (for a comic book couple) couple of best friends and old marrieds. They're story is so far beyond what they once were that going back to TAS feels... odd.

So, the show starting in this place where TAS left off feels awkward in a lot of ways. There's a lot of expectations layered onto this show, but the show -- being limited by external factors, can't really handle all of it.

I don't think the first few episodes of the show did enough to show the sheer strength of Rogue and Gambit's connection and relationship. And part of that was time and part of that is because it's a sequel to a show set thirty years ago and part of it is time compression and part of it is the writing wanting to leave some vague open-endedness to the relationship so that Episode 5 could work.

And thus Episode 5 feels a bit jarring. It's way more a mature script. There's much more going on in those relationships that we haven't seen set up. Not really. And it's almost relying too much on - things that were mildly set up in the original and the heavy history of the comics.

Which leads me to what has happened afterwards. I think that in a world sans the Magneto of it all, you still get a Rogue who is absolutely heartbroken over the loss of her love. She would still go dark. She would still seek vengeance. She would still wrap herself up in that trench coat and wreck havoc on everyone until she ultimately succumbed to her own grief and eventually dealt with it in one way or the other.

(The part that I just don't agree with -- besides giving up the trench coat, which I know is symbolic in gesture -- is her running off to play Colossus in Fatal Attractions. Which, again, is why they did add the Magneto of it all, but I'm digressing.)

Anyway, this leads me to the fan expectations, and why it does feel so raw for a lot of us. Rogue and Gambit have never really had their time to shine. The films are full of mischaracterizations and limited (very limited) appearances. The other TV shows never let the relationship shine. And even in the comics it felt like forever for the X-Office to take them seriously.

This TV show felt like an opportunity to start fresh. To be excited about something. To get behind the characters we love and celebrate them. We can still break their hearts. We can still even kill them off. But give us a reason to care!

But instead of building that relationship with us fans, it went a different route. And now we feel heartbroken and angry, instead of just heartbroken. Gambit fans - who get shit on so often - get one bright of moment of glory before a death that feels somewhat hollow when you start to realize it was in purpose of someone else's story. Rogue fans - have the internet hating her with a passion. It feels like once again - being set up only to fail.

It feels hurtful, even when, I truly believe, that was not the writers' intentions. Make your characters go through hell - yes, but you have to have your audience on your side to make it impactful.

I don't really know where the show goes from here. There's either going to be closure or a cliffhanger. What I'd really like, though, is some sort of hope.

Because I get real life sucks. And I get that we often reflect in our fiction that it does. But we're talking about a cartoon about superheroes. We're talking about escapism at its finest. I love complicated and messy and nuanced and sometimes even heartbreaking stories -- but I also want something that makes it all worth while.

There is still one episode left, and I'm curious as to where it's going to go. Because at the end of the day, X-Men has always been about hope, too.

[tepkunset]

What are your thoughts so far on Yellowjackets S3 compared to the first two? Love your blog!

Season 1 was good. Season 2 was fantastic. Season 3 is so far good too, but I'm not enjoying it as much as I did season 2 tbh.

That said, I haven't watched the latest episode yet - I needed a break after what happened to adult Lottie. That really, really upset me. But I will catch up and continue watching.

Overall it's a solidly entertaining show, still. But I think its biggest flaw is that it's so colourblind in how the characters are written. And while that can sometimes be relieving, it also means there are certain parts that do not sit as well as they would have if more consideration was given, you know?

The biggest thing I do like about season 3 is the direction they're taking Shauna in. Like, the layers of complexity they're adding to her work really well imo.

And thanks!

[marley-manson]

what are some of your favorite xena fics?

Thanks for asking! Fair warning, most of these are on old archives and can be hard to read, like, visually. I generally copypaste the fics, convert them to epubs, and read them on my kobo, but firefox reader view is also an excellent option for either laptop or mobile reading. Not sure if chrome has an equivalent.

I will warn for rape and specify the gender configurations (f/f, f/m, or m/f) when I can, because I know that matters to me when I'm choosing what I want to read, but for the fics I haven't read recently it's more of a crapshoot because I just don't remember well enough.

And if you just want my current top faves, I've starred those.

Xena/Gabrielle, fics I've read or re-read recently and remember fairly well:

Aftermath: The Tree of Life and The Hanging Gardens Conqueror AU - imo Gabrielle falls for Xena a little quickly considering how it starts lol, but it's well written, fun, solidly plotty, and the second is a pretty good mystery (though with a caveat for some racialized stereotypes.)

The Paradox of Dying Short glimpse into Gabrielle's state of mind in the later seasons.

*Storms of War A long, plotty, and quite dark exploration of Xena and her relationship with violence. Surprisingly well paced and engaging imo, considering how 600ish pages covers about a week of time. (mentions of m/f rape, past f/m rape)

As Long as Earth Endures Plotty, fun, entertaining OCs, violence and sex as themes (though not really intertwined lol) (mentions of past f/m and f/f rape iirc)

Been There, Done That Revisited Fun one shot set during the eponymous episode.

Confession An angstier take on Xena and Gabrielle's relationship.

Xena/Gabrielle, fics I've read years ago and enjoyed then, but I can't be 100% certain they hold up:

Infamia Conqueror AU, Gab is a gladiator, Xena is Empress of Rome. I actually have re-read about half of it lol but haven't finished it. It's a lot of fun, and the author has a way with words.

Pretium Silenti I plan to re-read this soon, it's another gladiator Gab/Empress of Rome fic, though more dark and serious, and very well written from what I recall. (m/f rape iirc)

Conqueror Series This is a hesitant rec lol because even in 2014 I thought it was very cheesy and tropey in that classic bodice ripper-y way, but like, I honestly had a lot of fun reading it. ymmv of course. (past m/f rape and csa, present f/f sex with a slave that isn't fully acknowledged as rape iirc, past f/f rape. Also warning for some racist tropes, about on par with what we see in the show as far as I recall.)

The Charioteer: In the City of Har and The Amazons of Dahomey I remember thinking these were extremely well written, but I haven't re-read them and I remember very little so I can't warn for any content.

Queen fun pwp

Appetite I remember loving the writing style. Post-finale.

Tarot Conqueror (well, warlord) fic. Fun premise, present day Gabrielle meets a younger, warlording Xena thanks to magic.

Other ships, recent reads:

*The Destiny Series Mostly gen, some het. Conqueror AU but in a very unique way. Focused on Caesar and Gabrielle after Xena has been killed, and it's an excellent depiction of like... everything I want from a good angsty darkfic. Eg the way it could've been hurt/comfort but the hurt character sucks and constantly self-sabotages and the comforter is way out of her depth and stops trying soon enough and they make each other even worse instead. Just about every choice made goes wrong. The world is a miserable, violent mess because three wonderfully, viscerally epic warlording women have been destroying it with their battling. Speaking of, I loooove how this author writes Xena, Callisto, and Najara.

Like the vibes are just immaculate to me <3 (f/m rape)

Payback is Hell Xena/Lao Ma, missing scene

*Equal To the Gods Xena/Gabrielle, Xena/Ares. I've read this twice now and it was an emotional rollercoaster each time, which is rare for me - like, I sobbed for basically the entire last third or so lol. And I'm not usually into poly fic, especially mixed gender, buuuut boy do I love a good trainwreck and this is a novel's worth of well-written, devastating trainwreck. And I do feel that ultimately it's very fair to both ships, despite the author being primarily a Xena/Ares shipper. If you buy into the premise that Xena does love Ares, all the characterization choices work great for me as well.

The Apology A missing scene set between Adventures in the Sin Trade and A Family Affair.

Other ships, old reads:

Among the Tigers and Approach of the Greeks Xena/Lao Ma

The Legacy of Lao Ma Xena/Lao Ma, The Debt from Lao Ma's pov

Aphrodite's Prayer Gabrielle/Aphrodite

The Joining Xena/Ares, I have actually re-read the first two relatively recently, and they're well-written and a good exploration of Xena's heroism versus Ares' job. Gabrielle and her arc gets a lot of focus in the second too. Don't remember the third well though, but I enjoyed it enough to bookmark it.

[threetrenchcoatsinatrenchcoat]

How to win Dirty Laundry.

I'm no expert on lying or deduction, I just take this show pretty serious when I watch it, and I think the patterns to notice in this game offer a cool lens into interpersonal communication.

I. How to not catch liars. Liars largely aren't that spottable. Buckle in for this one: it's usually easier to eliminate ~3 honest people than to find one liar. Liars tend to be hyperaware of everything they do and end up doing nothing. Everyone's all too aware of the concept of tells, so here are some anti-tells that actually work.

The first to talk after hearing the secret read is a truth teller. Seriously. I can maybe count on one hand the number of times the liar spoke first, but everyone alllllllways ends up suspecting the first talker.

If someone unnecessarily implicates themself, they're likely a truth teller. For instance, giving a related anecdote is a strong anti-tell.

Truth tellers will dig deeper into the wording and theorizing cause they're actually trying to find a liar.

Less solidly, the biggest, flashiest accusers tend to be truth tellers. Liars try to fade into the background, so if someone is going ham on a theory--and not simply after they've been targeted--it's often someone unworried about the attention.

II. How to catch liars. There are somewhat tells. Sometimes. There are more in this list than the previous, but this is all less sure. The rest of your natural suspicions will help. The state I'm in when I get more things right is aware of my instincts but not reliant on them.

If everyone thinks someone's the liar, they're right.

Don't let anyone off the hook. Accuse for whatever reason, then see how they react.

Because liars usually act the same each time they lie--going quiet, going loud, accusing, double bluffing, whatever. My theory is people have a strong pre-built idea of what looks suspicious, so they won't be worried about lying the same way as last time as much as being suspicious at all.

Liars sometimes act ignorant and way overdo it. Like folks who say they're unaware of basic relevant world knowledge or fully skipped relevant life experience or just forgot the question. It's possible but it's suspicious.

There are some contestants who are just good liars. There usually aren't multiple in one episode (besides Lily and Grant, but it's safe to ignore them as a baseline). If someone fully outwits me on their first lie, especially by breaking any of the above patterns, and I have no suspects later, I'll just have to suspect them. Aabria Iyengar and Anna Garcia could sell me sand in a desert.

Not sure how the show's edited and how much of this is actually applicable to people in the game, but there's always some meta information for us to use. Everyone will get at least two secrets in the episode somewhere, usually no one will repeat until three distinct people have had a turn, often exactly three, they tend to space out each guest's secrets, and Lily and Grant will rarely appear early or be the episode's title. If someone's been on a previous season, they're probably not gonna bring anything crazier than then.

III. How to lie. Mostly chill out a little bit. Unless you're a trash liar.

Don't talk first. As stated above, you won't fool me, but there's less of me than people with the opposite belief.

Be the second to accuse someone. Everyone remembers the accused and the first accuser, but the quiet "oh yeah I could see X doing that" gives the theory a ton of validity while flying fully under the radar.

Don't say "I know it sounds like me, but this one's not me." (Even though truth-tellers and liars both say this all the time.) The best way to lose heat is to confidently say this couldn't ever have been me.

While you're doing so, make the justification very, very concise. Simple nonsense is more compelling than convoluted truth.

You do have to have good secrets. This is an entertainment product more than a competition, so the show will probably want the craziest story, but an uncharacteristic, mild secret will always fool more people than a buckwild but on-brand one.

[crehador]

BROTHER CRAB'S SUMMER 2024 TOP THREE

i can't believe this is happening i really can't believe it but i think i'm gonna have to go with

THIRD PLACE: NIGE JOUZU NO WAKAGIMI

for much of the season, nigewaka seemed like it was easily going to be my anime of the season. it had a banging first episode and never at any point got less enjoyable to me

the animation was consistently beautiful (yeah sure with the occasional jarring bit of cgi but in all honesty it never bothered me much) and the characters are all delightful to me

i think the mix of humor and the horrors of war depicted here, understandably, might not appeal to everyone. but it really worked for me. the fact that these characters are so lively and alive, as opposed to doomed and hopeless, in these times of strife makes the stakes feel all the higher to me

so despite it taking third place on my list, this is still solidly one of the best shows of the season (of the year, even)

a few things just happened to blow me away a tad bit more

SECOND PLACE: DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION

honestly this is so close for me that demons and nigewaka may as well be a tie, but maybe demons gets a slight edge just for being something so fresh to me

god i loved this. it's been a hot minute since i've seen something that felt so real and human. aliens are invading, the world is ending, but girls will be girls

i guess, like nigewaka, demons also mixes some good ol' humor with The Horrors, and it really works here too. the theme of "hey there's this giant alien mothership hanging over the city but life goes on" is executed so well in the early episodes of this series, and the plottier plot comes together in such a satisfying way in the later episodes

and seriously just huge props to ano and lilas ikuta for their performances in the leading roles here, they smashed it. if i didn't know, never in my life would i have guessed they weren't voice actors with years and years of experience each

ANIME OF THE SEASON: TSUE TO TSURUGI NO WISTORIA

first things first, i would not say this is objectively the best show of the season

but holy shit this is the most fun i've had all year

i'm probably more surprised than anyone that wistoria is ending up as my anime of the season, because even after a whole season, the story is just so... it's basically nothing (stay with me)

there are so many things you could call the plot of wistoria. typical, tropey, contrived, textbook, tired, etc etc etc. anyone who finds the plot boring isn't wrong. it's a fantasy magic school series like any other fantasy magic school series, with so many tropes that you'll recognize if you've watched basically any amount of fantasy at all

but for some reason i didn't dislike it. maybe wistoria doesn't do anything new, but it hits on all these familiar plot beats in such fun and entertaining ways

at some point i realized what word i really wanted to use to describe it:

quintessential

sure, it wouldn't be unfair to call it contrived or derivative or what have you. but to me, this is a quintessential fantasy action/adventure series. yes it hits on all the story beats we're familiar with, from countless series before it, but it hits each beat perfectly

the characters are ridiculous, all easily recognizable archetypes, but they're so unrepentant in who they are that i find myself enjoying them too

and then there's the animation

guys this show is fucking gorgeous. like if it weren't this pretty, i doubt i would be raving this much about it. if it had been just decently animation, i'm pretty sure i would've just enjoyed it a normal amount

but the animation is so so so good that this quickly became the number one show i was hoping for a season two of (and we are getting one!)

like the production quality just did not waver. i found myself baffled that this is the series, the story, that got this level of masterful work put into it. but then i started thinking maybe that's unfair, because really, the story is not bad. fairly simple and straightforward sure, but again: quintessential fantasy

not to end on an absurdly cheesy note, but just like how it's wistoria wand and sword, i think it's the stellar animation and entertaining story/cast that makes this series work so well. without the animation being this good, the story wouldn't have been enough to stand out. but without a truly entertaining story, the animation, however pretty, would have felt pretty empty too

very eagerly awaiting season two

[sleepyyghostt]

ok i take back everything ive ever said about the doctor who episode sleep no more. my fever-dream memories of it from ten years ago LIED to me i love this episode now. fundamentally stupid premise. ridiculous ending. a solidly entertaining time in between. everything i could ever want

[raisinchallah]

trying probably in vain to rewatch series 8 and well i do understand why i didnt care about continuing after watching it um i think it might be bad like its not bad i guess its perfectly alright quality wise but i am literally not having any fun and i also kind of hate early capaldi characterization actually hes quite charming with bill and whatever but um whatever they have going on in series 8 is kind of killing me it was absolutely at its worst in robot of sherwood which was solidly entertaining for idk 15 minutes before i hit critical mass with doctor complaining and arguing bits and its just well its simply not very pleasant or the weird many episode running thing doing like sitcom husband and wife jokes about claras appearance whos idea was that one thats bad thats not fun i dont enjoy it very much thanks genuinely way too many jokes that just go on and on never getting funny please this has to stop free me i realize i really did not just misremember in a fit of being grouchy what the general vibe of the moffat era was which is just well a lot of running about quipping where u run thru a normal story in about 20 minutes so that story has no real depth u get a twist and devote the next 15 minutes to the twist thus halving ur time for any type of story and also i dont know if i enjoy um any of the characters? while this is happening like ok great things happening at me oy....

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (9-15 Mar 2025)

this week's watching was book-ended by two great musicals!

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰 The Shots You Take (Rachel Reid, author; Greg Boudreaux, narrator) - 2nd chance romance between 2 former NHL players who haven't spoken in 12 years - I really appreciated how messy & flawed these middle-aged men were! That you can & do fuck up in your 20s and then learn & grow & atone and can build something really stellar. that not everyone knows themselves immediately for a variety of reasons.

😊 I, Barnes (debwalsh) - 76K stucky post-WS; half angsty WS recovery, then shifts to a pornathon via magical healing cock (positive)

🥰 don't go wastin your emotions (kissesforcas) - 51K, steddie canon-divergent last-stand-taking-down-vecna-AU

💖💖 +187K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

A/B/O as a Problematic Cultural Response To Transphobia, Gender Anxiety, and U.S. Policy (tomato_greens) - Multi-Fandom meta: 5K - some nice, chewy meta about omegaverse in current cultural context

Eric Adams' Latest Excuses TEASER (Poetry) - If Books Could Kill podcast, Leverage: gen, 1.1K - a teaser trailer and social media posts from the 'upcoming' ep of IBCK - really excellent use of multimedia storytelling

Imprimatur (Closer) - Suits: mike/harvey, 22K - great soulmates suits fic

alone again, or (96tears) - Stranger Things: steddie, 20K - solidly entertaining 'oh. I'm in love with my best friend' fic

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Anything Goes

Home Town Takeover - s3, e1

Um, Actually - s10, e4

Death in Paradise - s14, e4

No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski - "Florence Pugh's English Odyssey" (s1, e1)

Come From Away

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

You're Dead to Me - Legends of King Arthur: from medieval literature to modern myth

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Mailbag: Is it more fun to discuss something you love or something you hate? (PCHH+)

The Best Worst - Ep 1: Cheers

The Sporkful - Working With Bourdain And Batali, Laurie Woolever Saw It All

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - The Brutalist (Places Edition)

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Best Moments In Live TV

Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me! - Outtakes: You can now rent THIS to deal with high egg prices… (WW+)

Switched on Pop - How Missy Elliott and Timbaland Freaked the World

⭐ David Tennant Does a Podcast With…Russell T Davies

99% Invisible - What We're Reading

Vibe Check - Hit Him in the Pocketbook!

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Lady Gaga's Mayhem

⭐ Off Menu - Ep 282: Ellie Taylor

⭐ Films To Be Buried With - Julia Stiles

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Pulau Tiga, The Island That Made “Survivor”

Shedunnit - Book Club Conversation: Last Bus to Woodstock by Colin Dexter

⭐ Imaginary Worlds - Milicent Patrick: Disney Magic to Monster Mayhem

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Black Bag And What's Making Us Happy

Handsome - Pretty Little Episode #30

Short Wave - Love Fruit? Thank (Dinosaur) Mass Extinction

You're Dead to Me - Hernán Cortés and Malintzin: the Spanish conquest of Mexico

⭐ Hit Parade - Singing Nuns and Green Tambourines Edition

Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me! - Amanda Seyfried

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Presenting Joni Mitchell

Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks

Lady Gaga discography (chronological order)

Revamp: The Songs Of Elton John & Bernie Taupin [Various artists] {2018}

Sub-Radio

Troye Sivan

Shout-Out Party Hits

Janelle Monáe

[girl4music]

The Multiverse Theory certainly is an interesting Xena theory to mull over and refine until it is solidly irrefutable. But if it were true, it would kill me that there’s no yin-yang chakram in the timeline with ‘The Xena Scrolls’, ‘Deja Vu All Over Again’ and ‘Soul Possession’ though because that would mean Xena and Gabrielle both died and stayed dead as they wouldn’t have ever been resurrected and there would be no history rewritten angel Callisto so her endgame would have been drastically changed too. That means no Eve.

Therefore No One to carry on Xena’s legacy.

I don’t like that at all. So what, Mel is the descendant of Xena through Solan instead cause if there’s no Dahak/Hope in that timeline then Solan would have survived.

I mean it would make some sense because Solon is an Athenian philosopher and historian and the character was meant to be based off of that historical figure.

And if Gabrielle died without having another child…

Where did Janice come from? Who is she descendant from? Sarah? Lila’s kid? Assuming she still had a child.

‘The Xena Scrolls’ is one huge conundrum on its own. But this is what happens when you mess with the timeline in your show far too early before it’s found its footing. When you want to do something else later on.

Like for example neutralize the dark chakram with light.

KILL Xena and Gabrielle and then RESURRECT them.

Give Xena a baby that is prophesied to end all the gods.

Honestly we could be here forever trying to work this one out. Entertaining, sure. But SO. MUCH good stuff would have to be sacrificed to even make that work.

The only way ‘The Xena Scrolls’ works in the timeline we have in ‘AFIN’ is because Gabrielle and Eve survived. No, it still doesn’t explain the chakram situation though unless somehow an event with Gabrielle undid all that.

Nevertheless,… Xena’s legacy had to be carried on otherwise none of the “future” episodes can happen.

See what they should have done is just done away with Annie, Harry and Mattie and kept it as Janice and Mel.

I would have much preferred a continuation with them.

[joyburble]

Crap it's 23:30 again. I can't stop. Ninjas in pots, ninjas in buckets, explosions, all these people double-crossing each other, archers are stationed, idiots abound, most of them too clever by half, and it's solidly entertaining. 11 episodes down. I can't even be bothered to keep track of whatever the hell Second Prince imagines he is up to.

I want to hear more of the ML's voice.

Jin'er. Doooooooomed.

[realbeefman]

Angus loyal follower here I love your posts I actually started reading hilson fic because of you even though I’ve never seen the show and I never will because once I heard Hugh lauries voice in a fancam and it was so unsexy also they filmed a lot of b roll at my school anyway Seeing your destiel post was so surprising to me please tell me more about your spn opinions I’m so curious I love discourse <3

very long answer so i’ve hidden it under a readmore for the sanity of casual dash scrollers and people who dont care

first off his american voice or his british voice? this is kind of controversial and may seem wild considering i spend a solid chunk of time thinking about what house would be like during sex but i ACTUALLY find him deeply unattractive. i’d love to have his face and wear his skin but never in my life would i consider him a sexual being. he’s too british for it. the only way british people can be sexy is if they are women this is my most political belief on foreign policy. however i do think hugh laurie’s AMERICAN voice is actually very normal and makes him very endearing to me. hilson fic is awesome but honestly!!! most hilson fic for me just does not hit the same unless u can visualize the creepiness with which house looks at wilson. it’s genuinely sickening. he talks about wilson in the softest voice. so many of the most iconic lines in the show just dont HIT the same if u dont listen to the way they’re delivered.

that is SO cool that they shot b roll at ur school though!!! honestly seems like a dream. if i knew i had walked the same halls the house film team had i think i would die. the camerawork on that show is just fucking PHENOMENAL. i could write entire essays fangirling over how they shoot certain scenes but i fear that would be chronically desperately boring

oh man my supernatural opinions… first off disclaimer i have not seen supernatural recently because i am a deeply paranoid individual and prone to delusions and when i first watched the show i genuinely convinced myself that the monsters were real so. i think my most controversial spn opinion would have to be that it’s a PSYCHOLOGICAL THREAT. have you ever met a normal supernatural fan? NOBODY HAS. BECAUSE THE SHOW DRIVES PEOPLE NUTS

other than that my opinions are pretty normal i thiunk. i actually dont have anything at all against destiel even though i am solidly on the wincestie side of fandom. i dont care for the ship and i think it sucks but OBJECTIVELY its a good ship and has strong canon support. i think my hatred comes because i have read SO many destiel fics and have yet to come across a genuinely good one that accurately portrays the characters. i dont understand why an objectively reasonable ship with strong canon support has created some of the middest fic ive ever read in my life. genuinely fascinating. it’s not even that the fic itself is not good or entertaining it just doesn’t feel anything like the actual canon dean and castiel! i have read like two genuinely entertaining destiel fics that felt realistic and BOTH were from authors who primarily write samdean so!!

other controversial spn opinions i have. the “chuck is god” stuff is by far the most entertaining late seasons retcon. objectively ridiculous but so goddamn amusing. i think season 8 and the leviathans was the peak of supernatural. by far the best season in my opinion. plotwise it was not the most believable but i strongly believe that what makes a story good is not it’s logical soundness nor it’s objective value but whether it is ENTERTAINING and COMPELLING and by god the leviathans were both of those things. what a season. also benny and dean were having sex. i loved castiel going insane. OH and i think endverse spn is overhyped both as an episode and in fanon! i did not understand what endverse referred to for so long because i couldnt comprehend that SO MANY PEOPLE could possibly by THAT fanatic over a very mid episode.

not a controversial opinion but rowena is hot. she should've been in every episode for this reason alone. last semester i set up an office meeting with my professor who looked JUST like her to shoot my shot and she literally died before the meeting could happen. i've always felt in my heart that these are related.

[tiggymalvern]

I continue the weekly Burn Notice watch with my friend Sonja. We’re in early season two, which is when it’s solidly become Burn Notice, and she ended our scheduled two episodes this week with, “I really want to watch another one, but I have to go! I have to make dinner!” Cue an evil grin from me XD I first came across Sonja via the Due South fandom around two and a half decades ago. She said, “This series is ridiculously fun escapism,” and I said, “Yes! It reminds me of Due South in some ways, in that it’s manic light entertainment fun, full of snarky dialogue, and every now and then it will crank up the drama and rip your heart out.” Sonja hasn’t reached the ripping your heart out parts yet, but she agreed. “It really is like Due South minus the magical realism.” And it’s funny, but I hadn’t actually put it together before - that the things I love in Burn Notice are so many of the same things I loved in Due South. The bonkers energy, the frenetic pace and crazy shenanigans are so Due South-like. The snarky dialogue between weirdo outliers who latch onto one another and refuse to let go is a feature of literally everything I fall in love with, while the other details vary. But now apparently I’ve come full circle back to the late 90s style of my fannish loves…

[h0rsemn]

I just watched the First episode of Sailor Moon (1992). I don't really know if I can judge the quality quite yet since it's very different from what I usually watch i.e stuff like JJK and ONK, this is much more silly,cute(for lack of a better term) and is more Slice of Life in comparison to those 2. If I had to draw a comparison to another series I'd say it's Kamen Rider for girls (same formula it looks like) but I was solidly entertained despite all that though.

[sealwithfeels]

Spring 2023 Anime Wrap-up

Didn't watch a huge number of anime this season, but enough to have some short reviews, plus some fanart. Some spoilers for Witch From Mercury.

Heavenly Delusion (Tengoku Daimakyou) - the standout of the season, definitely the best of the shows I watched in Spring 2023. Fascinating world thats revealed naturally, characters that feel really and have a great dynamic, slowly unfolding mysteries, excellent animation that even messes with style a bit. Heavy content warnings though, deals with some heavy stuff, in a way I'm not sure I've decided how I feel about it yet. Hoping there will be another season to adapt more. Feels kinda like a combination of The Last Of Us, Made In Abyss and Shinsekai Yori so it was kind of inevitable I'd be into this.

Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) S2: Swordsmith Village arc - great animation, pretty fun, but otherwise standard battle shounen. Still enjoyed it. Though the supporting cast are much more likeable than the Entertainment District arc, the fights felt much more messy, and villains not as cool or interesting. Mitsuri deserved more spotlight though, they did her dirty.

Gundam: Witch From Mercury S2 - such mixed feelings here, as a lot of it is good enjoyable stuff, but then there's also so much blegh. Some interesting characters and conflicts dragged down by a bizarre obsession with focusing on things that don't matter in the end. Really needed to either have a third season do the concepts justice, or to have cut them entirely and focus on what mattered. Guel and Miorine continue to be the best, and Prospera steals the show as a villain. The ending was lackluster, with sudden third faction distracting from the core conflict of the show, sudden asspull power-up to defeat the threat, and generally killing the conflicts and plot threads in a very sudden and rushed way. Suletta and Miorine got married, so there's that, but they didn't kiss and their relationship got shoved to the side in the latter half, so the shipper in me is annoyed.

The Marginal Service - dropped, and the less said about this the better. Just kinda incompetent and boring tbh.

Oshi no Ko- the big hype machine. Absurd but attention-grabbing premise and a memorable first episode, but kinda peters out afterwards. I do think I'd have gotten more out of it if I was into the aspects of the entertainment industry it covered. Aqua was rather boring as a main character, and it was baffling that he had all these girls fawning over him, but it could have been worse. Kinda wish they ditched Aqua and had the whole show about Kana and Akane's acting rivalry instead. Lots ups and downs by episode, never really amazing but far from bad either. Solidly enjoyable, but far from living up to the hype.

[crehador]

brother crab's winter 2025 parting thoughts

the goods/greats: ao no hako, tasokare hotel, akuyaku reijou tensei oji-san, momentary lily, youkai gakkou no sensei hajimemashita, sakamoto days, slf s2, hanako-kun s2, ishura s2, uniteup s2

the fines: touhai, mahoyaku, ao no miburo, zenshuu, ameku takao no suiri karte, watakon s2

the ehhhs: arafou otoko no isekai tsuuhan seikatsu, baban baban ban vampire

ranked roughly in order of how much i enjoyed them, brief thoughts (possibly with spoilers) on each one under the cut

ao no hako: absolute peak romance. an easy anime of the season pick for me (unless i already picked it as aots last season in which case this season goes to the next one lol) and a very deserved recipient of a second season. the characters are just so enjoyable and feel so real and wonderfully imperfect to me

tasokare hotel: this one blew me away. for much of the first half i was thinking of it as a "less good but still entertaining death parade" but it absolutely made itself its own thing in the end. the mysteries were compelling and the homoerotic threats of cannibalism were a delightful bonus

akuyaku reijou: old man villainess my beloved!! i feel like gimmicky isekai can be really hit or miss, and this one was a huge hit for me. villainess who can't help but do good/accidentally becomes the heorine is starting to feel played out. but villainess who can't help being a good father? say more

momentary lily: HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF. IT WAS GOOD. GREAT, EVEN. k project is like. one of my favorite things ever. so i got my hopes up for praeter when it was looking similar-ish. and it was complete shit so i've been... trepidatious, let's say. about getting my hopes up for gohands originals

this still doesn't hold a candle to k but i loved it, from the mystery of the world to the action to the group dynamics (especially the group dynamics)

youkai gakkou: uwahhh this was just pure fun. so so so delightful. at first i didn't think it was going to be anything special, but it really grew on me more and more with every episode. i love how the world of youkai here actually feels like its own world/society, while still having kids feel like your typical teenager

the hijinks were entertaining and the friendships in the class were such a highlight for me. might pick up the manga because i'd love to see more of them all

sakamoto days: extremely fun! i have, like, no complaints whatsoever. maybe i would if i'd read the manga first? i don't have the manga art to compare the animation quality to, but i really liked the art style and direction in the show. it paired so well with the comedy and had an almost vintage/nostalgic feel to it. fun characters, great cast, looking forward to more

shangri-la frontier s2: ngl it's not as much of a banger as s1 for me, but that doesn't really surprise me because the wethermon fight was too good. like. nothing's surpassing that anytime soon. that said, still good! incredible ops as always

hanako kun s2: THE SELFCEST YURI WAS A SURPRISE (SAID WITH EXHILARATION, ENTHUSIASTIC, ABJECT GLEE)

ishura s2: it's going to be so fucking funny if ishura never gets a third season lmao because god. okay. i cannot emphasize enough how much the first two seasons, the entire first two seasons, has just. been. introducing characters. that's it. that's literally it. the whole series is meant to be building up to a battle royale type tournament, i guess? but for two. seasons. two whole seasons. we've just been. introducing the characters who are going to participate lol

but it still lands itself solidly in the goods/greats category for me because. man, idk. i feel like this really does not sound like a series that would work. because two seasons of introducing characters, wtf? but for me, it was never not entertaining. the worldbuilding woven in with these introductions is my favorite thing probably, but each of the characters is compelling in their own right

so even though it sounds like something that shouldn't work, for me it somehow really does

uniteup s2: so i'm... enjoying it, still, but idk if i'll continue following this franchise if they make more of the anime. i'm all for idol anime series, and this one is really solid. like it's pretty and the stories are, while not exactly unique, compelling enough. but the anime side of the franchise is starting to feel like promo for the live action side, like the concerts with the voice actors? which is fine if that's what the franchise wants to do and focus on, it's just not something i'm all that interested in

touhai: ahhh touhai. what to say about touhai. the first of the fines and, honestly, really close to being a good for me. however. let's be real. it is not Good, however. it is deeply entertaining. it really embraces its own batshitness in a way that makes it, just, delightfully earnest i guess? like yeah it's bad but it's good entertainment

mahoyaku: rip my beloved i tried so hard to rank you higher but i simply couldn't. straight up not a great adaptation, however i still personally enjoyed it. idk how or why but the story in the game was just much much better. pacing, direction, all of it. but seeing the magic little meow meows moving around more was wonderful! i enjoyed it a lot as a fan of the game, not sure if i would've enjoyed it as a newcomer to the series though

ao no miburo: god i still remember for so much of the first half i was thinking man. this feels like a sports anime but the sport is being in the shinsengumi. then at some point i looked up the manga and the mangaka and was like oh shit that guy wrote my favorite sports manga lmao so. go figure!

anyway there were parts of this i really enjoyed but overall it was fairly forgettable to me. it did get better and better but. still forgettable

zenshuu: ohhh zenshuu. pretty pretty zenshuu. it's so pretty. and i feel like it has so many great building blocks that could have made up a great story. natsuko having to learn about first loves and about valuing her team. through this otherworldly journey. great! what's not to love about that. but there wasn't really enough stitching together the internal and external threads of the story for me. the focus was so heavily on fighting the voids to save this other world that natsuko's internal development felt really sidelined imo. an enjoyable watch still, but really underutilized its potential

ameku takao: it's totally fine. nothing really wrong with it. nothing all that memorable to me either. some cases are definitely more interesting than others to me. overall it feels a bit run of the mill, but that's fine

watakon s2: mannnnnn idk. idk what happened here. like touhai is close to breaking up into goods/greats while watakon s2 is close to slipping dow into the ehhhs. which is such a shame because the first season was so good. the whole thing felt, idk, maybe a little half-assed compared to the first season and some part of the magic, the charm, is just gone for me

arafou otoko: generic middle-aged online shopper isekai. like so so so generic. which is fine i guess but there's really nothing special here at all. except suwabe. oh the things i've watched for suwabe

baban baban ban vampire: weird fucking situation with this one tbh. so like the core premise is this vampire wants to drink the blood of 18yo virgins and his current target is this kid who as a small child saved him or something. and so the vampire's been, like, working at the kid's family bathhouse, watching him grow up, and making sure he stays a virgin until he's 18. he's deeply creepily grossly in love with and obsessed with this kid

personally it's a meh premise to me. i don't find it funny

however. however. the show is full of misunderstandings and crossed wires and besides the core premise somehow every single part is so incredibly, ridiculously funny

like the vampire moriran is in love with the kid rihito. rihito has a crush on a new classmate girl aoi. moriran is trying to keep aoi away from rihito but aoi gets the wrong idea and thinks moriran is in love with her, and she's falling in love with him. then there's franken who's this scary delinquent kid who moriran gets to protect rihito, thinking he'll scare aoi off. but then it turns out franken is aoi's big brother and he thinks it would be GREAT if rihito and aoi got together because then he'll be like family to moriran who he's come to respect

then there's vampire hunter sakamoto who's out to kill moriran but is eventually (doesn't even take that long) revealed to be in love with moriran and desperate for moriran to drink his blood

more recently there's some edgelord vampire who turns out to be moriran's brother and even though in this setting vampires aren't affected by stuff like garlic and crosses, he's debilitatingly afraid of them because he. read about vampires on wikipedia and convinced himself that he really is weak to crosses and garlic (even though it's bullshit)

critically important: the guy is literally wearing a cross earring and when moriran points that out he's like "I PUT IT IN BEFORE I DEVELOPED THIS PHOBIA AND NOW I CAN'T TAKE IT OUT"

anyway. tl;dr it's fucking hilarious except the main premise is so deeply uninteresting and unfunny to me that it kind of drags the whole series down. anyway. a shame

[starlight-time-machine]

Week in Review

01/05/2025 – 01/11/2025

Sunday

Week 48 of missing Cipher Academy

Played through a lot more of The Thousand-Year Door today and got through Chapters 4, 5, and 6, and thankfully the game’s picked up a lot more momentum for me. I liked the atmosphere of Chapter 4 (that stained glass window was amazing), the bodysnatching was a fun little plot point, I liked eavesdropping on the crows, and of course Vivian was extremely cute (I’m honestly pretty impressed that Nintendo reinforced the fact that she’s trans). Chapter 5 was alright; the dungeon got a little annoying at one point, but it felt really nice to finally turn into a boat and be able to sail around and reach all these areas I’ve been seeing throughout the dungeon and in Rogueport. And then Chapter 6’s setting was right up my alley – I love a classic mystery on a train, but I wish it was a little meatier (though I guess this is the extent of what I can expect from a Mario game). But the little twists and turns of the narrative kept me entertained, and that ghost Toad actually kind of got me when I tried to read his diary. But man…the map sizes for each area just feel so much smaller and more barren when compared to Origami King’s…but no matter. I’m having a decently fun time anyway.

Monday

Heard some rumblings about stuff happening in SpyFam so I quickly caught up with the two chapters I hadn’t read yet, and I’m so excited that things are rapidly hitting the fan.

Tuesday

Nothing…

Wednesday

Watched the episode of Make Some Noise where they had those wife guys try to out-wife guy each other, but I can’t really say that much of the humor in this one landed with me.

Of course we only got around to watching The Muppet Christmas Carol about a week after Christmas, but it was still pretty fun regardless. Michael Caine engaging with these raggedy little Muppets seriously was so cute, but unfortunately I think I just don’t care for the original story lol 5/10.

Thursday

I’ve always wanted to get into the Wallace and Gromit series, so my friend and I decided to marathon a few of them today. We started with A Grand Day Out, and (spoilers) it was probably my favourite of the bunch. The Claymation is just really cute and humble-feeling, and I loved the surreality and silliness of building a rocket in your basement and eating cheese on the moon. I also loved the robot creature, and I was so so so happy to see it realize its dreams by the end. Just a super cute short all around, so I’ll give it a 7/10.

And then we skipped rather abruptly to A Matter of Loaf and Death, and the difference in both animation quality and writing style was really stark. I loved the Rube Goldberg sequence at the beginning, but then the rest of the short lagged a bit for me. I don’t really like plots that hinge on a character who’s not allowed to listen to or believe another character until it’s too late (the Cassandra trope, I suppose you could call it), and while the concept of a serial baker killer was pretty amusing, it was a little annoying that the whole thing basically boiled down to a joke about her weight. And in general, the super wacky hijinks that went down didn’t appeal to me much. At least her dog got to be happy by the end, I guess. 3/10.

And we moved onto the main event, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I’d actually watched bits and pieces of this movie on TV as a kid, but I never got to see the ending, so it was nice to finally rectify that as an adult. It was a pretty cute movie, with punny and referential writing throughout and a nice circularity to all the bits and plot details brought up being paid off later. It wasn’t anything especially mind-blowing, but it was just a solidly fun time. 6/10.

Friday

Lexi Love is so good in Drag Race this season… In general, even though this talent show had a lot of lip sync dance performances, I still thought most of them were performed really well and with a lot of energy. But Lexi was truly the standout for me, especially for that lip sync performance against Crystal Envy. It was such a treat to see the energy of the song so wholly embodied like that, and I’m glad she got her deserved win. As for my Fantasy Drag Race roster, I think I’m going to be boring for the third season in a row and just go with the one person who I think will win, which in this case is Lexi. There’s just no one else this season that I feel like has the range and the sense of self to win (and not to brag, but my track record for predicting the winner has been pretty strong thus far). (Also oh my god I really didn’t like the runway theme/showing this week…oh well…). Anyway, here’s hoping she goes all the way.

Saturday

I just went ahead and finished TTYD lol It was pretty fun. I liked ploughing through enemies on the moon base and in the area past the Thousand-Year Door, and the final boss was fun to whale on. I’ve always heard it touted that TTYD has an amazing story, but I felt like this was pretty by the book in terms of cartoony RPGs? Like yeah, it’s a step up from the original Paper Mario, but that’s still not saying much. I do see that they made an effort to shift away from the comedy hijinks of the original into a slightly darker and grimier tone in TTYD, but it still wasn’t anything that particularly surprised me. I just had fun going through the RPG motions, I suppose. I still have the Pit of 100 Trials and completing all the badges and recipes to do, but for now I’ll say TTYD is a 7/10. It’s fun, but unfortunately for me it wasn’t anything special.