#always go peep at the kids clothes because they have awesome designs and are less boring than the adult ones 🥺

[baronafanas002]

Cat and yellow mouse

[zebrabaker]

Might be farfetched but maybe a former fan of the Ladyblog leaves after certain things ruins it for them(either it be oblivio kiss pic or lilas bullshit) when they notice marinette and her awesomeness(like making cool shit for jagged and having a soup named after her), dedicates a blog to her, showing everyone in paris(and globally) how awesome she truly is. Can be salt or pure fluff(if you're still salty cause we all are) Person could be close friend who admires her or anonymous person idk.

Oh, I ran with this. There's going to be a couple chapters. I hope you’re happy.

Allegra Clark was a huge fan of Ladybug. She adored the LadyBlog, solely for the fact that it reported the unbiased truth, and was run by a girl at her school. So, when the log had become no more than some petty shipping site for LadyNoir, she had bailed. There were plenty of other news sources, and with how many there were, at least one had to have an exclusive with Ladybug, right?

X0X0X

Wrong. After several hours, she had realized that no one else in all of Paris had an exclusive. So, she was stuck. How did Alya get the interview anyway? Maybe it was mentioned in the video…She scrolled through the blogs archives, until she found the video. It opened on a dark room, before Alya appeared on screen.

“Hey there peeps! Alya here, with the best gift anyone has ever given me! My best friend, Marinette, got me- “Huh. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was in Bustier’s class, too. Now that she thought about it, the girl had regressed over the last month or so. Last year, she had been a shy girl, with no friends and no backbone to speak of. At the start of this school year, she had made friends with most of her class, or so it had seemed. The girl had really come out of her shell, and even became class rep. Lately, she had slid back into said shell, speaking less, wearing plainer clothes, less makeup, spending more time on her phone or sketching. Allegra had been in Marinette’s class last year, and the girl had been sweeter than all the baked goodies she brought in. Be it on a random Friday, or someone’s birthday, Marinette brought in something from her family’s patisserie. Allegra had an idea. She was a girl guide, and helping people was part of the code…. She had work to do.

X0X0X

It had taken a few hours, but she had put together a full blog. She had found recordings of Marinette being mentioned by Jagged Stone and her Uncle, who was apparently a world-famous chef. The blog held a link to Marinette’s commission site (Allegra had submitted her measurements for a new dress. The girl’s designs were fantastic.) The title of the blog was ‘Marinette Dupain-Cheng is amazing ‘. The background was a cherry blossom pink, and the header was the same Cherry Blossoms that Marinette used on all her designs, taken from her site. Her first post was an introduction to the blog, and an explanation of why it was built.

Hey guys! I’m mod Allegra, (I’ll introduce the others later.) and you’re likely confused as to why I made another page for some random girl. It’s a little complicated, but I’ll give you the short version. There’s this AMAZING girl at my school, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and lately she’s been really down. I was in her class last year, and she’s such a nice person that I can’t just watch her wither. So, this blog is dedicated to all things Marinette. She’s done so much cool stuff that I can’t possibly begin to list it all here. As such, I’ll be making one post of a cool thing she’s done once a week, every Wednesday after school. If you know of anything cool Marinette has done, send me an ask! I’ll verify the story (we’re not the LadyBlog, lol) and post it on here! Until then, spread this blog around! recommend it to friends, mention it in posts, just try to spread the word. See you Wednesday!

X0X0X

“Allegra, Allain and Claude are here!” Her mom called down the hall. Allegra set aside her laptop, open to Marinette’s Facebook, Twitter, and Insta. Some may call it creepy, but she was determined to help the girl.

“Send them in!” She yelled back, stretching her back. There were two sets of footsteps in the hall, one light and quick, where the other was slow and steady.

“Sup?” Allain asked, strolling into the room. He was her oldest friend, having met at five in her mother’s beginners’ piano class. Allain was an African-French boy, his mother’s family immigrants from Morocco. He was dressed in his usual, a hoodie, jeans, a hat and headphones.

“Working on a project.” She sighed, snagging her water from her desk.

“Oooh! Can we see?” Claude asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet. She had meet Claude in third grade. He had found her, hiding in the coat closet, scared of Chloe, who had insulted her and almost made her cry. He had made a few dumb jokes, and the two had become fast friends. He was a giant, pushing five ten at age fifteen. He wore a shirt from his soccer team and a pair of jeans and converse. His brown hair flopped into his eyes, making him look like an excitable puppy.

“Sure. Remember Marinette Dupain-Cheng, that girl in our class last year?” Both boys nodded, Allain blushing. He had had a bit of a crush on Marinette. “Well, I noticed yesterday that she’s kinda regressed. Just a few weeks ago, she was vibrant and happy. Now she’s like she was last year, quiet and withdrawn. I figured that I may as well help her. I was actually gonna ask, did either of you want to help me run it? I plan to upload some cool thing she’s done once a week.” Allain nodded, busy jotting something down in the pocket notebook he carried everywhere. Probably a story idea. Allain was a prolific writer, and always had some new idea. As a kid, he rocked at make-believe games.

“Why not! I remember Marinette, she brought in blue-velvet cupcakes on my birthday, because she heard me say I love the taste but hate red.” Claude flopped onto her bed so that he was splayed across it sideways. “And she brought in Hummingbird cake for Monsieur Darcy’s birthday. That was cool.” Allain looked up from his notes.

“Oh, yeah. Whenever any of us came into the bakery, her mom would give us something for free. Madam Cheng was so cool.” He licked his lips, as if recalling a particularly tasty treat.

“So, it’s settled, then? We’ll use the blog to help Marinette?” Allegra glanced between her friends, giddy.

“Sure.” Allain shrugged.

“Why not.” Claude bounced on the bed a little.

Looks like they were in business.

[jennsepticeye]

Hi, yes, let's talk about how ADHD stigmas and what they actually mean from an actual ADHD person.

Hi, I'm Jenn, I'm 18 and I was diagnosed when I was 14 and have been taking Methylphenidate to help me function like a normal human being for 4 years.

There's a whole alphabet of abbreviations in here, so have a key

ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

ADD Attention Deficit Disorder

SPD Sensory Processing Disorder

ASD Autism Spectrum Disorder

RSD Rejection-Sensitive Dysphoria

ASMR Autonomous Sensory-Motor Response

ADHD and ADD effect everyone differently. Everyone. And it's really important to understand that because comments like "well you don't look ADHD" or "but you're so calm" can be really damaging to people struggling with it. It can be invalidating and trivializes how hard living with ADD really is.

Rejection-Sensitive Dysphoria, or RSD, is relatively common among kids and adults with Attention Deficit Disorders. This is basically when someone perceives an interaction negatively even though it might not be. If internalized, it can cause major depression and can be misdiagnosed as rapid cycling bipolar disorder. If externalities, it can appear as an anger disorder. Kids and adults with RSD are ultra sensitive to rejection, more so than non ADHD people. So if someone you know has ADHD it is important to make them feel wanted and be aware that externalized reactions are not ones they really have control over.

ADHD is not a childhood disorder. My brother is nearly 30 and still struggling with symptoms. Some children do grow out of it, and most do not.

ADHD people are not lazy. We're not. Not inherently anyway. If you're someone without ADHD I imagine it's hard to comprehend the complete lack of motivation that comes with such a disorder. I want to have good grades, and I want to get my homework done, but I am so easily distracted that tasks which take a neurotypical person 20 minutes will take me upwards of an hour. My brain is a constant cycle of "I'll do it later." I have a hard time prioritizing what needs to be done vs what I want to do. I could do my homework but I would rather read or write.

There are some overlapping symptoms between ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). I struggle with one of those symptoms, sensory processing disorder. Basically what that means is sometimes I get sensory overloads due to environmental factors that can lead to anxiety like attacks. There are also some sounds, textures, sights, tastes, and smells that absolutely do not agree with me. Velvet lined clothes are an absolute no go because the feel of velvet on my skin is liable to cause a sensory attack, scrambled eggs are the same way, and those phone dog whistles. Be mindful of people with SPD around you, and what triggers them.

Typically when you think ADHD you picture a kid with no filter running around the room, a trouble maker who can't sit still. And when you think stim, you either think ASMR or the ASD kid who yells all the time. There are lots of different types of stims and it's important for these kids to stim because it helps them function. Verbal stims are called echolalia. Kids who stim this way often seem obnoxious or unintelligent. They usually repeat something often, a quote or just noises. This is generally the least socially acceptable stim. But these kids aren't dumb, or unintelligent. They repeat those phrases as a way to maintain focus. If this is a stim that distracts or disturbs you, then be kind about it. Offer the person a place to work where they won't distract others, but can stim as they please.

Another stim is oral stims. These people usually chew on things, be it fingernails, coat sleeves, pencils or gum. There are several types of stim "toys" for this purpose. Rubber necklaces that prevent tooth damage while limiting and self destructiveness, like fingernail biting. Baby teething rings are a favorite of mine because they hold up well.

Tactile stims are the ones most commonly labeled toys. I know that fidget spinners now have a bad rap, but they were originally designed for people with attention disorders to stim with. But There are also other toys such as Tangles, Fidget Cubes, Spinner Rings and maze bracelets. If these appear in say, your classroom, don't rush to confiscate them unless they are more of a distraction to the students that a beneficial tool.

Tactile stimmers may also make repetitive motions that seem abnormal for neurotypicals, almost like Tourette's in nature. For instance, I clap the sides of my feet together or rub or punch my collar bone. You should only try to stop this behavior if it's self-destructive, because this is a stim that is helping that person focus

Auditory stims. I know we've all seen that person who needs music to focus, or someone who prefers silence. It can be problematic for some ADHD kids who need music to focus because in my experience I am easily distracted into singing along with the lyrics. Video game music is often composed specifically to boost concentration and I've found that movie soundtracks are a good option as well. If you're a teacher, be mindful of these students' needs.

Now lets talk about why this works. One of the leading theories for ADHD (be mindful that I'm not a doctor) is what I call the Floating Focus theory. As humans evolved we couldn't focus 100% on just one task. If we were picking berries we had to have been mindful of our surrounding to be aware of threats. This lookout side focus is called the "floating focus." In ADHD people the floating focus is overactive, which makes us easily distractable. I once spent an entire hour playing with a sequined pillow because I got distracted from some AP reading. With these stims, our floating focus is occupied on something, so we can't get distracted be something else.

(Bonus fact about floating focus: it's part of the reason some ADHDers seem to have awesome hearing because their floating picks up on conversations in quiet environments. For instance, I could be reading with my door closed and hear one parent say to another "should I call Jenn down to take care of the chickens?" And then I'll get up and head down before they've caked me)

I wanted to put this after the stims because it's not quite the same. Deep Pressure stim is another type. Kids who stim like this may wear compression shirts or weighted clothes, or use a weighted lap pad. I sleep with a 15lb blanket. This is a sub category for tactile stimming, but sometimes a useful tool in bringing someone down from a sensory episode. For instance I sometimes have my sister lay down on top of me and wearing a chest binder is a happy coincidence. They also train service dogs to do the same thing.

ADHD peeps are not always tired. The disorder really fucks with a person's sleeping rhythm, so an ADHD person might have a really hard time sleeping at night because their thoughts are really loud, or because boredom has a wild effect on us. A person with ADHD may have no problem staying up all night but they will be paying for it the next day, which is why they seem lethargic and tired. My sleep schedule is something I'm still working on, but a weighted blanket is often a great tool. (Currently premade ones are super pricey but there are a lot of resources for making your own).

ADHD people aren't slobs. Messy behavior can often be attributed to what's called "visual background-noise." Some ADHD people are messy because they've stopped recognizing the mess, it's just background noise in their visual field. Related to this, ADHD people may seem to know where everything is in their mess, which is often the cause of a reluctance to clean. If they clean then everything will be moved from where it was and they won't know anymore. There is also the reluctance due to lack of motivation.

There seems to be an ongoing commentary that ADHD people can pay attention if they choose to, and this is often said right after someone has done something efficiently. ADHD people can't choose really what they pay attention to. If something is done super efficiently is is often caused by what's called "hyperfixation" or what has previously been called "special interests." These are areas where an ADHD person can focus on a task often better than a neurotypical person. This isn't always good, especially in a case where the itself hyperfixation is bad, is not the assigned task, or if the focus is so strong that a person like me forgets to eat or sleep. You read that right. I honest to god forget to eat. I'll lose track of time and when I check, I'll have been working from 700 to 1500 without stopping.

Meds aren't inherently bad. Like I said I've been taking the off brand equivalent of Ritalin. Methylphenidate. Side effects if ADHD meds include disrupted sleeping pattern, decreased appetite and I sometimes get headaches when they wear off. Last year I lost 10 lbs because of my meds. Meds like Ritalin or Adrerall can also be semi addictive as an ADHD person becomes dependent on their effects. However, if in the right dosage and paired with other non chemical methods, meds can do a lot of good. I am completely nonfunctional in a classroom environment without my meds. This is the case for a lot of people. If you demonize treatments like Aderall then people who need them are less likely to get the help they need. I said at the beginning that everyone is different, this means that the treatments are different for everyone. Do your research and listen to your physician. Don't rush do slander a med because it didn't work for you.

[kikkieabby]

First request! Joey and Deputy!

nimblejack3 said:                                                                                                                            I’d like to request a Female!Deputy/Deputy Hudson first date, please! Perhaps after the events of FC5 and Joseph has been killed/put away, and they’re both trying to deal with their trauma while attempting to learn to make human connections again?   

“A date?” The dark skin woman knows as Beatrice asked her superior. Joey stood in front of her desk that Earl somewhat gave her after arresting Joseph. Her desk stood in the middle of a specially designed holding room. The room had five medium size rooms, each with a toilet, bed, sink, and see-through door. Each Seed was put next to each other in separate rooms. Allowing the Deputy to watch them from a certain safe distanced. Now with the rest of his siblings in holding, Hope county was finally…somewhat free from the Seeds chaos. Sort of, their followers still tried to bale the Seeds out time to time, but they always failed. Earl and Staci had left the island with and Adelaide to bring back the national guard, leaving Hudson and Rook alone to watch the County. “Not a date…DATE! More like a dinner together alone…” Joey tried to explain, only for her cheeks to turn red in the process. “That sounds like a date,” Rook asked with a small chuckle. “It's not!” Joey chuckled at the Rook, ignoring the presence of the Seeds behind her. “It’s a date, just admit it.” John chuckled at her shame. The sight of the two females somewhat flirting with each other amused him, more than he liked to admit. Deputy reaches over to the side of her desk, then hurls the cup at his cell. Making the male jump a little at the sounds of crackling metal bouncing off his cell door, the floor than the floor again. “Not a peep! We’ve been through this! The only one who is allowed to talk is Faith!” The deputy shouted. “Why Faith?” Joey asked. “Because her voice annoys them.” Rook giggled as her eyes make their way to the white dress wearing woman. “Uh, back to my…proposition.” Joey continued. “I wanted to talk to about the paper we need to do and who we need to talk too. By being here and…well shooting a lot of people…” Joey’s eyes looked around the room for a bit, trying to find the professional words to say what she was thinking. But, after spending nearly three months in this hell of an island, she decided to drop the formalities and say: “Fuck it, Earl called. You and I are in deep shit.” Joey said, making the smirk on Deputy’s face disappear. “What?” She asked. “Apparently, we didn’t have a warrant to do certain shit here. Now Earl’s bosses refuse to send help unless we sit down and figure out a way to convince the fat fuckers in the high chairs that we need help.” Joey explained. “So tonight, you and I are going to sit down and write a bunch of shit on our experience here.” “O-Okay…” Deputy muttered. Joey nods her head at the woman before walking away from her desk, then out of the cell room, leaving a dazed and confused Deputy sitting in her chair. Leaning back against the wooden chair, the young woman stretches her arms out a bit in the air. Trying to reach the ceiling in her own way while trying to think of a way to please matter. “All the horrible shit I have been through…” She muttered before leaning her body forward to look at the Seeds. “Dear god…where do I start?” (Four hours later) “You and Hudson have a date?” Nick asked in shock as he and Kim settle down near the entrance to the special prison. Since it was night time and no one wanted to watch the Seeds, the Deputy had to call in a favor. Or morally blackmail one of her closet friends to watch the seeds, AKA Nick! What she was using as blackmail, you don’t want to know. “No, we're having a meeting with dinner to talk about the events that we both went through in Hope County,” Deputy explained. “So, it’s a date.” Kim chuckled as she sets down a basket of goods down on the desk in front of the door leading to the cells. Kim was only here because…well, she wanted to be. Plus, it was rare for her to get out of the house. “It is not a…wait, where’s my goddaughter?” Deputy asked. “With the two most trusted people that I know,” Nick said proudly, making the Deputy’s eyes widen in fear at his words. “Wait, did you just leave my god-daughter in the hands of idiots?” Deputy asked. “No, we left her in the church being watched by Jerome and Mary. There is no way in hell nor heaven, would I leave my daughter with Sharky or Burk.” Kim said before giving her husband a negative glance. “Okay, I will be at the 8-pit pizza lounge. I already fed them, so no need to worry about food and stuff.” Deputy explained as she hands Kim the keys to the cells. “If you hear anything weird, don’t look! Just call me and I will be back in no time.” “You using my plane?” Nick ask. “Can I?” Deputy asked with wide eyes. A second later, Nick throws his keys at her face. Which taps her on the nose before landing in her hand.   “Wanna show up in style my friend!” Nick tells her. “It is not a date!” The deputy shouted before running out of the room, once gone, Kim looks over to her husband. “It’s a date.” “Totally!” Nick responded while nodding his head. (8-pit pizza) “Here!” Deputy shouted as she removes leaves from her hair and dirt from her face. Hudson gives her a worried glance at the young woman strides inside the building. Ignoring that she didn’t look as awesome as she did when getting on the plane. Hudson was seated at a table with an already hot pepperoni pizza in front of her. Paperwork and a laptop could be seen in front of her. She was wearing her normal clothes, except instead of a dark green jacket, she wore a dark blue lace shirt. Running over to the table, the Rook found herself smiling ear to ear as she takes a slice of pizza. “God, haven’t had Pizza since I saved Boomer from those peggies.” She tells Hudson. The older woman nods her head as Rook looks around the area. “Where is everyone? Isn’t this our secret base of operation?” Rook asked. “Why do you say that?” Hudson asked back, followed by a small chuckle escaping her lips. “Only place we could get away from the Peggies and drink beer.” Rookie responded. “Yea, well I told everyone to scat for this meeting. So, its just you and me here.” Joey explained as her hands move around, showing off the available space that was not occupied by gun slinging fighters. “So, why am I here then?” Rook asked. “Simple. You tell me all the shit that happened here to your, I type it down then send it to Earl. Then hopefully we can get the government on our side.” Joey explained. “Why am I doing this again?” Rook asked. “Because from my calculation, you have appromixty created nearly…a billion dollars of fuck ups here.” Joey explained. “Can’t be that bad…” Rook muttered. “Insurance for the death of family members, abuse of gun wear, property damage, vehicle damage, air assault, and many more charges,” Hudson explained. “Okay, it's bad.” Rook chuckled awkwardly, her cheeks burning a deep crimson red as she tries to avoid eye contact. Trying to avoid the lighting over her head that made Hudson skin glow more than usual. Or notice the small strang of hair sticking to her face. “Rook, tell me what happened so that I can save your ass from becoming someone’s bitch in prison,” Hudson growled. The tone of voice Joey gave to the Rook made her blush disappear but rose her Ego and curiosity. Ever since she had met Hudson, the two never really had a conversation unless it was work related. They never talked about personal things, nor did they ever get into each other’s lives. There was a bounder that they silently had, and respected of each other. Only today, that bounder would be broken.

“What happened, when you were with John in his bunker?” Deputy asked. Her voice was more stern and a bit deeper. Something Hudson rarely heard, and when she did, it was in the face of danger. Looking up from her pizza, she stares at her friend for a bit. Admiring her dark blonde hair that went so well with her hazel eyes, like she was an art piece made by gods very own hands. “When Joseph put me with John…” Joey started. “I was stripped down, then beaten by two females in white dresses. They shouted out slurs at me, saying my soul was impure. Then they got a hose and sprayed me down. A power hose none the less…” With every word Joey spoke, her lips would twitch a bit. Her eyes moved confidently, trying to hold away back the tears from falling. Her nails dig into the wooden table, creating small holes in the wood. “After I cried for the hundred times for them to stop, they forced me into this cold dark room for the longest of time. I think, a week. Maybe even more, I am not sure. Then, John comes into the room one day, looks down upon me and tells me…if I say yes, it would all end. So, you already figured what I said in order to survive.” Hudson chuckled before bitting her lip. She then opens her mouth to say: “What did you…I mean, what did they do to you?” Hudson asked with a broken down voice. Even though she wasn’t crying, the Deputy could see in her eyes that she was holding herself together. “Sure you can handle it?” The Deputy asked with a soft smile on her face. “Hey, It not sure it's as bad as mine.” Hudson chuckled, but oh boy was she wrong. “Faith…her job was to have kids when the end comes. She was supposed to bare the sons and daughters of the Seed brothers, as she told me. There was one problem, she couldn’t get pregnant. Apparently, all those times she did drugs ruined her ovaries. So, when I went after her because I thought she would be easy to take down, I fell into a trap. Next thing I remembered, I was in Jacob’s cage…naked. The Seed’s just stood there, outside of the cage, talking for a while.” The Deputy explained. “Rook…” “Then Joseph came towards the Cage and told me…I was going to be a new Faith. And inside me was…his child.” The Deputy explained with a stern face. “Obviously, I escaped. I ran to Dutch, he checked me out and told me that I didn’t have any recent stretchings of my walls down there. So they didn’t rape me. Three days later…I do a leap for Faith under the influence of the drug.” Tears begin to form her hazel eyes. One escaping her left eye as she looks down to the empty beer bottle. “I feel off a mountain into flowers…when I woke up…I saw blood everywhere. I had a miscarriage, or morally, I killed my fetus without realizing it. And the thing gets worse after that.” “She chuckles weakly. “I meet Jacob later in his madhouse of insanity. Where he brainwashes his subject into killers…and apparently sex slaves.” “What?” “Yea, if you mix bliss with a certain song, you can have intercourse without realizing it. Staci saw the whole thing, he saw me be taken by each seed. He tried to tell me, he even tried to drag by sex used body out the cage. But John caught him, tore off his skin, and basically made him his bitch.” “That explains a lot about Staci…” Joey muttered. “It may sound…wrong, but I think I would have rather that happened, then be conscious.” “What do you mean?” “The Seeds were after me apparently, they wanted me. The way I have been kidnapped so many times, it was eventually going to happen. I thank god I don’t remember it. Because I don’t know what I would do if I wasn’t under the influence.” “Deputy I- You just wonder though,” Deputy said, cutting Joey off mid-sentence. “If I would remember…would I have just pulled the final trigger needed to kill all of them? Should I have killed Joseph when I had the chance? And if so what sort of person would I have been?” The Deputy asked the woman in front of her before letting out a weak whimper infused with a gasp. She wipes her tears away from her water stained cheeks. Her head begins to feel heavy as her eyes search for a solution to her problem. As she did this, Joey stands up from her seat and moves over to the dark skin woman. Gently resting her hands on the young deputy’s shoulder, she closes her eyes and sighs. “I am so sorry.” She muttered as tears form in her eyes when she opened them. “But I am here now, and everything will be okay…” “Nothing will ever be fine after this…” Deputy moaned. “This place has ruined me. I’m not even sure I can go home after this…” “You can,” Joey tells her. The young woman looks over to her elder, wiping the tears from her eyes as they met with Joey’s smile. “And how do you know?” “Because I will be there.” She responded. “I will be there every step of the way, I promise.”

Kikkie: To be honest, I didn’t really know how this story would turn out. I never really saw Joey and Deputy as a couple. I always saw them as best friends or teacher/student relationship. So I hope this story entertains you, shippers!

[recentanimenews]

Old Struggles and a New Era in MEGALOBOX

Shared with permission of the author, Chad Landon Smith, from Shin Mecha Guignol

  Here’s my theory on nostalgia:

  What we’re looking for when we look back fondly on the “things” of our youth isn’t so much the concrete details. Peeps like me who were kids in the 1980s may have fond memories of certain movies, TV shows, bands, and the like, but it isn’t so much those specific things that we long for. We might wrap ourselves in adoration of a specific thing, but that’s a bit of a mistake. Until you step back and really ponder over what it is you’re looking for you go for that easy to digest, easily marketed to you answer. You want the reboot of the franchise, the rerelease of the vinyl album, or the reissue of the hard to find toy, but what you really want is the feeling of experiencing that thing for the first time.

  The specific details burn themselves into your brain, and the various aesthetics surrounding those material objects remind you of that youthful period where everything was new and wondrous. It’s that state of mind– where the world was always something to discover and celebrate rather than something to dread and fear– that we’re really seeking. That kid may as well be a different person, and we want to remind ourselves of our past self, and those ephemeral details let us take a peek back to what it felt like to be that past self.

    So yeah, it’s all still a form of escape, but we’re seeking a state of mind rather than a state of material gain. That’s where things like Ready Player One flounder, since that “conversation with God” is replaced with ceremonial pomp and circumstance and ritual grandstanding.

  This is why I’m less interested in revisiting franchises and more interested in media that’s trying to synthesize all of these genre details, styles of music, visual quirks, and the like into something new. This is why I think things like all that future funk and vaporwave music “works,” since they’re playing with all this old, “out of date” music and turning it into something new. It’s also why I’d rather watch something like Turbo Kid or The Void, two movies that play with 80s style sci-fi and horror respectively, rather than think about reboots of Ghostbusters or the listicle filmmaking of the aforementioned Ready Player One. In fabricating an artificial artifact from that era, rather than simply repeating the same thing over again, these things do a better job of capturing that fleeting feeling.

  That said, this is an approach I haven’t really seen in anime.

  We’ve had quite a few revivals over the years, but none of them have tackled their subject matter in quite the same way. This year’s Devilman Crybaby is brilliant, but it’s also a franchise revival that updates its subject matter to modern sensibilities. Yuasa is a decidedly 21st century artist, and Crybaby reflects its times rather than Go Nagai’s early 1970s vibe. Lupin III is more like James Bond– constantly shifting with the times while still having one foot in the 1960s. Both Lupin and Bond are modern and antiquated, and in neither sense do they work in the sense I’m getting at.

    I really do think that MEGALOBOX is the first anime I’ve seen that deliberately goes for this sort of synthesizing of 1980s aesthetics in the way I’m thinking.

  The deliberately sketchy line art lends it a hand drawn look. It’s certainly fabricated, since it’s drawn on computers like every other recent anime, but the same goes for a lot of these movies that recreate effects or enhance practical effects with computer graphics. Couple that with a color palette that feels a bit washed out and “old” and you have something that feels like it’s recreating that hand drawn cel style from a 80s OVA. Throw in the series’ score, which leans heavily on synths and guitars, and character designs straight out of that era, and we have something that wouldn’t look out of place in 1986 while still feeling “modern.” MEGALOBOX has that superficial vibe going for it.

  But that isn’t the only thing it needs to really complete this synthesis. MEGALOBOX takes its Ashita no Joe story roots– with the underdog boxer who develops a rivalry with “the best” despite his more than humble origins– and meshes that with a near-future, not quite apocalyptic but close enough setting. This is that sort of post-Road Warrior setting where filmmakers went out into the desert, filmed some peeps in grungy clothing, lived in technology, and other assorted props to create a future in decline despite being far ahead of “today.”

    I really do think all of that is rooted in the desire to project all of one’s anxieties and fears of a future where our leaders will destroy the world, but instead of being one of the people who simply dies in the resulting devastation, we imagine ourselves in this “awesome” post-destruction wasteland where we can rage against the existential forces that brought us here and become someone better in the process. I think that sort of fantastical anxiety is just as relevant now as it was then. As a kid, I really did think there was going to be some sort of nuclear war between Russia and the US, and yeah, if it came I wanted to be that wastelands warrior ninja with an AK-47 shooting Soviet Kung Fu zombies. The faces involved have changed, but many of those same anxieties still exist in many people’s minds given current political developments.

  This also recasts that underdog rivalry. Junk Dog isn’t just the “little guy” looking to prove his worth in a world where fame and the like have more clout than actual skill. He’s an undocumented non-civilian who can’t get a real job or real boxing bouts because of his “illegal” status. That his rival isn’t just the most renown boxer in the world, but also the “chosen one” of the woman who runs the corporate hierarchy behind boxing, turns it into a struggle between social and economic classes. That anxiety that worked in the 80s is being recast 30+ years later into a scenario fitting for our times.

  Yeah, the first episode of MEGALOBOX is a brilliant synthesis of these trends. Hopefully it’ll keep it up. If so, it can be something really special.

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You can follow Chad Landon Smith on Twitter @aMainCharacter and his blog Shin Mecha Guignol or on Twitter 

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com